For the Love of Rochester Crows

Artist Name

Jessalyn Finch

Installation Date

2020

Materials

Painted Transformer Box

Details

This mural is based on the adopted animal of Rochester, the crows. While their residence in our city during winter is controversial, their magnetic pull to the heat of downtown is a captivating struggle between nature, survival, and urbanization.  Crows are incredible intelligent creatures and have a remarkable ability for facial recognition. I wanted to capture the gaze of their eyes, watching us from a distance as we manage through our own survival during the season.  

The color scheme will be reminiscent of winter skies with white/grays fading into dark blues. The crow silhouettes will be black, but the large crow will include dark blues and gray highlights.  The eye will be shades of green and gray.

About the Artist

Jessalyn lives and works in Rochester, Minnesota and is an Artist in Residence at Threshold Arts. She is best known for her larger-than-life nude figure drawings in charcoal that scale seven feet or larger that were exhibited in early 2020 at the Rochester Art Center. A cross between realism and expressionism, she interviews and works with models to portray the variety of relationships we have with our human form.

As a response to the pandemic, Jessalyn has made the crossover into sculpture by teaming up with a photographer to create The Mask Project. The artists wanted to create characters that represent the dysphoric, isolating, and distractive nature that the life-changing events of this year have produced.  Jessalyn created the masks out of leftover materials of cardboard, hot glue, and paint that she found around her house during times of quarantine. She modeled the masks for photographer, Mary McDonald, in northern Minnesota.

Address

202 1st Ave SW
Rochester, MN 55902

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