Jessica Pei Is Drawn to Success

It’s a typical senior year at Millburn High School—college applications, AP exams, and the countdown to graduation—but Jessica Pei has found her artist’s sanctuary at home surrounded by mismatched jars filled with pens, pencils, and brushes. “It’s chaos, but organized chaos,” she says. 

For this 12th-grade art student, that organized chaos has yielded extraordinary results. This year alone, Pei has earned two Scholastic Gold Keys and two Silver Keys, been featured in the Morris Museum’s "Fresh Perspectives" exhibition and the SOPAC "Inspired Minds" exhibition as a finalist, and received a perfect score on her AP 2D Art and Design portfolio.

Despite these accolades, the artist remains refreshingly grounded about her achievements. “I don’t think winning awards has influenced my current or future goals and plans,” she says. “While I’m really happy to be acknowledged for my art, I don’t create it for the sake of winning. Art is something I find really fun, and the joy I get from creating these pieces is what motivates me the most.”

Frame of Reference

Pei’s artistic journey began with a simple act of admiration. “I can’t pinpoint a specific moment where I fell in love with art, but my earliest memory of what sparked my interest in art is watching my older sister drawing fairytales at the dining room table,” she recalls. “I remember sitting beside her, just watching her draw, and wanting to be an artist, too.”

That childhood dream has evolved into a sophisticated artistic practice. Today, Pei’s creative process begins with spontaneous doodles on Post-It notes, progresses to refined sketches in her sketchbook or iPad, and culminates in exceptional finished pieces. Her medium of choice is acrylic markers. “I’m really drawn to the flexibility of the medium as it’s easily able to be covered up, and the vivid colors it offers allow me to experiment more with mark-making and stylization,” she says.

The Artist Next Door

Pei finds inspiration in the most unexpected places—often right in her own backyard. “I love the people and vibrant community,” she says. In her free time, she enjoys urban sketching around town, an activity that has transformed her relationship with familiar spaces. “I’ve noticed that through taking time out of my day to sit down and sketch the places I see all the time, I’ve started to notice details I never paid attention to before.”

This keen observational skill extends to all aspects of her life. “I find inspiration everywhere,” Pei notes. “Many of the patterns, objects, and buildings I feature in my art are inspired by things I find interesting in my daily life.”

One recurring character that appears throughout her portfolio is her childhood teddy bear. “I’ve had him since I was born, and I’ve taken him almost everywhere with me,” she explains. “In a way, he’s a symbol of my childhood, which is something that has influenced my artwork.” This personal touch adds depth and emotional resonance to her pieces, connecting her present creative work to her earliest memories.

Pei’s recent piece, "The Land of the Bears," pushed her far outside her comfort zone. Working with watercolor on a much larger scale than usual, she faced technical challenges that forced her to adapt. “The paper kept warping because of the water, and I found myself changing the design and method as I went,” she says. “Through this process, I learned the importance of being flexible and adapting to my situation instead of starting over or giving up.”

A Colorful Journey

Pei’s artistic horizons continue to expand. After being captivated by Salvador Dalí’s "The Little Theater" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York this year, she’s eager to explore blending 2D illustration with 3D elements. Currently, she’s experimenting with ceramics, designing a whimsical set of characters based on fish-fruit hybrids.

While she may not pursue fine arts professionally, Pei hopes to find a career in an art-adjacent field. “I think art has always had an important role in society and always will,” she says. “It allows people to express themselves, tell a story, and raise questions in a way that I find hard to express with other media.”

As she prepares to graduate and embark on her next chapter, Pei remains influenced by her peers at school. “Seeing them experiment with new materials or techniques inspires me to try new approaches to my own work, too,” she says. It’s this collaborative spirit that makes Pei an artist to watch—one organized chaos at a time.

“Art allows people to express themselves, tell a story, and raise questions in a way that I find hard to express with other media.”