Jess Moore was our first-ever Ambassador Artist in Residence
BTNF Ambassador Artist in Residence
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What does FBT have in common with the 16th century Medici family of Florence, Italy? We both support artists in residence! Back in the 1500s, the Medici family invited artists from art academies across Europe to live in their various villas so that the artists could focus on their work without external pressures. By the 17th century, the French Academy (confusingly in Rome, Italy) started providing scholarships for artists to live and study in the Italian city considered the center of art at the time. Jumping forward to the 19th century, artist colonies in rural areas started becoming a thing. At these, artists were inspired by their surroundings.
Last summer/fall, FBT, thanks to grants from the Jackson Hole Travel & Tourism Board and the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole, sponsored its first Ambassador Artist in Residence (AAIR) on the BTNF. “Our goal was to help the local community explore the connections between public lands, nature, our use of natural resources, and our emotional ties to natural beauty through self-expression,” says FBT program manager Margo Feingold.
And FBT could not have asked for a better creative to be its first-ever AAIR: Jess Moore. A full-time RVer since 2017, Moore has owned her art business Simple and Sylvan since 2016. She was on the BTNF for 10 weeks in 2024 and, in September and October, led six free weekly watercolor/nature journaling workshops (photos of workshop participants are below). These were held at different locations around the Jackson District of the BTNF (the 3.4 million acre national forest is divided into six Ranger Districts).
Jess describes nature journaling as observational recording that helps to develop curiosity and record and examine surroundings. She says, “These workshops are a different way to take in the Bridger-Teton National Forest than the more usual forest activities like hiking, biking, or running. This is introspective and observational. This type of session, en plein air, allowed visitors and locals of all ages to examine and reexamine the flora and fauna of our environment from a different scope.”
Prior to being an AAIR on the BTNF, Moore had spent three summers here. “I keep coming back to this place because it feels like home,” she says. “Every wild place I go, I find I just want to learn more about it. When I lead workshops on public lands, I think that’s an opportunity for me to share some of what I’ve learned with people in a fun and engaging way—through art.”
In addition to leading the free community workshops, Moore expanded her own body of work and connected with nature and BTNF users. Her current work focuses on bridging analog materials with digital tools. This includes layered illustrations that come to life in wood, and combining embroidery with two dimensional art including photography, illustration, watercolor, and cyanotype.
While on the BTNF, it was not lost on Jess that her mailing address was Moran, Wyoming, a small community named for the Teton peak, Mt. Moran, itself named for landscape painter Thomas Moran. In 1871, Moran embarked on a geological survey with Ferdinand Hayden to document the Yellowstone region. Along with photographer William Henry Jackson, the party visited now well-known sites such as the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Mammoth Hot Springs, even Old Faithful. At each site, Moran created stirring watercolor sketches and Jackson made photographs. Moran’s colorful paintings conveyed the beauty of the region in ways black and white photography could not. Jackson’s images provided documentary evidence that Moran’s sketches were not just artistic flights of fancy. Back in Washington, D.C., Moran’s watercolors and studio oils, plus Jackson’s photographs went on display, providing compelling evidence that helped convince the US Congress to create the world’s first national park in 1872.
“Thanks in part to the protections Moran helped usher in, these resources and vistas serve as a respite and inspiration today,” Jess says. “I was honored to be in such an awe inspiring place, and to continue my support for public lands use and protection.”
“Our goal of having an Ambassador Artist in Residence was to help the local community explore the connections between public lands, nature, our use of natural resources, and our emotional ties to natural beauty through self-expression.”
— FBT program manager Margo Feingold
ABOUT JESS MOORE
Jess is an artist and graphic designer with over 20 years experience and an MFA in Integrated Design from the University of Baltimore. She owns Simple and Sylvan, which focuses on wholesale art goods for boutiques and shops focusing on historical places and wild lands. Previously Jess worked for professional services firms as an in-house graphic designer crafting messaging in a range of media. She served as President for AIGA Colorado, the professional association for design, from 2015–2017. Jess has taught graphic design and art foundation courses since 2002, and has presented topics on the intersection of business and art/design around the country. Moore has volunteered 2000+ hours in public lands over the last 7 years.
Follow her at @simpleandsylvan and shop her GoImagine and Etsy shops or add her work to your own shop from her wholesale line—Simple and Sylvan is a member of the Public Lands Alliance and the Museum Store Association.
You can meet Jess in person in spring 2025 when she will be an AIR at the Desert National Wildlife Refuge outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. She is also launching a new venture, Rewilding Your Nature, which will lead immersive retreats to investigate the intersection of art and nature.
