Jessica Hagen, A Gallery (and Owner) with Flair and Style

Jessica Hagen & Sabina Tichindeleanu

Jessica Hagen is an painter, a jewelry designer, and a devotee of the arts who has a terrific eye, and a gallery that showcases emerging young artists with impressive bodies of work.

Sabina Tichindeleanu and Jessica Hagen

At a recent opening of works by Sabina Tichindeleanu, Ms. Hagen greeted her guests, all of whom were delighted to climb the stairs to her salon-like gallery on Bellevue Avenue, in the historic Audrain Building.

“I love this location,” said the enthusiastic, smiling blonde, who studied painting at the Rhode Island School of Design. Her gallery was previously located at 51 Bellevue, just across from Newport’s Redwood Library.

After RISD, Ms. Hagen moved to New York “to do the poor starving artist routine”, then returned to Providence and became advertising director for a newspaper north of the city – a job that has helped her immensely in running Jessica Hagen Fine Art.(link )

Jessica Hagen Gallery Opening

“I learned how to write a press release and how to use my skills as a painter to design advertising,” she explains.

She then took up sailing, and crewed for 2 years on the 128’ Gleam, but started to long for the four seasons. Sailing brought her to Newport, and she jumped ship and spent 5 years at a busy downtown gallery, gaining skills at running an art business.

She took time off to start a family and had two children, Whitney, now 8, and Parker, 6. She went back to work as Director of Station 29, a contemporary gallery in a converted gas station, where she doubled the sales volume. Many of the artists then followed her to her new gallery when Station 29 closed.

Original jewelry at Jessica Hagen

“I maintain a very aggressive show schedule,” she explains, “ and have mounted over 20 exhibitions in 3 years.”

Now she is building both a serious clientle, and her stable of artists. The service is very discreet, and the service level high.

Whitney Hagen serves hors d'oeuvres

“Yuri Gorbachev (nephew of Mikhail Gorbachev) had a show with us 3 years ago, which brought the gallery international attention. It was like playing host to a rock star,” she commented.

“I love showing all kinds of work- representational and abstact,” she explains, looking at the paintings on display in the gallery’s front room.

Her passion and creative endeavor now is jewelry designing, one-of–a-kind pieces using natural elements, stones,and jewels, which she will offer on her website, her representational and selling tool. She will shop for stones in New York, and in Tucson, when the gallery is closed in January.

“The line will be very creative,” she promises.