Hi, I’m Jessa Nocis — artist, educator, and creative being. I make a lot of things. I teach a lot of things. I care a lot about both.
I’m Jessa Nocis, M.A.Ed — a visual artist and high school art educator based in Spokane, WA.
I teach digital photography and video production, and when I’m not in the classroom, I’m painting, documenting, or just following ideas wherever they take me. My creative work moves between mediums — some projects are messy, personal, and tactile. Others are digital, structured, and collaborative. My process is rooted in emotion, play, and care. I believe art is a way of making meaning — and I get to do that alongside students, peers, and my own ever-curious brain.
I’ve always been a maker.
Before I had the words for it, I understood the world visually — through color, texture, and tiny details.
Growing up down the street from Michael’s Craft Store, I spent every spare penny on yarn, paint, beads, and scrap paper. My bedroom was a rotating art studio — and now my adult studio is no different (maybe just better organized).I got my first camera at 13. It was a lime green Casio Exilim — 8.1 megapixels of pure magic. A few years later, my parents surprised me with a Canon Rebel XS so I could take photography in high school. That led to a landscape workshop at Mt. Rainier, where I learned to wake up early, look closely, and slow down for the shot.Whether I’m shooting, painting, or teaching — the impulse has always been the same: to create, to notice, to share.
