Glasstire Names Jessica Fuentes as News Editor

by Glasstire November 30, 2021
Jessica Fuentes, Glasstire's News Editor

Jessica Fuentes

Glasstire is pleased to announce the appointment of Jessica Fuentes as the publication’s News Editor. A longtime Fort Worthian, Fuentes succeeds Christopher Blay, who left the position to become Chief Curator at the Houston Museum of African American Culture.

In her new, full-time role, Fuentes will oversee Glasstire’s news content and also contribute other feature stories — such as reviews, essays, and interviews — to the publication. She will help select Glasstire’s weekly Top Five, and will also participate in Glasstire’s biweekly Art Dirt podcast. She is Glasstire’s first full-time employee to live and work in Fort Worth.

Brandon Zech, Glasstire’s Publisher, says of Fuentes’ appointment: “I’m thrilled to add Jessica to Glasstire’s editorial team. With her experience working in museums and smaller organizations doing community and education work, and her longtime commitment to art in North Texas, she brings a wonderful new voice to our publication.”

Of her new role, Fuentes told Glasstire: “After fifteen years focused on art education and quietly writing in the background — as part of my art practice, for institutional and national blogs, and scholarly articles — I am excited to embark on this new path as part of the Glasstire team. I hope to continue the thoughtful work that former News Editor, Christopher Blay, engaged in, and I look forward to getting full immersed in the Texas art scene.”

Jessica Fuentes is an artist, educator, and author. She holds an MA in Art Education from the University of North Texas (2013) and a BA in Art & Performance from the University of Texas at Dallas (2004). As an arts educator for over fifteen years, Fuentes has taught learners of all ages in classrooms, higher education, and museums. She worked at the Dallas Museum of Art as Manager of Gallery Interpretation & the Center for Creative Connections, and at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art as Manager of School & Community Outreach. In these roles she presented at regional and national conferences and contributed to institutional publications and national blogs. Her first peer-reviewed publication, The Need for Educators of Color in K-12 Museum Tours, appeared in the Journal of Museum Education (June 2021). Fuentes also authored a chapter titled “Representation Matters: Diversifying School Tour Curriculum” in the book Creating Meaningful Museum Experiences for K-12 Audiences: how to Connect with Teachers and Students (October 2021), which is edited by Tara Young.

A former member of F6 Gallery Collective and 500X Gallery, Fuentes has exhibited her work for over a decade in North Texas. In 2016, her solo show Tree House Divided was noted as one of the Top 5 Exhibitions by Fort Worth Weekly. In 2018, her body of work My Only Homeland was featured in Deep Red Press. During the 2019-2020 academic year, she was an Artist-in-Residence at Tarrant County College’s South Campus. Most recently, Fuentes’ work was included in the temporary Fort Worth Public Art exhibition New Stories: New Futures, curated by Dr. Lauren Cross.

She serves on the boards of Make Art with Purpose (MAP) in Dallas and Artes de la Rosa in Fort Worth, and on the Education Planning Committee for the Smithsonian Latino Center in Washington, D.C. Fuentes also currently serves as the Director of Kinfolk House, a new project space in Fort Worth opened by artists Letitia and Sedrick Huckaby.

About Glasstire
Glasstire is an online publication that covers visual art in Texas. Its mission is to expand the conversation about art in the state. It has been in continuous operation since January 2001. It is a non-profit 501(c)(3) publication, supported in part by grants from The Houston Endowment, The Brown Foundation, Inc., the National Endowment for the Arts, the Greater Houston Community Foundation, the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance, and the Texas Commission for the Arts. Glasstire’s name is an homage to Robert Rauschenberg’s sculptures of tires cast in glass. The artworks evoke traveling great distances, at great speed, with great clarity.

Glasstire is the oldest web-only art magazine in the country.

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2 comments

Whitney Johnson December 2, 2021 - 17:32

Congratulations to Glasstire and Jessica!

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Ben Lima December 8, 2021 - 11:40

Excellent news – congratulations!

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