Jessica MONROE
Jessica Monroe is a contemporary painter based in South Texas. Her work explores human relationship to land, perception, and ecological systems through long-form, process-driven painting.
She works between direct observation and studio practice, developing a body of work rooted in sustained attention to landscape. Her paintings have been informed by residencies, field research, and extended engagement with place, and are currently shaped by graduate research in the UK.
Monroe is known for large-scale oil paintings that translate lived encounters with land into color, movement, and form. Working between abstraction and realism, her work emphasizes interconnection, permeability, and the dynamic systems that shape both natural and human worlds..
Scroll down to explore recent projects.
In the summer of 2025, I walked the Camino de Santiago in Galicia, Spain, using pilgrimage as a framework to explore questions of belonging, faith, and identity. What began as a journey across landscape became a deeper encounter with place, history, and shared human experience. This ongoing project continues to shape my work in the studio..
El Camino
Texas Coastal:
The Laguna Madre Series
I grew up along the South Texas coast, where overlapping ecosystems shaped how I learned to observe and understand place.
In the summer of 2024, I deepened that relationship as a resident artist on a remote spoil island in the Laguna Madre. Living for a week at an off-grid research station, I worked within the rhythms of wind, tide, and light, allowing the pace of the environment to guide both observation and process.
The Laguna Madre series emerged from this experience. Built through sustained attention and long-form studio work, the paintings explore pattern, presence, and the quiet intelligence of the more-than-human world. The series continues to unfold and will be presented as a dedicated online exhibition.
