Forget the stencils, brushes and acrylic paints—Jessica Roy’s artist toolbox is filled with worn encyclopedias, outdated medical books and long-forgotten yearbooks. She designs jewelry, greeting cards, prints and totes, among other things. But her forte is using vintage papers to create mixed media collages. It’s how she came up with the name of her studio: madeNew.
“I love to find ways to use old things and recycle them,” Roy says. “The illustrations are so beautiful in those kinds of books, but the information is really outdated.”
She credits her grandmother and mother for encouraging her artistic inclination from an early age. Her grandmother was known for her creativity, Roy says, and was the first one to teach her how to make color paints.
“Art is in my genes,” Roy says.
But her lifelong hobby hasn’t always been a full-time focus. Prior to hitting her 40s and finding herself single again, she was a stay-at-home mother to her son, Jack, and daughter, Juno, who was ill and spent a lot of time in the hospital.
She tried nursing school for a year, but balancing that with caring for her children made for long days and ultimately dissuaded her from that route. After her daughter passed away in April 2019, she started picking up more hours at her sister’s farm, Mushroom Maggie’s Farm, and pursuing art again.
“I still work for my sister and try to do the art on the side, but it’s sort of taking over and becoming a full-time thing,” Roy says. “I sell items as fast as I can make them.”
One of her latest pieces, “Psalm 18: 16, 19,” features a photograph of the moon from a worn encyclopedia and strips of paper cut from an antiquated map. The idea for the piece flashed into her mind after she read the Bible verse: “He reached down from on high and took hold of me: He drew me out of deep waters … He brought me out into a spacious place; He rescued me because He delighted in me.”
“I just thought the idea that God delights in us was really beautiful,” Roy says.
Another one of her recent works has a special meaning: “LSU Gumbo 1972” is taken from a page of her parents’ LSU yearbook and showcases a photograph of her mother at the center. She loves quilts and their patterns but doesn’t know how to make them, so she mimics quilt designs with paper.
“It’s a lot of fun, and it feels really good to finally be doing this,” Roy says. “It’s never too late to start over and reinvent yourself.”
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About the artist
You can find Jessica Roy’s work at the Baton Rouge Arts Market or the MidCity Makers Market, as well as at madenewstudio.com or Instagram, @madenewstudio.
This article was originally published in the August 2021 issue of 225 magazine.