About Jessalyn Finch
Jessalyn Finch is a conceptual artist and installation architect exploring the body as site, symbol, and story. Working across large-scale drawing, tactile sculpture, and performance, she designs immersive environments that challenge viewers to renegotiate their physical and emotional relationship to the human form. Her work often occupies the space between visual art and spatial experience, blurring the line between object, participant, and environment.
In an era marked by noise, distraction, and cultural division, Finch regards embodiment itself as an act of resistance. Too often the body is reduced to symbol, commodity, or battleground; her work insists on its complexity, resilience, and depth. Through immersive visual and performative environments, she invites audiences to slow down, to inhabit their own physicality, and to encounter the body as a site of memory, agency, and shared humanity.
Trained in printmaking, drawing, and Eastern philosophy, Finch holds a B.S. in Fine Art and an M.S. in Project Management. A near-death experience propelled her to a fully committed creative career in 2018, first exhibiting in 2020 with themes of embodiment, community, and presence. As a Mayo Clinic-certified yoga instructor, her practice integrates mindfulness and somatics into the visual realm, creating spaces for reflection, movement, and sensory dialogue. Her self-taught sculptural installations, constructed from cardboard, function as temporary architectures: interactive monuments to the body’s shifting narrative.
In recent years, Finch has collaborated with dancers, fashion designers, and improv artists to produce interdisciplinary exhibitions and performances. She completed a residency at NE Sculpture | Gallery Factory in 2024, and debuted work in 2025 at Slip Gallery (Seattle, WA), Bloomington Center for the Arts (Bloomington, MN), Calendula Gallery (St. Paul, MN), and Threshold Arts (Rochester, MN). Positioned at the intersection of fine art, storytelling, and installation architecture, Finch is building a legacy that invites collectors, institutions, and collaborators into deeper, embodied conversations about the meaning and mythology of the human form.
Education
2013-2015…Masters of Science in Project Management | Walden University
2007-2012…Bachelors of Science in Fine Arts/Eastern Philosophy | University of Wisconsin- La Crosse
2016…200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training | Mayo Clinic Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center
2016-2017…First & Second Degree Reiki Training | Reiki Usu Shirt Ryoho Tradition
Grants/Residencies
2025…Start-Up Event Grant | Rochester Downtown Alliance | Embodied Landscapes Film Premiere
2025…Advancing Artist Grant | Southeastern Minnesota Art Council I Embodied Landscapes Art Film
2024…Artist-in-Residency| Fishbowl Studios and Gallery | Seattle, WA
2024…Artist Residency Fellowship | NE Sculpture Gallery | Minneapolis, MN
2020-2021...Artist-in-Residence | Threshold Arts | Rochester, MN
2018-2020...Emerging Artist Grant | Southeastern Minnesota Art Council | Shadow Form: The Human Body's Secret Life
2011…International Undergraduate Research Grant | University of Wisconsin- La Crosse |Primitivism
2010...International Undergraduate Research Grant | University of Wisconsin- La Crosse | The Blending of Art and Science
Awards
2024…CollexArt Art on Paper Artist Profile Award | CollexArt Online Gallery
2023…Best Interpretation of Theme Award | “Little Shop” | Studs, Struts & Stilettos Wearable Sculpture Competition
2022…Habitat’s Choice Award | “Salem” | Studs, Struts & Stilettos Wearable Sculpture Competition
Exhibition History
April-May, 2026…Group Exhibtion | “Blurred Boundaries” | Bleeding Heart Gallery, Alberta, Canada
January 11, 2026…Film Premiere | “Embodied Landscapes” Art Film Premiere | Historic Chateau Theatre, Threshold Arts, Rochester, MN
June 6-July 20, 2025…Solo Exhibition | “Through the Mirror, Through the Mind” | Calendula Gallery, St. Paul, MN
May 17, 2025…Live Performance | “Reconstructing the Self, Figure in Motion” | Artistry Bloomington Center for the Arts, Bloomington, MN
April 26-July 27, 2025…Group Exhibition | “Trust the Hours” | Historic Chateau Theatre, Rochester, MN
April 4-July 27, 2025…Solo Exhibition | “Living in the Disconnect” | Threshold Arts, Rochester, MN
March 4-May 18, 2025…Solo Exhibition| “Reconstructing the Self” | Artistry Bloomington Center for the Arts, Bloomington, MN
January 10-February 1, 2025…Group Exhibition| “Echoes Within” | Slip Gallery, Seattle, WA
November-December, 2024…Group Exhibition | “Extremely Minnesota 2024” | Robbin Gallery, Robinsdale, MN
October 1-31, 2024…Group Exhibition | “Liminal Spaces” | Fishbowl Studios & Gallery, Seattle, WA
June 7-9, 2024…Group Exhibition | “Tangible Hallucinations” | NE Sculpture Gallery Factory, Minneapolis, MN
March 2-30, 2024…Solo Exhibition | “Pop-Up Rochester” | 115 N. Broadway, Rochester, MN
May 1-June 25, 2023…Group Exhibition | “Paper Doll” | 125 Live, Rochester MN
April 20, 2023…Live Performance | “Little Shop of Horrors” | Studs, Struts, and Stilettos | Mayo Civic Center, Rochester, MN.. Awarded “Best Interpretation of Theme”
January 5-February 5, 2023…Group Exhibition | “Woman in Screen” | Smallart Gallery | Rochester, MN
October 22, 2022...Group Exhibition | "Meditations" | Art Attack | The Historic Chateau Theatre, Rochester, MN
October 20-27, 2022...Live Performance | "Oracles of EVEN Hotel" | EVEN Hotel, Rochester, MN
September 2022 -January 2023...Group Exhibition| "Distraction" | Rochester Looking at Climate Change | Rochester Art Center, Rochester, MN
August 25, 2022...Live Performance | "Heron's Hunt" | Rochester Art Center, Rochester, MN
August 19-27, 2022...Solo Show | "Shadow Form: The Human Body's Secret Life | The Historic Chateau Theatre, Rochester, MN
October 2021...Live Performance | "Salem Witch Trials" | Studs, Struts, and Stilettos | Mayo Civic Center, Rochester, MN
August 19 2021...Live Performance | "Mutations" | I Made This, A Fashion Show | Artheads, Rochester, MN
June 12 2021 …Live Performance | "Maskquerade" Art for Neighbors | Rochester Art Center, Rochester, MN
January- March 2020...Solo Exhibition "Shadow Form: the Human Body's Secret Life" | Rochester Art Center, Rochester, MN
Speaking Engagements
May 10, 2026…Panel | ARTSpeak - Grants for Artists | Red Wing Arts, Red Wing, MN
February 16, 2026…Podcast Ep291 | Embodied Landscapes, Interview with Jessalyn Finch | Wining About Herstory
March 2, 2026…Podcast Ep292 | The Adversarial Director | Wining About Herstory
May 8, 2025…Panel | “Making Space: Mental Health Artist Panel” | Threshold Arts, Rochester, MN
September 25, 2022…Panel | “Rochester Looking at Climate Change” | Rochester Art Center, Rochester, MN
Public Commissions
August 2024…The Sandy Keith Award Sculpture | “The Golden Music Crow” | Rochester Downtown Alliance, Rochester MN
April 2023… Studs, Struts, & Stilettos Wearable Sculpture Competition | “Little Shop” | Threshold Arts, Rochester, MN
October 2022… Studs, Struts, & Stilettos Wearable Sculpture Competition | “Salem” | Threshold Arts, Rochester, MN
April 2022… Barricade Mural Commission | “Space Cats” | Rochester Downtown Alliance, Rochester, MN
October 2020… Utility Box Mural | “For the Love of Crows | Rochester Downtown Alliance, Rochester, MN
In the News
January 2026…Artist Interview, Local MN News | “Embodied Landscapes” to premiere at the Historic Chateau Theatre | ABC6 News
January 2026…Artist Interview, Local MN News | Historic Chateau Theatre - Short Film: Embodied Landscapes | Midwest Access
June 2025…Artist Interview, MN Publication | “Meet Jessalyn Finch of Rochester, MN” | Voyage Minnesota
May 2025…Exhibition Highlight “Living in the Disconnect”, Rochester, MN Publication | “Rochester artist Jessalyn Finch exhibits new 'body' of work” | Post Bulletin
November 2023…Artist Interview, International Publication | “10 Questions with Jessalyn Finch” | AL-TIBA9 CONTEMPORARY ART MAGAZINE
January 2025…Exhibition Highlight “Echoes Within,” Seattle, WA Publication | “Must-see Seattle art exhibitions, events and more for 2025" | Seattle Times
September 2023…Artist Interview, MN Publication | “The Change Makers: Stories that Inspire- Jessalyn Finch ” | Voyage Minnesota
April 2023…Exhibition Highlight, Rochester, MN Publication | “Studs, Struts & Stilettos Fashion Expose” | Post Bulletin
October 2022…Exhibition Highlight “Oracles of Even,” SE MN News | “Rochester Artist Creates Living Sculpture Exhibition” | ABC6 News
September 2022…Artist Interview, Local MN Publication | “From wearable art to ‘naked’ works, Rochester artist Jessalyn Finch creates experiences” | Post Bulletin
October 2022…Exhibition Highlight “Heron’s Hunt,” SE MN News | “Walk with an Artist Comes to Life in Rochester” | ABC 6 News
April 2020…Artist Interview, Rochester, MN Publication | “Your Style: Jessalyn Finch” | Post Bulletin
