Alex Jutras is a New Hampshire–based multidisciplinary artist whose practice centers on material experimentation. Working primarily with spray paint and foraged objects, her work explores how objects carry histories, memories, and emotional resonance and how changes in form or surroundings can reveal new meanings and associations.

Alex’s limited budget and access to traditional studio materials during college led her to experiment with discarded canvases, recycled objects, and free newsprint leftover in the studio. What began as resourcefulness developed into an artistic language rooted in reuse and transformation, incorporating her values of sustainability along the way.

After attending college and living in Worcester, Massachusetts for seven years, Alex returned to her hometown in York, Maine. Inspired by the nostalgia that resurfaced, she began creating paintings with spray paint and stencils made from leaves and branches foraged in her childhood backyard to preserve memories of the land she grew up on. This project led to her Forage series, which was exhibited at the New Hampshire Art Association and adapted into “Veil of Shadows,” an installation mural.

This approach extends beyond Alex’s studio practice and into her passion for entrepreneurship. In 2018, she founded Back Alley Clothing in Worcester, transforming thrifted, vintage, and hand-me-down clothing into custom upcycled pieces. After moving to the Seacoast and developing a connection to board sports, that practice evolved into Back Alley Boards, where old and discarded surf, skate, and snowboard decks were transformed into new works of art. Her work with Back Alley Boards inspired what she calls “urban foraging,” and she now commonly uses objects such as mirrors, hardware, chains, plastic bags, and other discarded or salvaged materials alongside her naturally foraged materials.

Across her practice, Alex is particularly interested in pinpointing synchronicities between seemingly unrelated materials, environments, and experiences. Influenced by her spirituality and belief in interconnectedness, she looks for the subtle patterns and associations that link one thing to another. As she continues to explore the esoteric in contrast to her Catholic upbringing, themes from tarot, astrology, witchcraft, and religion appear in her paintings. Her work encourages viewers to reconsider details they might otherwise pass by, bringing overlooked textures, structures, histories, and relationships under closer examination.

Alex is based in Dover, New Hampshire, where she lives with her two cats, Finley and Faegan. She is a full-time Associate Marketing Director and also serves as a Board Advisor for the New Hampshire Art Association.