about
A longtime Fort Worth resident, Jessica Fuentes is an artist, educator, author, and museum consultant. She attended the University of Texas at Dallas with a full Academic Achievement Scholarship and graduated with a BA in Art & Performance (2004). She received an MA in Art Education with a Museum Certification from the University of North Texas (2013) and was awarded the Most Innovative Thesis by the UNT University Libraries.
As an art educator with 15 years of experience, Jessica has taught learners of all ages in formal and informal settings. In her roles as Manager of Gallery Interpretation & the Center for Creative Connections at the Dallas Museum of Art and Manager of School & Community Outreach at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, she was a strong advocate for local artists by developing the C3 Visiting Artist Project and the Carter Community Artists initiative. At both of these institutions, she collaborated with cross-departmental teams; supervised staff, interns, and volunteers; created systems of evaluation, organization, and project management; and implemented DEAI trainings and strategies.
Jessica has contributed to institutional publications and national blogs and has written scholarly articles. In 2021, she authored The Need for Educators of Color in K-12 Museum Tours, in the Journal of Museum Education and the chapter, “Representation Matters: Diversifying School Tour Curriculum” in the book Creating Meaningful Museum Experiences for K-12 Audiences: How to Connect with Teachers and Students, edited by Tara Young. In 2022, she co-authored the Instructional Resource Redefining “American”: Expanding the Canon by Connecting With Students’ Lives in the Art Education journal.
Currently, Jessica is the News Editor for Glasstire and the Executive Director of Kinfolk House. She also serves on the board of Make Art with Purpose (MAP).
Jessica is a former member of the F6 Gallery Collective and 500x Gallery. In 2016, her solo show Tree House Divided was noted as one of the Top 5 Exhibitions of the year by Fort Worth Weekly. In 2018 her body of work entitled My Only Homeland was featured in Deep Red Press. During the 2019-2020 academic year, she was an Artist-in-Residence at Tarrant County College South Campus. In 2021, her work was included in the temporary public art exhibition, New Stories: New Futures curated by Dr. Lauren Cross.
In her downtime, she can usually be found with her family out in nature, enjoying an art museum, or making art in their home studio.
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