Long X Arts hires full-time artist to bring new skills to community
By Ashleigh Plemper
Farmer Staff Writer
The kids know her as Ms. Jess, but to the rest of us, she’s Jessica Rae Newman. She’s the first full-time artist to work for the Long X Arts Foundation for work with the community to enhance its creative arts.
“I’m so grateful for this opportunity. I love Watford City, it has so much to offer to every age, skillset and ability and I feel really blessed to be a part of it,” says Jessica Rae Newman. “Everyone’s been super sweet and so welcoming. I’m excited to be here.”
At the start of her career, Newman studied art and art history in Virginia and then went to Paris, France, where she worked and studied at the Rodin Museum. Eventually she moved back to Virginia, where she ran a ceramic studio for several years.
“I’ve actually taught pottery and painting at a blind school a couple of times, which was really rewarding,” she says. “We had to direct their hands and make clay masks.”
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