Jess Bush aka One Jessa is an artist, actress, model and all round creative super woman while also being a very humble person. Jess is the wonderful creative artist who built the flowers and also features as our rock star gardener in our plant based sunglasses stop motion animation campaign.

When I first met Jess Bush around 8 years ago in Bondi she was doing various art projects but I particularly remember her striking street art on local iconic Bondi buildings like the Bondi Icebergs.

Each day now I drive past Jess's face modelling in a Telstra bus stop commercial in Suffolk Park and last year I saw Jess acting brilliantly in a very funny episode of the ABC TV series of Les Norton.

Recently Jess has been making preserved insect taxidermy jewellery and now creating these giant flowers from repurposed household items for our Childe plant based sunglass stop motion films. I interviewed Jess about her creative process and daily inspo...

Hi Jess
Where do we find you today?
Right now I’m having a cuppa in the communal kitchen of my art studio.

You are an accomplished artist, actress, model and all round super woman while also being a very humble person. Your diversity is very inspiring.
Do you also play a musical instrument?
Haha I wish! I don’t have a musical bone in my body. I kind of narrate my own day terribly in song. Does that count?

Where are you from originally and how or what inspired you to first become an artist?
I grew up in Brissy. Let’s be honest probably daddy issues - the most potent creative fuel of all!

What is your zodiac sign and what do you consider to be your typical personality traits?
I’m an Aries with a Taurus rising baby! I’m impulsive, blunt, hyperactive. I move like a bat out of hell, wreck all my clothes and break shit all the time.

When Jess wakes up in the morning what gets you motivated to work on a particular project?
I live with my best friends and every morning we have toast and tea together in our matching jammies. It’s like what I imagine a footy locker room would be like where you yell affirmations and slap each other in the face.

Juggling so many artistic disciplines - Do you have a particular career aspiration for one medium?
Where I’m moving now is into large scale installation and public art. The kind that takes up whole rooms/ buildings and changes the experience of the atmosphere that you inhabit. The major piece that I’m working on now has been in development for 2 years.

How do you feel your art has evolved and what do you enjoy and learn from each creative discipline?
I don’t feel like it ever settles which is both exhausting and great. It’s a real rollercoaster - sometimes I’m flyin baby, other times I want to burn it all to the ground and become a groundskeeper.

I feel like the biggest thing I’ve learned across the board is that the money I make doesn’t equal the value of my work. It sounds wanky and cliche but that’s actually a hard thing to truly digest and believe in your bones when you've been raised as a good little capitalist. I can work my arse off on a project I truly believe in, for 3 years and not make a cent, to then make a year’s salary in 3 hours on a gig I couldn’t give two plums about. It can be pretty jarring at times, but it’s a great lesson in not linking your self esteem to your bank account (still learning).

Can you tell us about what you have been working on this year?
For this whole year now I’ve been working on a major installation series that involves the preservation of thousands of honey bees that I collect after they've died. I’ve just been commissioned by the Inner West Council to make the largest piece in the series yet so I am in the middle of that right now.

Lets talk about these giant flowers for the Childe campaign
What is the creative process to create each flower?

1. Say yes and work it out later.
2. Think of a flower that can hold a pair of sunnies and open in a beautiful way.
3. Find household items that can serve as structural support e.g. - bamboo from the garden, styrofoam, pillow stuffing.
4. Work it the heck out with a load of hot glue and coloured felt!

First I had to choose which flowers I would recreate. I researched into different types of flowers that I loved, with colours and shapes that might harmonise with some of Childe's designs.
I made 4 flowers to suit 4 Childe WiLDe sunglass styles

• Queen of the Night for the Lyric sunglass
• Sunflower for the Drummer sunglass
• Daisy for the Exit sunglass
• King Protea for the Treble sunglass. 

After choosing the flower, I would research into how it would grow and bloom in nature. Then I would build a sturdy base for it to bloom from using bamboo from my garden and repurposed pieces of styrofoam.

Each petal was then individually built using felt and florist's wire, and attached to the base. The petals were arranged in a way that allowed my flower to mimik how the flower would open in the wild. I used things like mop heads and bathmats to get the different pollen-y textures.

Danny’s creative vision was really detailed and exciting within the studio. You two obviously have a great connection as the creative process flowed beautifully. Can you tell us about that process from your view?
I like to collaborate with people who are optimistic, passionate and driven but don’t take themselves or their ideas too seriously - in a way that means we can trust one another to catch and pass ideas back and forth without friction.

What most excited you about this campaign?
Trying out something I’ve never done before (stop motion animation), and working with a sweet-ass team of creatives.

Do you have a favourite pair of Childe plant based sunglasses?
The Drummer

Over the past 5 years how have your daily habits changed or evolved to live more sustainably?
My attitude has evolved to consume less where ever I can. Buy second hand where ever I can etc etc.
But I feel like our daily habits as individuals have a minimal impact at this point in the climate crisis - the best thing we can actually do is stay aware / educate ourselves on what governments and big corporations are doing in the way of policy / investment and apply pressure with our dollar, our voice and our vote.

If you could change one thing in the world today what would it be?
Have the planet be run on 100 per cent renewables at the click of my fingers.

Do you have any life tips for aspiring artists, actors and models?
Make sure to build and nourish a life outside of your practice. It can get pretty lonely, and there are extreme highs and lows. It can get pretty gnarly when you’re identity is synonymous with your work. And if you’re a model watch my friend Jenna’s doco “Breaking the Model” on SBS.

Thankyou for your wonderful creative energy, direction and inspiration.

Have a great day.

Photography of Jess by @bartcelestino

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See more of Jess Bush and her artistic creativity at 
http://onejessa.com/ or follow Jess @onejessa

About Childe Plant Based Sunglasses:-
Childe make our Childe WiLDe collection from 61% renewable resources using a plant based polymer made from castor oil as opposed to petroleum based chemicals. Most of all this eco-sensitive process drastically reduces harmful emissions to the environment.

We wanted to create a fun symbolic example of the fact that our sunglasses are derived from plant based materials. We hope you enjoy this stop motion animation as a fun look at how we create our eyewear. We also hope t inspire more sustainable living and consideration of the environment. 
The film animation concept was created by Danny Clayton and brought to life by artist Jess Bush aka @OneJessa.

View the Childe Plant based collection Childe WiLDe