Website: http://www.jengaitasiciliano.com
With BAs in English and Art and a master’s in teaching, Jen Gaita Siciliano is an art teacher at Yonkers Middle High School. Jen focuses on painting as her main medium and uses pop art influences in color and form to communicate her stories. She has exhibited all over the tri-state area, including NYC and Westchester County, NY, and her artwork has been published in: The Schizophrenia Bulletin (2014), Philadelphia Magazine (2013), and The Journal of Psychological Nursing and Mental Health (2009).
Jen has been a New York City-based bodypainter since 2010, winning awards nationally and working with top artists. In March 2020, Go Naked Magazine published full-page photos of two of her bodypaintings in the article, “Body Painting for the Masses.” Her live bodypainting was seen on Snapchat Discover’s video series Beauty Craze in 2019, in which she bodypainted Kandy Muse, who was the runner-up in this year’s Season 13 of Rupaul’s Drag Race. Jen also appeared on Cablevision’s popular Long Island talk show Date Night with Connie and Chrissy in 2018 and was selected to compete in Living Art America’s 2016 International North American Bodypainting Championship.
Jen is also a memoir writer and host and producer of Not As Crazy As You Think Podcast, which promotes that mental health is attainable for anyone--especially those psychiatrically labeled. It offers an alternative view on mental illness highlighting creativity, nonconventional healing, and breaking on through to the other side.
I have a BA in Art and English and a Masters in Teaching, NYS certified to teach both.