Jessi Golden (b. 2000, Lowell, MA) is a collage artist whose work centers on joy, identity, and the human connections that shape us. Working primarily with donated magazines, she builds portraits and scenes from the fragments of everyday media—creating layered images that are both deeply personal and universally relatable.

Jessi first discovered collage as a teenager, sifting through stacks of magazines around her mother’s house. Drawn to the colors, lighting, and beauty in those images, she began tearing and arranging them into something new: not just pictures, but narratives. Her first piece—a portrait named Laurel—set the tone for a practice rooted in emotion, storytelling, and the reimagining of discarded materials.

Her process is intuitive and slow: she sketches from digital mockups, selects images with care, and builds her compositions in layers using matte medium and brushwork. She favors LIFE magazines for their harsh lighting and expressive scenes, often spending weeks collecting the right fragments before anything touches canvas. What results is work that rewards close attention: intricate portraits that offer something new each time you return to them.

Jessi holds a degree in Graphic Design from Red Rocks College and has trained with collage artist Derek Gores. She works out of The Generator in Reno, a creative makerspace with roots in Burning Man culture. That communal, ephemeral spirit infuses her practice—especially her belief in transformation, impermanence, and finding beauty in what might otherwise be overlooked.

Her 2025 solo show, Together We..., explored the relationships in her life through visual pairs, offering viewers a mirror for their own emotional landscapes. Her work has been exhibited at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport, Makers Paradise, North Tahoe Arts, and 40 West Gallery, among others. She was the second-place winner in the 2024 Illusions and Enigmas competition at Ten Moir Gallery.

At the heart of Jessi’s work is an ongoing conversation—with the material, with herself, and with the viewer. “There’s the main image,” she says, “but then there’s the long-term relationship you build with it. You can get lost in the small things. You can find new stories over time.”