A Day in Chicago With United States Artists' Jessica Ferrer
Photo by Jeremy Lawson Photography, courtesy of United States Artists.
Jessica Ferrer is a Chicago-based artist-administrator. As a Program Manager at United States Artists, Jessica co-leads its flagship Fellowship award program as well as New Suns: Listening with Artists, a tri-annual digital publication centering artists' perspectives and experiences. She is proud to have grown into this role after beginning as a Program Intern at USA in 2017, and loves doing anything to help artists receive support and care to sustain themselves and their practices.
Jessica is also a 2022-2023 HATCH Resident at the Chicago Artists Coalition. Her most recent body of work untangles feelings of betweenness and rejoins them into sites of familial beauty and remembrance. She received her B.A. in Studio Art and English from Kenyon College in 2017. She is a former figure skater, current Formula 1 fan, and future fossil. Jessica’s day involves a morning routine with her and her partner’s three pets, meetings for USA, and work in her studio.
7:30am: I have never been a morning person, but having two cats and a dog means that I’ve been trained into their morning routine. That routine consists of Humphrey, the eldest of the pet trio, walking into our bedroom and meowling at the top of his lungs, which cues Auggie, the middle child, to step consecutively across Bruno, the baby and biggest, my partner, and me until we surrender our slumber. It is as theatrical as it sounds.
Our breakfast afterparty consists of brewing coffee and opening the blinds to let as much sun into our living area as possible. I work from home mostly but sometimes I’ll work elsewhere or opt for an in-person meeting. No matter where I am, work starts with checking email and saying good morning via Slack to the rest of the team.
Jessica, Bruno, and Jessica’s sister Justine celebrating the start of stoop season.
9:00am: I check my calendar and handwrite a plan for the day, a notation habit I have inherited from both of my parents. I want everyone to know that my mom and dad have enviably neat penmanship. Then, meetings!
I prefer when the first half of my workday contains the majority, if not all, of my meetings. It’s nice to see friendly faces and catch up on how people feel and how our work is shaping up. Meetings can be more difficult if I don’t squeeze in the aforementioned coffee, but they’re still productive; I like working as a team.
11:30am: First, if I’m at home and haven’t walked Bruno recently enough, he bugs me to take him outside.
Late spring — a time known as May or June in other places; Chicago summers come hot but late in my memory. At United States Artists (USA), it arrives on the heels of its annual Fellowship announcement. Special shoutout to Deanna Van Buren, Alexis Hope, Krystal C. Mack, and Bryan C. Lee who were recognized in Architecture & Design this year!
We’ve also been trying to figure out ways to support artists on top of the $50,000 in cash that comes with each Fellowship. This year, we are including options for financial planning, legal services, and personal and professional coaching. We launched another issue of New Suns: Listening with Artists and highlighted this year’s Berresford Prize recipient. USA is always working to find better ways to celebrate artists and how they enrich our lives materially and philosophically, whether it’s with unrestricted funding opportunities, tailored supportive services, or a fun gathering.
If it’s a meeting-light day, I’ll start to work through tasks at this time. If it’s a meeting-heavy day, I’ll do one more round of coffee.
1:00pm: I plan to have eaten lunch by this time, but midday breaks are moving targets. This time falls in the middle of a meeting-heavy day, but I tend to have an extra burst of energy after eating lunch that helps keep those meetings upbeat. Otherwise, lush, deep work-time starts now.
3:00pm: Next, Humphrey sprawls across my laptop keyboard, his preferred afternoon nap spot. This happens to be, unfortunately, when I like to check email, update agendas, type up copy, and edit. We all have our rhythms.
A book and rug Jessica made recently.
5:30pm: I say good night and sign off of Slack. Now that work’s done for the day, everybody eats dinner to start the evening. Between my partner and me, whoever’s got more energy or is feeling inspired cooks, but eating out or ordering in are frequent indulgences.
Post-dinner time involves some combination of talking with our friends and siblings; playing, watching, or listening to something together; and pleasantly ignoring each other while we do our own things.
8:00pm: If I’ve done an evening activity, like pickleball, a work event, or a dinner date, I am calmest upon returning home around this time. I still have fun after 8pm, but I don’t sleep well. If I’m feeling up to it, I’ll work in my studio, our lucky spare room, for a bit. While winding down, I’ll walk past the hallway whiteboard displaying two key pieces of information: chores and our ongoing pet personality quiz game. Sometimes, but not often enough, I’ll take care of a chore and erase it; I always contribute to the quiz with a question or answer.
10:00pm: Bedtime, as in we get into bed but don’t fall asleep right away. We bide our time with screens, books, and fighting Bruno for more room.
12:00am: If I’m up this late, I’ll turn on a dated but comforting TV show I’ve seen too many times to count, like Season Two of Gilmore girls. Over-familiarity ends up lulling me to sleep, which is a welcome relief until Auggie swats my snoring nose awake the next day.