About

JOCELYN STEPHENS
Multidisciplinary artist based in Dallas, Texas
b. 1990

A practice rooted in heart and soul

I am originally from Denmark. My name is Japanese. It translates to heart and soul — and that’s honestly how I approach everything I make. From the heart.

Growing up near the sea shaped me in ways I’m still discovering. The water, the shifting light, the weathered textures. That balance between rough and smooth, dark and light, stillness and movement. Everything both grounded and infinite at the same time.

My work draws from two worlds: Scandinavian and Japanese. Both celebrate quiet beauty. Natural materials. Craftsmanship. The idea that something doesn’t need to be polished to be meaningful.

In Denmark, people grow up around art. They collect slowly. They choose pieces for how they make a space feel, not how they impress. I think that’s why I make the way I do. I want my work to live in someone’s home the way art lived in mine.

The inspiration behind the work

Inspiration comes from everywhere. Something I notice while I’m out, something I’ve read, a personal experience. But nature always pulls me back. The water. The shifting foliage. The same tones I remember and grew up with on the Danish coast.

I am a dreamer. Art is a place for me to get completely lost in my thoughts, to lose myself in my imagination, and where moments of my life settle into form.

Materials & process

I trained as an Interior Designer, so I’ve always thought about how materials work together. That’s probably why I gravitate toward mixed media. I like combining textures, layering things that wouldn’t obviously belong together until they do. I usually start with loose sketches. Then I build the work through layers of texture. And finally I bring it together with acrylic paint, until the piece feels in balance.