Hesci! ⸜(。˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

Jessi Sands was born in Stillwater, Oklahoma. They grew up on the Cherokee reservation and their Mvskoke reservation where they graduated from Jenks High School. Where they received honorable mention from a young artists exhibition at the Hive in Jenks, Oklahoma. They received their Associates of Arts Degree from Tulsa Community College in 2021. They received their Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree with minors in American Indian Studies, Pre-Art Therapy, and Art History from Oklahoma State University in 2024. While attending OSU they received several scholarships, the most notable being the Dana, Lisa, and Chris Tiger Scholarship and the Jackson Narcomey Rising Artist Scholarship. Currently, Jessi is working towards receiving their Masters degree in Art Therapy and Ecotherapy certification from Southwestern College and New Earth Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Their career goal is to continue as a studio artist and create spaces for healing as an art therapist. Currently they are exploring how the intersectionality of their multiracial identity influences their roles as an Indigenous parent, queer person, and land steward. They prefer to work with multiple mediums such as watercolor, gouache, oil paint, embroidery, wire manipulation, fibers, drawing, collage, mixed media, as well as hand-built and wheel-thrown ceramics. Jessi currently lives on their Mvskoke reservation in Oklahoma with their partner, two children, and three precious cats.