jessa gillespie

jessa gillespie is an engineer and creative technologist living in xučyun (Huichin), the unceded territory of the Ohlone people. they hold a masters of science in computer science from depaul university, and they collaborate with artists, educators, and nonprofits on a variety of projects, including game development, virtual reality, and website design and development. more recently, they have been building software tools and games for fun.

education
2022-2025 master of science in computer science with distinction depaul university, chicago
2013-2018 bachelor of fine arts with distinction university of alberta
professional experience
2021 3d graphics, website design & development for walter gordon's interactive digital edition of shirley graham's play, "dust to earth"
2021 website design & development for latitude 53 & megan gnanisihamany's online exhibition, "after the end"
2021 website design & development for the intersections of gender researcher directory at the university of alberta
2019-present c# programming, 3d graphics, animation for stephanie dinkins studio
2019 virtual reality development for mapa de cuauhtinchan project in collaboration with davíd carrasco, laana carrasco, and stewart bird
2018-2020 graphic design for bar laika by e-flux
2017-2019 virtual reality development for brad necyk studio
2017-2019 game development & 3d graphics on "the lost garden" with scott smallwood and nicolás arnáez
2017-2018 gallery assistant for dc3 art projects
2016 intern for neue galerie berlin
professional development
2018 guest lecturer at the university of alberta - art and/in the anthropocene taught by natalie loveless
2016-2018 member of the research-creation and social justice colab led by natalie loveless
2017 member of the interactives group at the university of alberta led by scott smallwood and geoffrey rockwell
2013-2017 founding chairperson of the youth empowerment grant program through the edmonton community foundation
2015-2017 vice president external of the visual arts students association, social events coordinator of the visual arts students association
2014-2017 editorial board of the women's and gender studies undergraduate journal - spaces between
2015-2016 graphic designer & executive member of the feminists at the university of alberta
curation
2020 community presentation series - an experimental lecture series held in the upstairs of the historic ear inn soho, new york
2018 material^tm - an exhibition co-curated with daniel walker at latitude 53 edmonton, alberta
2017 self disclosures - an exhibition co-curated with daria nordell that took place at the works art & design festival, with works by 19 artists edmonton, alberta
scholarships & awards
2022 ms pathways to computing scholarship, depaul university
2018 edmonton arts council artist project grant
2017 nominee for the bmo 1st national art! competition
2016 roger s. smith research award
2016 natalka horeczko scholarship in painting and print design