Jess Scheider is a visual artist currently on a working holiday visa in New Zealand where she was most recently working as a Beekeeper and Honey Harvester. Originally from her hometown of Boise, Idaho, she graduated with a BFA in Visual Arts with an emphasis in Drawing & Painting from Boise State University in 2020. Her work is inspired by a close relationship with the land, and a fascination for ecological systems and patterns. Her work parallels the tradition of scientific illustration, serving as a method of record keeping during a period of escalating human dominion over the natural world.

The intricately detailed textures and illustrations within Jess’s work range from the mundane to the profound- be it the fractaled patterning of lichen across ancient rock, the structure of a hornets nest blown down by the wind, or the vivid coloring of endangered Sockeye Salmon during spawning season.

Jess’s work is guided by an innate desire reconnect her audience with the natural world, forging a connection to those who came before, and those who are yet to arrive. Within these explorations, issues of perception, adaptation and reclamation rise to the surface.

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Biography

EDUCATION

  • 2020 Boise State University - Boise, ID — BFA Visual Arts w/ Drawing & Painting emphasis

EXHIBITIONS & PUBLIC WORKS

  • 2026 Treefort Window Walk- Boise, ID

  • 2025 Mural at Weka Creek - Waipara, New Zealand

  • 2024  Sun Valley Art Museum Juried Exhibition, ‘Idaho Rivers’ -Ketchum, ID

  • 2024  City of Boise Arts & History Traffic Box Collection- Boise, ID

  • 2020  Fall BFA Exhibition, Boise State University- Boise, ID

  • 2018  Student Juried Exhibition, Boise State University- Boise, ID

  • 2017  Student Juried Exhibition, Boise State University- Boise, ID

GRANTS & RESIDENCIES

  • 2022 La Wayaka Current Artist in Residence,  Group - Atacama, Chile

  • 2021 City of Rocks Artist In Residence, Solo - Almo, ID

  • 2021 Arts Idaho Quarterly Projects for Individuals Grant, Boise, ID

  • 2020 Alexa Rose Foundation Grant - Boise, ID

PRESS/PUBLICATIONS

  • 2025 Paper Plane Press Volume III, Illustrator

  • 2023 Noell, Nastassja. “Lichen Artists and Artistic Lichenologists: Becoming What We Attend To,” Evansia.

  • 2021 Painter, Jerry. “Artsy in the Park: Artist in Residence Program Gives Up and Coming Artists Opportunity to Shine,” Post Register.

RELATED EXPERIENCE

  • 2019 Artist Assitant to Professor Chad Erpelding, Boise State University

C.V.