Dubbed the “Lewis Carroll of Baltimore” by internationally renowned artist, Grace Hartigan, Jessica Damen’s paintings speak to universal themes revealed through fairytales, Biblical stories, ancient Greek myths and the inspiration of two American poets, Maj Ragain and Janet Lewis. Hartigan said of Damen’s paintings, “like William James she has a gift for psychology in her depiction of children. Her use of paint is both sensual and tough.”

Upon receiving her MFA in 2001, Hoffberger School of Painting, MICA, Damen was awarded a full resident fellowship at the Fine Arts Work Center (FAWC) in Provincetown, MA, by Elizabeth Turner, then Chief Curator at the Phillips Collection, Washington DC. She has won awards from Jay Fisher, Senior Curator of the Baltimore Museum of Art and Joann Moser, Senior Curator of Graphic Arts, National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC, among other respected curators.

Damen’s paintings have been selected for invitational shows at the Maryland Art Place (MAP) and the Delaware Center for Contemporary Art (DCCA). In 2016 Damen’s “Raised With Walls” was selected for the 3rd Biennial Maryland Regional Juried Art Exhibit (BMRE), the University of Maryland, University College. 2017 saw Damen’s works included in Zenith Gallery’s nationally juried exhibition “Resist” and its invitational “Femina”. Damen’s next solo exhibition will be this June through July at the Downtown Gallery, University of Ohio, Kent State where her responsive paintings to Maj Ragain’s poems will be featured.

Jessica Damen’s paintings are found in private and public collections including:
• IIT Research Institute of Fairfax, VA
• Sunwest Communications, Inc., Dallas TX
• Peter J. Sharp Foundation, NY, NY
• United States Department of State, Art in Embassies Program, 1990-1994
• Zuckerman, Spaeder, Goldstein, Taylor & Kolker, Vienna, VA

Gallery Affiliation:
Zenith Gallery - 1429 Iris Street, NW Washington DC 20012, Founder and Director Margery Goldberg