About me

Hi there, I’m Jessie Upton. I am a proudly neurodivergent artist, systems & service designer, facilitator, and multimodal creative arts therapist.

I run workshops within communities, provide creative art therapy that is trauma-informed & neurodiversity-affirming, create work as an interdisciplinary artist, and make sounds using electronic instruments.

You are reading about me here on my website, Wanna Art About It, which is my business! Here, I host an ADHD peer group called Welcome to the Party Pal, which meets fortnightly IRL and online to connect, share, and be creative together.

I use creative and experiential methods to consult with organisations on building emotional culture, deconstructing systems, and defining strategy.

I am passionate about sharing creative tools and procedures. I’m curious about how creative practice and tactile engagement can intersect to solve problems, empower us to collaborate and encourage us to engage more mindfully with our world.

A non-binary person with short hair and large glasses smiling at the camera, with an abstract artwork behind them.

What I do

I run workshops within communities, provide creative art therapy that is trauma-informed & neurodiversity-affirming, create work as an interdisciplinary artist, and make sounds using electronic instruments.

  • I am a multimodal Creative Arts Therapist (AThR) and professional member of the Australian, New Zealand and Asian Creative Arts Therapies Association (ANZACATA). They are the peak professional body for creative arts therapists in the Asia/Pacific.

    I hold a Masters in Therapeutic Arts Practice with a specialisation in Community Arts & Health, awarded by the MIECAT Institute—the Melbourne Institute of Creative and Experiential Art Therapies.

    As a Creative Arts Therapist, I work multimodally. This means I value all forms of expression/creating as equal. I work across visual, digital, physical and musical artforms.

    As a practitioner, I place lived experience at the center. I am trauma-informed, LGBTIAQ+ friendly and neurodiversity affirming.

  • I am a service designer with a background in digital and physical customer & visitor experience design, having worked at large arts institutions in Melbourne for the majority of my career.

    My approach is relational and multimodal, influenced by the MIECAT Form of Inquiry and Relational Systems Thinking.

  • I am passionate about emotional culture and wellbeing within workplaces and communities.
    I firmly believe that grounding organisational values within how we feel at work and deliver our services is an integral part of connecting what we say with what we do.

    I am an accredited Emotional Culture Deck Practitioner, certified by elephants&riders. Combined with my training as a Creative Arts Therapist and experience as a systems and service designer, I help organisations form values, define strategy and deconstruct systems.

  • I studied both Musical Theatre and Jazz Improvisation at the Victorian College of the Arts. I have toured nationally and internationally as a cabaret artist, under the stage name Jessamae St James.

    My art practice is now focused on site-specific work that explores experiential and therapeutic qualities using analog and digital tools.

My experience

I've spent my life curious about experiences.

I’ve worked in major arts venues, toured internationally as an artist, worked as a superhero at the Royal Children’s Hospital, and even had my name attributed to a Guinness World Record!

Currently, my work focuses on providing Creative Art Therapy for adults with ADHD, Autism or ADHD/Autism (AuDHD).

  • My childhood was spent along the surf coast of Victoria on Eastern Maar and Gunditjmara Land, where the bush meets the sea.
    As a young adult, I lived and learned on Wadawurrung Country, surrounded by the bay. Now, I am further from the sea and live in Naarm, central Melbourne, on Wurundjeri land.

    As a child, I was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma - a cancer on my adrenal gland. I am now many years cancer free, and have lived experience of navigating hospital and health care systems as both a child and adult with chronic illness.

    It was this life experience that led me to working with the Starlight Children's Foundation as a Captain Starlight at the Royal Children's Hospital, where I discovered the incredible connection that creativity has with health and wellbeing.

    While studying musical theatre and jazz improvisation at the Victorian College of the Arts, I became transfixed in devising my own work as a cabaret and burlesque artist. Never comfortable sitting within one artform, I worked with a multidisciplinary approach combining elements of visual and performance art together with personal storytelling and music.

  • Alongside my work at Wanna Art About It, I am currently the Visitor Experience Manager at Melbourne Recital Centre.

    Some other places I have worked include;

    • Arts Centre Melbourne

    • ACMI

    • Bunjil Place (City of Casey)

    • Rising

    • CoDesignCo

    • Starlight Children's Foundation

    • Mental Health First Aid

    • Diploma Leadership & Management

    • Graduate Certificate Business (Arts & Cultural Management)

    • Masters Therapeutic Arts Practice (MTAP) with a specialisation in Community Arts & Health

    • Professional Member
      ANZACATA: The Australia, New Zealand and Asia Creative Arts Therapies Association.

    • iMLA
      The Institute of Managers and Leaders

    • Student Member
      PACFA: The Psychotherapy & Counselling Federation of Australia.

Event poster for 'Not Another Indie Cabaret' at The Butterfly Club featuring a woman with short brown hair, purple sequined top, holding a grey electronic keyboard, set against a teal background.
A woman in a red gown singing at a microphone on stage with a red curtain background.
A woman sitting in a bathtub with green tiled walls, holding an electronic keyboard, and wearing white platform shoes and a purple top, smiling.
A non-binary person in a black vest and glasses standing and speaking into a microphone during a conference or seminar, surrounded by seated attendees.
A woman smiling and looking at documents or a booklet, wearing smart glasses, at an indoor event with other people in the background.
A woman sitting on a bench in an empty subway station, with a tiled wall and windows in the background.
Woman with short brown hair, red lipstick, wearing a shiny purple dress, holding a vintage white Omnichord music instrument against a teal background.
A young woman with short brown hair and glasses wearing headphones, holding a white mug with a yellow letter on it, sitting in a room with a yellow background featuring a large sign or banner that says "JOY" and websites "joy.org.au".
A woman with short dark hair, glasses, and a colorful shirt, holding a microphone and reading from notes at a conference or meeting with three other women seated at a table.
A woman with short brown hair and red lipstick relaxing in a green-tiled bathtub, wearing a purple sequin dress, with her eyes closed and head resting against the wall.
A woman in a strapless gold dress with shoulder-length brown hair and dangling earrings, holding a microphone, standing behind a red velvet curtain.

Collaborators

I am so proud to work with some incredible people and spaces.
This is just a small selection!

  • Alex (she/her) is a Fear-free Certified dog trainer with a background in animal rescue. Adopting and fostering many dogs with big feelings led to her interest in animal behaviour and desire to help people and their pups understand each other. She has a special interest in supporting neurodivergent humans with dog training.

    🐶 Dig Dog Training

  • Coates Community Arts is an independent community art space in the Coates Building, a multi-storey Post-War Modernist commercial building at 20 Collins Street, Melbourne, on Wurundjeri land.

    It is also the home of Wanna Art About It - my art studio is located here!

    🎨 Coates Arts Space

  • Emma (she/her) is a facilitator, researcher and strategic designer, best known for her work in co-design for public and social innovation.

    🌻 Emma Blomkamp

  • Greg (he/him) is a researcher and designer with a specialisation in AR & VR technologies.

    💻 Greg Bowtell

  • Latoyah (she/her) is a music-lover, arts aficionado and literature-lover with 15+ years of experience working in the arts, culture and creative industries.

    🎵 Latoyah Forsyth

  • Laura (she/her) is a careers counsellor passionate about helping people lead a values-driven, balanced life.

    📖 Laura Hughes

  • Neon Parlour is an art studio and gallery space in Thornbury on Wurundjeri land.

    🎨 Neon Parlour