 He subsequently returned to his native Five Points neighborhood in Denver, Colorado where he cultivated the arts of glassblowing and sculpture, combining those skills with his existing media.Jess received The Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1988 Denver Black Arts Festival, where he was lauded for his ability to "Project the soul of his subjects onto canvas.”

The Denver-area Regional Transportation District commissioned him to cast a bronze statue of Denver's first African-American doctor, obstetrician Dr. Justina Ford, which was dedicated in 1998.It can be viewed at the 30th & Downing Light Rail Station in Denver.