An Artist Who Won’t Be Another Brick in the Pile

by Bradley Simpson

"I'm done. This is crazy! I'm done." This is the thought that ran through Jessica Hagen's

mind after backing her car into a concrete pillar one day, the day she took her future into her own

hands. An advertising executive for the Boston Phoenix on her way to a booze cruise in Boston

Harbor with other media big-wigs - who from the sound of it, were definitely not the most

genuine individuals - Jessica's mishap with a lazy lot attendant in a cramped Boston parking

garage set her over the edge. She hated her job, was late to the cruise, and now had a wrecked

car. A day later she'd turn in her resignation and seek work following her true passion. Not long

after, she was the owner of her own art gallery on Bridge Street in Newport, Rhode Island and a

shining example that following your dreams just may be worth all the extra effort in the end.

For Jessica, 58, opening her own gallery after years of mind-numbing marketing work

was a no-brainer. “There’s got to be something that I can do in Newport that I enjoy, that doesn’t

involve this much of stress, this commute, and just this lifestyle,” she remembers thinking to

herself, “This is not for me.” Federal funding for the arts is slowly shrinking. U.S. President

Donald Trump has for years tossed around the idea of eliminating the National Endowment for

the Arts (NEA), and it looks like his proposed 4.75 trillion-dollar budget for 2020 allocates just

$29 million to the NEA “to begin shutting down” the agency. In the wake of that proposal it

takes a lot of nerve and a lot of work to pursue an artistic career, but her hard work has paid off.

Jessica Hagen Fine Art & Design is a quaint but sleek art gallery in downtown Newport.

The ivy-fronted building is nestled next to an antique shop whose garden décor spills out into

sidewalk. The clutter next-door contrasts with the clean, bright white walls and elegantly
arranged art installation of the gallery. Jessica has labored tirelessly to stand out against the old,

well-established art galleries and cultural institutions that litter Newport’s narrow streets. “When

I started my business in 2005 most galleries were [showcasing artwork featuring] sailboats,

lighthouses, seascapes – and nothing against any of that, I have it in my own house – but I felt

like everyone was striking the same note, and that there was room in Newport for contemporary

art.” And clearly there is; her most recent gallery exhibition opening “LINE COLOR FORM”

drew a crowd larger that the space could handle, and guests lingered outside at a cute patio table,

eager to find an opening inside. Jessica’s success has allowed her to serve Newport for 15 long

years, and one wonders whether this success is due more to her filling a void in the city’s vibrant

art scene, or her infectiously affable personality.

Whether it’s the window-washer, her brother, a featured artist, tourists from Pennsylvania

checking out her gallery across from the Visitor’s Center, or a humble college student reporter,

to Jessica Hagen, everyone is family. “It’s just fun to talk to people!” she exclaims. Even toll

both operators are friends to Jessica, who laments the switch to automatic toll booths claiming

she “used to like stopping! It was a moment to connect to someone!” Owning a gallery and

showcasing her own jewelry is rewarding in and of itself, but the real reason Jessica does what

she does is the people. With the artists she works with daily, it’s all about cooperation. “I love

working with artists; I can understand them and speak to them knowledgeably and

empathetically if need be.” When the Pennsylvania couple inquired about a wall covered edge to

edge in Hunt Slonem’s famous “bunny paintings,” Jessica was quick to point out how Slonem

had once discovered the significance of the rabbit as his Zodiac sign and has loved painting them

ever since. The depth of knowledge she has about every one of the artists she has on display

shows how much she really cares.

 Family is one of those intrinsic values that everyone cherishes, none perhaps more so

than Jessica Hagen. She has a wonderful professional relationship with her brother, Dan Denton

(also an artist with a body of work on display for “LINE COLOR FORM”), who she describes as

being “indispensable” in helping her with installations. Her two children, Parker, 16, and

Whitney, a freshman in college and aspiring photographer/neuroscientist, are her world. She

doesn’t have to try very hard to cultivate an appreciation for the arts in them, either. In a way,

just being around such a creative and charming person like Jessica instills a love of the arts in

you, similarly to the love that was instilled in her as a child.

Growing up in Woodstock, NY in the sixties, the very Woodstock that lent its name to

the iconic music festival of 1969, Jessica says “I knew I wanted to be in the arts when I was two,

I mean I don’t remember ever being as passionate about anything else.” This love of art was

definitely aided by the atmosphere of Woodstock at the time. “It was a Music Mecca,” she says,

“every waitress, every bar tender, every shop girl was an aspiring something.” In Woodstock it

was not uncommon to see famous musicians, authors, and artists walking down the street, sitting

in restaurants, or headed home from the drycleaners.

Her parents, a father who worked as an engineer for IBM at the time and a stay-at-home

mother, moved the family there in 1964 when Jessica was three. “My parents were very open

minded and very encouraging of me in terms of being creative,” she says. This support continued

into Jessica’s college days, where despite a longing to study at the Fashion Institute of

Technology in Manhattan, her father’s apprehensions about the safety of the Big Apple in the

early 1980s led Jessica to landing at the Rhode Island School of Design. She describes RISD as

“a mixed bag,” perhaps not the best fit for someone with such lofty aspirations, but still a
worthwhile experience. All the time she spent studying design in Rhode Island warmed her up to

the region, and after working advertising director jobs for a small Rhode Island-based newspaper

and later the dreaded Boston Phoenix, it was only natural that she should return to the humble

state to start her career. Beginning at Studio 29, transferring to Sheldon Fine Art and finally

opening Jessica Hagen Fine Art & Design, the career she sparked in gallery work has spanned

decades.

Despite the support, Jessica’s journey has not been without hardship. Running a gallery

all on your own is difficult. “I curate the artists, the artwork that’s in the gallery, and do all

associated activities including show some of my own jewelry, write the press releases, organize

the shows…basically everything.” On top of that, her divorce has presented its own set of

challenges. Raising two children alone meant closing the gallery early when she first opened,

despite the warnings coming from fellow gallery owners. Evening crowds are a huge market, but

with two young kids in school, staying open past 3:00 wasn’t an option. Ever a people person,

Jessica could not and would not let her position as gallery director get in the way of her role as a

mother. “It didn’t feel like a challenge, it just felt like how my life was and had to be.”

Balancing everything life throws at us is hard. You have to be committed to work through

the curveballs. This requires a certain work ethic; and work ethic is the department where, more

than anywhere else, Jessica Hagen shines. Waking up at 5am to answer a phone call from Dan as

he experiences an artistic crisis about whether or not to include a fresh cut flower in the pool of

water in his new stone sculpture “Water is Life” at the following day’s gallery opening. Actively

engaging with a visitor to the gallery one minute, just to turn around and help an artist get her bio

and resume together the next. One wonders how she stays sane. And yet Jessica has a unique
outlook on life, one that came out when she used a spare moment to work on crafting a beautiful

blue quartz necklace.

Stringing together big beautiful blue stones and clear quartz spacers, Jessica finds some

Zen. “There’s something so grounding about making something by hand, it reminds you that

you’re a human.” She reflects on what it took to get where she is, and how lucky she is to be

doing something she’s passionate about every day. “Being that art is basically what I’m

passionate about, to be able to work in a field where you care, I think sets a good example for my

kids.”

To a college student studying theatre, that resonated with me. For so long I’ve been afraid

that my passion lies in a field where I won’t be able to support myself financially, won’t be able

to repay my parents for all their support over the years. And Jessica is a realist. She admits the

journey can be tough. “There’s a lot in life where if you want to take your own path, one that

may be unconventional, it can be tricky,” she says. “And maybe you’ll have to wear a bunch of

hats for a while, maybe you’ll have to do things that you didn’t think would be part of your

career, but if you truly love what you do and you can see the promise and reward in it, I think

sticking with it is good.” I believe her. One only needs to take a quick stroll down Thames St. or

America’s Cup Ave. in Newport to see just how much good art has done the community. Jessica

notes that on her gallery’s tenth anniversary, a local Newporter lauded her success and told her

how good it was to “have so many new galleries.” The comment shocked her, “New?” she

responded, “I’ve been here for ten years!” In New York, a two-year-old art gallery is well-

established. But in Newport, a unique town full of history, as Jessica puts it, “you really have to

pay your dues.”

 from https://redwoodlibrary.org/exhibitions
Driving down Bellevue Avenue with her son Parker one day, Jessica passed the Redwood

Library, outside of which was a huge art installation by Cameroonian artist Pascale Marthine

Tayou. The sculpture is Remember Bimbia, a pile of painted paving stones that moor the

American flag. The whole piece sat directly on the front pathway leading into the library and was

mocked and rejected by many in the community as being too abstract or too ugly. The artist

points out in the piece’s description on the Redwood’s website that the stones surrounding the

flag represent the “rubble of [America’s] repressed past,” and states he created the sculpture as

an appeal to get people to recognize slavery as “part of our communal history.” True to the

theory that symbols are polysemous, Parker took a different, more uplifting interpretation. To

him, the stones were all citizens of America. “We’re all differently colored bricks, and that’s our

country.” The fact that a single art piece can connect with different people in different ways,
simultaneously evoking feelings of camaraderie and social protest, speaks to the importance of

what Jessica Hagen does every day.

“Art is important for the reason it’s always been,” she says, “It’s a recording of a moment

in time, of a person’s talent.” For her, art is a deeply human endeavor. There’s a realness to it

that reels us in from the craziness of our lives. “There’s activist art and art that makes a point,

and that’s good but for me, on a daily basis, living with art, art for me just needs to embrace

quality, originality, and beauty.” Jessica sees art for what it is: a reflection of the artists soul.

Being so in touch with the human condition and the artist’s struggle sets her apart as a uniquely

compassionate individual. Art for her is a reminder that we are all human, even in times when

“we can easily forget that we’re all in this together.” Maybe that’s not the case for everyone on

the planet at the moment, certainly it doesn’t seem to be the case for our current president. But

Jessica Hagen isn’t just another colored brick in the pile. “Who would want to be the same as

everyone else?” she asks, “How boring is that?”