Adventure Awaits!

Adventure Awaits! designs and produces a line of fantastical home goods based on traditional folklore, magic and fantasy. The collection includes altered Victorian illustration greeting cards, prints of Victorian ads, illustrations from discarded books of fairy tales, a variety of laser cut objects, including ornaments, earrings, dice boxes, and games, kits for creative adventurers, boxes of magical ingredients, spells, and other assorted magical necessities.

Adventure Awaits! is the creative production of intermedia artist Jess LeClair. (Thats me! Hi!) My work has always been centered around a love of books and stories, specifically myths, folklore, fantasy and fairytales. Add to that a strong pagan bent and a love of Victorian aesthetics and WHAM, you’ve got a recipe for magic.

I love to make things that spark your imagination. More than that, I really like to make things that you can actually use and play with. I love mixing modern bits into my historic fantasy. I work mainly with wood, glass, paper, fabric, and as little plastic as I can get away with which gives my work a magical turn-of-the-century feel.

I’ve always been fascinated by the way that objects hold stories too. I love that holding my grandmother’s costume jewelry made me wonder about what she was doing the last time she wore it. Or how my grandfather's cufflinks carried the weight of every moment he wore them. I try to mix a little of that kind of magic into everything I make.

Here are a few things about me personally.

I’ve had a lot of schooling. I have a BA in Visual Arts from Brown University, I did a semester abroad in Ireland at the Burren College of Art, I have a teaching certificate in Art Education from the University of Maine, Orono, and an MFA in Intermedia, also from the University of Maine, Orono.
I miss taking photographs with actual film and developing them in a darkroom.
I love all things Jim Henson, Neil Gaimon, and Tori Amos.
My list of favorite books, movies, and tv shows is too obscenely long to even try to post here. But if you ask me, I’ll happily talk about any of my favorites.
Trees are my favorite things after people and cats.
I have one tattoo and plans for a second.
I’m vegetarian (I eat eggs and dairy but no meat or fish).
I’ve never been bungee jumping or scuba diving, but I have danced in a traditional Japanese summer festival in full costume (in Japan).

Currently, I live in Bangor, Maine with my husband, my daughter and our four cats. All of my work is imagined, designed and produced right here in my studio in Bangor.

I sell my work here on my Etsy site, but I also sell at a wide variety of conventions and craft shows in the New England area. You can check out my full event schedule at www.AdventureAwaitsME.com and read more about what I'm up to on my blog. You can also follow me on Instagram at adventureawaitsme for lots of behind-the-scenes, in progress, and inspiration photos.