Jess lives in Winterstown, PA. She is the daughter of the late Sandra J. (Tolley) and Daniel L. McPherson, Sr. She is a 1996 graduate of Red Lion Area High School (Red Lion, PA) and had studied at the Art Institute of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, PA) before transferring to Pennsylvania College of Art & Design in Lancaster. During the summer of 2004 she completed an internship with Theatre Harrisburg (Harrisburg, PA) building, painting, and rigging the sets for their production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. In May 2005 she graduated magna cum laude with a BFA in Fine Art from Pennsylvania College of Art & Design winning the departmental award for Outstanding Fine Artist as well as the Pfaltzgraff scholarship for Highest GPA, York County Student. Jess is currently working as Gallery Director for YorkArts (York, PA).

Jess works primarily using various drawing mediums, charcoal, ink, and wax (her more recent pieces have turned to oil paint and found objects) to convey a message of personal, cultural, social, and historical identity. She has exhibited award winning work at Yorkarts (York, PA) and in the Doshi Gallery at the Susquehanna Art Museum (Harrisburg, PA). Jess has also taken part in invitational exhibits for Where Exhibitons and Parlor (Lancaster, PA). Her work has been featured in numerous promotional publications for the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design, as well as in the gallery. Jess’ work is also featured in and has been commissioned for several private collections throughout Pennsylvania and New York.

When I tell you this story, remember it may change.
  (from Captivity by Sherman Alexie)
 
I’ll say it again. When I tell you this story, remember it may change.
 
Blight is another word for secret. Of course you know it’s not, but that is about to change. Blight is another word for witness. Again. Remember. Witness is a word for ledger. Now maybe you see. or not. Maybe secret is just a word for secret and ledger a cumulatory record, an eyeless witness, a place to rest your head.
 
Remember. Even I forget my secrets.
 
My Work is about the past, our past, a record of our secrets, a ledger drawing of our story. My work is about finding this connection in things overlooked, things taken for granted. I am interested in the idea or the knowledge that what we do and who we are never really goes unseen. Our secrets are kept by the things that surround us, even those most private, some fresh and easily read, some buried, some translated into a language we no longer understand, all of them kept and waiting for a time when we will need and want to know.
 
These works are my attempt to honor this business of secret keeping. And telling. They are my attempt to listen, to pay attention. They are my attempt to understand the secrets and the history between us.