Jessica Baker is a mixed-media artist whose practice examines memory, loss, material transformation, and the ephemeral. After pausing her artmaking to become her mother’s primary caregiver during the final two years of her life with Parkinson’s disease, Jessica returned to the studio through the objects her mother had treasured. Seashells, embroidery materials, playing cards, and plants became points of connection, carrying the physical traces of use, care, and shared experience.

Her work Posthumous Collections I was created from her mother’s playing cards, repaired and joined with embroidery thread to form a tapestry. Missing and irreparable cards remain visible as openings within the work, marking absence as part of its structure. The project reflects a broader interest in how inherited objects can be reconfigured without erasing their histories. Jessica’s work has been discussed in an interview with National Public Radio and presented in exhibitions throughout the United States and internationally. Her artworks are held in private and institutional collections and have received critical recognition, including coverage in The New York Times. She is a recent recipient of the New Visions Award from the Woodstock Artists Association and Museum. Her previous honors include a printmaking fellowship and three artist residencies.