Artist Biography
Jessica M. Gutiérrez is a self-taught Nicaraguan-American Watercolor and Mixed Media Collage Artist residing in Madison, WI. The daughter of a Nicaraguan immigrant and born in Central Wisconsin, she studied psychology, philosophy, creative writing and social work. She now works as a licensed mental health therapist who integrates her visual and creative nature into her practice and her healing focus into her art practice.
Faced with chronic pain in 2011, Jessica discovered art as a healing tool, giving her the space to slow down and find new ways to process emotions. She reconnected with her creative spirit and flourished with art and creativity as a resource. Jessica’s colorful watercolors and collaged mixed media images are emotional, enchanting, magical and vibrant. Her work covers the whole range of human experience and often feels joyful, even while exploring themes related to identity and healing generational trauma. Jessica’s soulful art helps people find power in challenging circumstances.
For the past 15 years, Jessica has shown her work throughout the Madison community, participating in events such as MMOCA Gallery Nights, The Latino Art Fair, La Alianza's Immigrant Justice Week, and the CultivArte Colectivo Latinx Art Festival. She has also contributed to the city's public art scene: in 2023, the City of Madison selected two of her paintings for the Utility Box Project, viewable next to Burnie's Rock Shop, and in April 2024, she designed a community-painted flamingo mural for the city's “Flock to State” experimental pedestrian mall.
Jessica was a finalist for the Women Artists Forward Fund Art Prize in 2023 and was a Bridgework Program Artist for 2023–25 at the Arts and Literature Laboratory in Madison, WI. Her work has been featured in The Shallot: Journal of Mental Health, Art, and Literature (Vol. 4, Issue 3, 2026) and in Corpus Callosum, the UW–Madison School of Medicine and Public Health–Ebling Library's arts journal (Spring 2022, 2024). Jessica was a selected artist for Planned Parenthood’s Forward Art Initiative in 2023, with two of her paintings included in their permanent collection at their new Water Street Building in Milwaukee, WI.
Jessica's collaborative work spans mediums and disciplines. In 2026, Jessica is co-curating an exhibition Las Curanderas: From Ashes, We Rise with abstract painter Issis Macias, featuring Wisconsin-based Latina artists, in partnership with LOUD and Madison College. The previous year, Jessica was invited to participate in Colectivo Coffee’s guest artist series to reimagining their Co-Optiva Coffee Bag. In 2024, Jessica collaborated with L.A. based visual storyteller and fashion designer, Virginia Ayala from De La Luna Designs to co-create an earring collection called Connections, a powerful and magical earring collection weaving the artistry of two Latina women with Central American roots, into a series of unique statement pieces. In 2023, she served as co-designer for Sara Alvarado’s memoir Dreaming in Spanish. Whether on canvas, in collage, or in collaboration, Jessica remains devoted to art that helps people find beauty, connection, and healing in their own stories.
