Jessica Winters is a painter, printmaker, and textile artist from Makkovik, Nunatsiavut, NL, currently based in St. John’s, NL. Winters attributes her artistic practice to her family of established craftspeople; her mother and grandmother, Blanche Winters and Nellie Winters, are celebrated textile artists, and her cousin is painter Bronson Jacque. Working primarily in painting, Winters is best known for works that reflect Inuit daily life, memory and relationships to land and culture.
Winters began her artistic practice by drawing and quickly developed as a portraitist, selling her first commissioned works at age 13 [1]. She received her first set of acrylic paints from school principal Liz Mitchell, from supplies the school wasn’t using [2]; At age 15, Winters sold her first acrylic painting [3]. She describes her artistic training as largely self-directed. “I’m still just kind of learning as I go on, being self-taught,” [4] she explains.
In 2021, Winters became a full-time artist, continuing to focus on painting while expanding in scale and visibility. Some of her recent work includes her ongoing lichen series, which has been featured prominently in both commercial and institutional exhibitions, including Lichen (Hopedale 1) (2023) in the exhibition ᐅᐅᒻ ᒪᖁᑎᒃ uummaqutik, essence of life (2024) at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) in Montreal, QC. Winters describes her evolving relationship with painting, saying, I’m getting looser with my painting, even though I’m a bit of a perfectionist.” [5] This shift, she explains, has come through sustained practice, learning to allow forgiveness in her process while maintaining a high standard for her finished artworks.
Alongside her studio practice, Winters has also curated and co-curated exhibitions, including video program Sanningajuk at Centre Clark in 2022 in Montreal, QC; Land of Us, Land of None at the 2022 Arctic Arts Summit in Whitehorse, YT; and Stitches We Share at the Bonavista Biennale in 2025 in Bonavista, NL. “It’s not something that I sought out… but if the opportunity arises, I do it,” [6] she says. Painting remains her central passion, but she notes that curatorial work can be important “when you need an Inuit curator,” particularly for projects grounded in community knowledge and lived experience. In 2022 she also published written work in the Inuit Art Quarterly and Inuktitut Magazine.
Winters is represented by Feheley Fine Arts in Toronto, ON, and has exhibited widely across Canada, including at the MMFA; The Rooms, NL; the Yukon Arts Centre; and the Art Gallery of Guelph, ON. Recently, her work has been featured in exhibitions Host at the Bonavista Biennale (2023), and Grounding: In Celebration of The Rooms’ 20th Anniversary (2025). Her work was also included in Winter Count: Embracing the Cold (2025) at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, ON.
Winters has received numerous honours, including being longlisted for the 2024 Sobey Art Award and receiving the William and Meredith Saunderson Prize for Emerging Artists from the Hnatyshyn Foundation in 2022. Looking ahead at her career, she emphasizes sustainability and focus in her practice: “My dream [is] to just be able to paint a dozen paintings a year and make a living—a good living,” [7] she says, noting a desire to concentrate more fully on painting and expand her fine art representation internationally.