When I officially set my studio up in 2012, I changed the name I’d unofficially been using for almost ten years.
To say that I did it to distance myself from my previous artistic ventures wouldn’t be entirely true though. Yes, I cringe when I look at my older pieces – people have even had to intervene to prevent me from destroying some of them (a whole other story), but that doesn’t mean that the work itself is without some merit.
You can’t see me twitching violently here, as I go to post this. Some of the work that will appear in this series dates back as far as the 1980’s, and challenges me not to hit delete. . . but it’s part of the process.
I’m preparing to release another creative project out into the wilds.
Why not just release this new thing, and not put yourself / us through this?
I’m glad you asked that. I did this as a personal challenge. I’ve been fairly successful as an artist, I’ve won awards, scholarships, contests, been featured in magazines, galleries and had a number of solo shows. I’ve sold my work to people around the world. This has happened over 42 years.
Yep. The first thing I won was a province wide painting contest, to design a poster for the public library system. It was open to any elementary students in British Columbia. I was in kindergarten.
With that said, I know art is subjective, and not everyone likes my work. I’ve had less than constructive critiques leveled at me over the years, as well as positive encouragement. I learned from my detractors, as some of what they had to say was useful. Some of it was not. Some of it was intended to be destructive. I developed a sense of humour about myself, as well as a thick skin. I do what I do because it’s a part of me. To stop would be to stop breathing. I draw, paint, sculpt, explore digital stuff, take pictures, dabble in music and write, because I love it. If others like the results too, that’s fantastic!
This new project has fewer years behind it. I’ve only shown my writing to a small group. I’m learning from the critiques. The art I’m using with this feature is my quiet way to ‘stalk’ those parts of me that are still fragile, bound to ego, or would get in the way of letting my creative ‘word-baby’ grow properly.
Thank you for reading this. Please feel free to comment, and share your own creative process.
Great work Jenn. It is amazing to me what you did at 5 years old. You are amazingly talented.
Thank you – What creative things do you pursue?
Jenn I am not an artist. I love looking at your art though. I have a blog. I love to refinish antique furniture. I have not done any pieces in a very long time. I just recently purchased an antique headboard and footboard for my grand daughter. I will be working on that soon.
That, makes you an artist.
Will you post pictures of it when you're done?