Everyone Wants a Tiny Jessica Hische in their Pocket

essica Hische came to Utah. Jessica Hische. I can only assume there were promises of cake involved because the girl does a crazy lot of traveling to places like Oslo and Australia, and she came to relatively obscure Utah Valley University to shake us all up a bit.

William was a part of the chosen few who took part in the behind-the-scenes glory of her visit. I basically sneaked in. Well - secretly and with my $10 registration. But I'm not a designer or a typographer or even a student, so I felt very stowaway. When I took my front-row seat next to William in the Grand Ballroom, he was bouncing in his seat. Not physically - but, you know. I'm the wife. I could see it. He said, "Hibabehowwasyourday-" (breath!) "-THIS is Jessica Hische!"

I turned, and two seats down from me was this fresh and natural looking, gorgeous slip-of-a-girl with long, dark hair, wearing a simple yet quirky sleeveless black dress and cowboy boots. She held out her hand to me, grinned, and said, "Pleased to meet you."

"Likewise," I said, shaking her hand, thinking two thoughts simultaneously: "Wow, she's even prettier in person than in her picture" and "I assumed someone with her presence, influence and body of work in the field would be a heckuvalot older!" I love it when reality obliterates my naive preconceptions and rocks my world. Already, I decided that I loved Jessica Hische.

But I had no idea what we were in for. She stood at the podium and basically caused uncontrollable laughter and tears for two hours straight while her audience ate out of her hand, indulged in her expressive wit, feared her immense talent, delighted in her failed attempts to refrain from swearing, and basically fell in love with her.

To whet your appetite:

 

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(to view more of her portfolio, or to send her a letter mad-libs style, visit her site here)

After her presentation, a lucky handful took her to dinner at Communal. William was one of the lucky, and I got to tag along.

Okay, quick plug, because Communal? Amazing. I thought I was a fan of garden fresh green beans before, but I haint never had nothin' like I had last night, folks. And I ate my entire steak. It wasn't small.

It was great fun to sit and listen to all the designers laugh together, and the conversation was genuinely funny. Jessica even created a monacle by drawing on her fingers with a pen, making the universal OK sign, then flipping them upside down against her face in cat-mask style. I wish I had a picture of that, because even she had to admit, "I am a genius!"

As we regretfully ended the evening and got into our cars, I decided that it was cool that William probably had a tiny crush on Jessica Hische - because I probably had one, too.