Image Courtesy Brian Bates
Jessica Caldas (b. 1986, Jacksonville, FL) is a Puerto Rican American, Florida and Georgia based artist. Her work connects personal and community narratives, usually centered on the experiences of women and women identifying folks, to larger themes and social issues through bodily, multidisciplinary works. Caldas has participated in a number of artist residencies, including the Atlanta Printmakers Studio in 2011, MINT Gallery's Leap Year Program from 2012-2013, The Creatives Project form 2018-2019, Vermont Studio Center in 2020, and was the Art on the Atlanta Beltline AIR in 2020-2021. In 2023 she completed the Working Artist Prize Fellowship at MOCA GA and was an Atlanta Artadia Awardee. Her work has been shown at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, GA, The Art & History Museums of Maitland, FL, CICA Museum in Incheon, South Korea and is included in the collections of Kilpatrick Townsend, The City of Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs, MOCA GA, and the Kyoto International Community House.
In her past advocacy work, Caldas has spent time lobbying for policy at the local level in Georgia and spent time with the YWCA Georgia Women's Policy Institute at the 2016 general assembly to assure the passage of the Rape Kit Bill and in 2016 to stop HB 51 in 2017, a bill that would have harmed the safety of sexual assault survivors on college campuses.
Caldas received her MFA at Georgia State University in 2019 and received her BFA in printmaking from the University of Georgia in 2012. She is currently the Director of the Institute of Grapahic Arts and Design in the Professional Academies Magnet at Loften High School in Gainesville, FL.