Today we’d like to introduce you to Jess Wagner

Hi Jess, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.

My name is Jess, and my life has taken quite a different turn than I ever imagined. I grew up in Buffalo, New York, never even having seen a snow capped mountain until I moved out West when I was 21. After years of seasonal work, from Wyoming to Alaska, Arizona to Oregon, working coffee bars to farms in Alaska, I found myself in Idaho. In 2019 I started selling my art after an incredibly hard personal year, with a lot more success than I ever dreamed of. In early 2020, much like everyone else, my life turned completely upside down and I found myself in Nampa, Idaho, a place I had never been before, with a falling apart $700 car, a puppy, and a few totes of belongings.
Art markets were definitely not happening in the new COVID world, and neither were my traditional career paths at that point in my life (seasonal National Park work, coffee shops, serving tables, ect). I decided that to get out of the life predicament I had found myself in that I needed to go back to what I love- working with plants, and spend a year figuring it out. I spend that year in Boise, Idaho, becoming a gardener and landscaper and not even knowing the true cultivation I was working on were my own roots in this city.
With landscaping comes seasonal unemployment and I was determined to use my break from working to make something of myself as an artist. I have never went back to work full time for anyone else but myself since, and I found myself claiming the title “full time artist” for many years until I opened my true dream, my little artist collective, Sagebrush Collaborative. These days I live in a cozy little home in the Northend with my fiancé (who I also found here in Idaho), my sweet sweet dog who has been by my side since the couch surfing days of Nampa, and our cat, while growing my shop and working on my own art. I’ve fallen in love with Idaho and all it has to offer- a thriving small business community, the best friends I’ve ever had, the mountains of Central Idaho, and endless mountain bike trails out my back door.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?

Not at all! When I became a full time artist after my seasonal unemployment ended, I was living in a 2 bedroom house with 5 people to have extremely cheap rent so I could grow. I would paint from my bed, and my car became my permanent storage unit for art market supplies. Being a full time artist is never easy, wearing many hats, making many different things, DIYing most items, teaching classes, ect ect. But somehow year after year I grew a bit bigger and a bit more comfortable.
Until the shop comes into play.
I mentioned I never went back to work full time for another person, but I did pick up various coffee shop jobs here and there. A new bakery opened up at the end of my street and I hopped on the opportunity for some barista hours. I quickly became a floater employee until one day the owner mentioned her dreams of having an attached retail store of handmade goods.
Months of dreaming and collaborating we launched a small, unmanned shelf in the bakery and I worked on a DIY remodel of any empty storefront that was attached. We launched in November of 2023 and then on a cold, snowy January evening, I was told the bakery was closing… and therefore so was my brand new store.

After a lot of community help I reopened in March, in a very tiny inconspicuous building off of a main road. We utilize every inch of our 600 square feet and are happy to have a home. I never wanted to be a business on my own, being within the bakery was always the dream, but somehow I have made it work. I’m the sole employee, and I manage over 75 artists and vendors as we are an artist based cooperative.

I would say the road has been anything but smooth. I would compare it to a windy, bumpy Idaho dirt road. But those are my favorite part of Idaho.

We’ve been impressed with Sagebrush Collaborative, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?

Sagebrush Collaborative isn’t just a gift shop, it’s a beautiful artist collective and community hub. Our shop is an accessible gift store with handmade, slow crafted goods from both local and regional artists(the Mountain West, Pacific Northwest, and Southwest) at various price points. Within our shop, we wanted to focus on community. We offer a lot of free opportunities for the local artists in our community, along with hosting one large holiday market a year and a monthly market/community gathering.

We are all about supporting small, near and far. We want to focus on growing an inclusive community, and putting money back into artist’s hands for their work.

I do not think my shop would be as successful as it is today if I did not spend almost 5 years building a community in Idaho. When I moved in here 2020, I did not know a single person. In 2021, when markets returned, I continuously met others- regular customers, other vendors, market organizers, shop owners, the list goes on and on.

I think a lot of small shops fail like this because people decide one day they want to open a shop. Sure, it seems that easy, but it truly isn’t. Get out into your community. Meet the artists of work you want to sell. Volunteer at markets or events. Cultivate the community that you want to attract.

The artists in my shop hail near and far, from Wyoming to Alaska, Oregon to Utah. I spent several years and summers traveling for fine art shows for myself, and this is where I have met so many other artists. Also building a community online, Instagram to be specific, really helped. I knew and became friends with these artists, and I am so honored everyday that they trust me to help sell their work here in Idaho!

I’m most proud of our growth since July of 2023. I have worked on this shop by myself all of this time, and we went from being in a highly trafficked bakery to a non-walkable district and a tiny little store front. We still have artists sell out, busy busy events, and a large social media following. The store and this community hasn’t been built on chance, or by people walking by our shop in a busy downtown area, they come and seek this place out. It’s so special to know that hard work has paid off in these ways.

I think Sagebrush’s artist ran roots and our authenticity sets us apart. Nothing in our shop is mass produced, and as the owner I can tell you where every single item is from. Sagebrush is special in that way.

Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?

I don’t think so :)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sagebrushcollaborative.com
• Instagram: @sagebrushcollaborative
• Facebook: https://Facebook.com/sagebrushcollaborative

Image Credits

https://www.onceuponavan.com
Sarah Olsen