About Jess

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Jessica Masino Drass, MA, ATR-BC is a Senior Lecturer at the University of the Arts in the Art & Design Education and Art Therapy Departments. She is an art psychotherapist, an arts-based researcher, author, and a former high school art teacher.  Jessica’s research explores the interdisciplinary domains of creativity through an artistic inquiry process of making maps and performing data to capture, develop and expose various types of knowledge.  Her work seeks to illuminate the existence of a parallel universe and highlight how the arts can serve as a portal and a map to these paradoxical realities to challenge assumptions and create ruptures in thought and routine. 

Jess has a BA in Fine Art from Rutgers University, MA in School Psychology from Rowan University, and MA in Art Therapy from Drexel University. Most recently, Jessica was a PhD candidate and Research Fellow in the Creative Arts Therapy Department at Drexel University.  She is trained in Dialectical Behavior Therapy, and her clinical work focuses on treating trauma and dissociation through her Punk Rock Art Therapy approach.  Jessica is co-founder of Wise Mind Creations, a mobile art studio that specializes in using art making to practice mindfulness and build community. 

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Jess lives in South Jersey, just outside Philadelphia with her husband Charlie and their spunky 2nd grader CJ.  She loves Skinny Puppy, Joy Division and Kate Spade.