Meet Jessica Imperiale | Graphic Designer & Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jessica Imperiale and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jessica, do you have some perspective or insight you can share with us on the question of when someone should give up versus when they should keep going?
I always try to keep going. It never hurts to take a leap of faith and keep moving forward. If I decide to give up or not even try something I will never know what could have happened. Then I can always say “I did that.” Even if it’s a negative experience, it is still something that I can say “I tried it.”

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

As an artist, my main goal is to create art that aims to inspire reflection and connection. My main mediums are acrylic paint and digital art. It took me many years to find my “style” of art. I’ve been creating since I was very young. I took art classes starting at a young age and continued my practice over the years. During COIVD-19, I had a lot of time to myself and I finally found my “style.” I love painting with organic shapes that when put together they create something as a whole. I also prefer to stay with a monochromatic color technique. However, when it comes to my digital art I’m very illustrative and I prefer to use bright and bold colors. I had a hard time growing up in the art world. I loved creating and I always tried to keep it as a hobby because everywhere I turned I never received a positive or inspiring atmosphere. In elementary and middle school I never felt like I could express my creativity to its fullest. Every art project or assignment never truly felt “mine.” Everyone worked on the same thing and I started to lose interest. I discovered graphic design in high school and I thought of it as my release for my creativity that I can turn into a career. My graphic design teacher discovered that I could draw one day and pushed me into a studio art class. It felt like I was back in middle school and that it was so assignment based that my work continued to never feel like mine. Later in the year the AP art teacher saw my work and invited me to bypass the two honor art classes and go straight into AP. Sadly, I declined. If I could I would go back and accept the offer however, I was challenged with some bullying within the art community in my school. My art was always made fun of, I never felt supported, and the only time I felt that I was able to express myself without judgment was in my graphic design classes. I excelled in my graphic design classes to the point where they ran out of classes for me to take and I ended up in an independent study. Which is where I can fully take control of what I wanted to create and build a proper portfolio. I loved this class and it helped me make the final decision of getting a BFA in Graphic Design and Multimedia. 

I decided to stay close to home and attend Georgian Court University. I loved all of my professors except one. This one professor only saw in “black and white,” there’s only a right way and wrong way of doing anything. They always had a problem with my work while all my other professors loved it. Of course in college you are required to take an

art class. This class was so different from what I was used to. I felt inspired again. Due to this new and positive environment I decided to take on a Studio Art Minor. I had so much freedom in my art classes. My professor let me just do whatever felt right and it was honestly the best experience that I’ve had in an art class in a really long time. In my final year of college I decided to start reaching out to some art galleries in the nearby towns. I found a few and started hanging my work in them. I also got my full time job as a graphic designer around the same time. All I had left to do was graduate. I started up an art club in my final year and I had so much fun meeting so many talented and wonderful people. Sadly, I had to graduate and say goodbye. 

I got a side gig as a digital art teacher at an art school because I wanted to inspire and provide a creative outlet to those who felt the same way I did growing up. About a year into teaching I left due to the owner’s negativity towards my teaching style and self. My students were very upset to see me go and it hurt leaving them. I wanted to start up my 

own classes in response to this. I reached out to the galleries I was hanging in and started teaching classes. I ended up getting very involved with one gallery and decided to move my studio space inside of the gallery. It was very welcoming at first but once I was there all the time so much negativity kept coming up. I ended up meeting someone after a few months of being there and we grew close pretty quickly. The negativity in the gallery just kept growing in the meantime and it was starting to affect me and my mental health. My friend, now a business partner, brought up the idea of opening our own gallery and we went through with it. 

Here I am today as a digital artist, painter, graphic designer, gallery owner, and hopefully more is to come. I’m very excited to see what my future holds. 

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

Oddly enough, I live in New Jersey and my best friend lives in Ohio. She has been wanting to come visit for some time now and we have been coming up with a list of things to do while she’s here. I would love to take her into New York City and we would go see a Broadway Musical and go to the Hard Rock Cafe for some lunch or dinner. I am personally not a huge fan of the beach however I really like the boardwalks on the Jersey Shore. I would love to take her there just to experience it at least once. I would also love to take her to JAMM Gallery so she can see what I’ve been putting a lot of my time and effort into recently. She’s been showing me so much support and love towards this. The artists at JAMM Gallery are so talented. I would also like to take her to Grounds for Sculpture. It is honestly one of my favorite places to go if I just want to take a long walk and look at some art. 

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to dedicate my shoutout to my art family at JAMM Gallery. They always push me to do my best and accomplish all that I can. Everyone at JAMM Gallery supports each other however we can and we never get jealous, upset, or angry over anyone’s accomplishments and/or achievements. JAMM Gallery congratulates everyone even with the smallest of goals. We pick each other up and guide those in the right direction if needed. It’s truly a wonderful family to be a part of.

Website: www.imperialearts.com

Instagram: @imperiale.arts | @jessimp.art | @jamm.gallery

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ImperialeArtsOfficial

Other: HUG Artist Collective: https://thehug.xyz/artists/imperialearts
TikTok: @jessimp.art

Image Credits
@imperiale.arts – Jessica Imperiale @in_mayas_mind – Jill Savadsky @gritandgoals – Doreen Laskiewicz