Miami-born, Brazilian-American artist Jessica Barbosa earned her BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and works at the intersection of fiber, sculpture, and immersive experience. Her practice explores vulnerability, longing, and the tension between personal and societal pressures, using weaving, sewing, felting, and beading to create works that invite reflection and connection. Rooted in traditional craft, her work values time-honored modes of making while embracing continual experimentation and reinvention. Barbosa’s work has been recognized with awards including the Penland School of Craft’s Samuel A. Almon Scholarship and the Susan Lordi-Marker Award, and her design was selected for the Zhaner Student Design Competition. She also participated in the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts’ Work-Study Program, which further deepened her engagement with craft and artistic growth.
I’m drawn to the tensions that shape our surroundings: permanence and instability, excess and simplicity, the natural and the manufactured. My practice explores these contradictions through tactile processes such as weaving, sewing, felting, and beading, allowing materials and forms to coexist while inviting reflection and attention.
I see my work as a balance of opposites. Traditional techniques meet unexpected textures, delicate details coexist with bold forms, and personal experience intersects with broader societal themes. Through these processes, I explore how conflicting influences can exist together without needing resolution and how making by hand can transform complexity into clarity.
The materials and objects I choose reflect questions of authenticity, care, and how we navigate spaces shaped by overconsumption and constant making. My work aims to create moments of stillness and connection, offering viewers a space to engage with tension, beauty, and the everyday in a mindful, considered way.