The FASO Podcast
Learn the business of visual art from today's finest artists and art marketers.
The FASO Podcast
184 Jennifer Balkan — Fall in Love with the Process
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Join our next FASO Show Live!
https://artists.boldbrush.com/p/the-faso-show
Learn the magic of marketing with us here at BoldBrush!
boldbrushshow.com
--
For today's episode we sat down with Jennifer Balkan, a contemporary representational oil painter and art instructor based in Austin, with an academic background in behavioral neuroscience and sociology. She describes how a lifelong love of drawing crystallized into a serious painting practice after a transformative, self-gifted trip to Paris, which led her to take her first painting class in Austin in 2001. Despite completing a PhD and following a more “rational” career path, she felt an irresistible pull toward painting, ultimately choosing to pursue art full time even amid concern and confusion from friends and family. Jennifer explains that her scientific and sociological studies deeply inform her figurative work, especially her focus on the emotional, cerebral life beneath a subject’s expression and her love of optical color mixing and visible mark-making. She discusses how her inspiration has evolved from narrative series into a stronger emphasis on shapes, light, and color relationships, and how experimenting with different media during the pandemic revitalized her practice and fed back into her oil painting. Jennifer also highlights the central role of Atelier Dojo in her life—as both a co-created figurative hub and an atelier program that nurtures students’ individual voices. Jennifer also shares practical, grounded advice for aspiring full-time artists about embracing multiple income streams, loving the process, and committing to sustained, disciplined practice. Finally, she tells us all about her upcoming shows and workshops!
Jennifer's FASO site:
Jennifer's Social Media:
Atelier Dojo!
You gotta love this stuff, you gotta love quote practicing, because we're always practicing, and so it's like, if you don't love the process, then it's not worth your time, because it's too done, it's too darn hard to like sustain yourself financially for you not to love the process, and just love the practice of doing it.
Laura Arango Baier:Welcome to the Fast So Podcast, where we believe that Fortune Favors of old rush. My name is Laura Baier, and I'm your host. For those of you who are new to the podcast, we are a podcast that covers art marketing techniques and all sorts of business tips, specifically to help artists learn to better sell their work. We interview artists at all stages of their careers, as well as others who are in careers tied to the art world, in order to hear their advice and insights. For today's episode, we sat down with Jennifer Balkin, a contemporary representational oil painter and art instructor based in Austin, with an academic background in behavioral neuroscience and sociology. She describes how a lifelong love of drawing crystallized into a serious painting practice after a transformative self-gifted trip to Paris, which led her to take her first painting class in Austin in 2001 Despite completing a PhD and following a more quote unquote rational career path, she felt an irresistible pull toward painting, ultimately choosing to pursue art full time, even amid concern and confusion from friends and family, Jennifer explains that her scientific and sociological studies deeply inform her figurative work, especially her focus on the emotional, cerebral life beneath the subject's expression, and her love of optical color mixing and visible mark making. She discusses how her inspiration has evolved from narrative series into a stronger emphasis on shapes, light, and color relationships, and how experimenting with different media during the pandemic revitalized her practice and fed back into her oil painting. Jennifer also highlights the central role of Atelier Dojo in her life, as both a co-created figurative hub and an atelier program that nurtures students in the visual voices. Jennifer also shares practical, grounded advice for aspiring full-time artists about embracing multiple income streams, loving the process and committing to sustained, disciplined practice. Finally, she tells us all about her upcoming shows and workshops. Welcome, Jennifer, to the Faso podcast. How are you today?
Jennifer Balkan:I'm good, Laura. Thanks for having me.
Laura Arango Baier:Yeah, I'm excited to have you, because you have such beautiful work, and you just have like such a fun personality to be around as well, and I can see it in your work, and I can see it when I talk to you. So I'm excited to discuss more of that, and how your very unique background also led to you becoming a really great painter somehow magically that we are going to hear about. But before we talk about your gorgeous work, do you mind telling us a bit about who you are and what you do.
Jennifer Balkan:Sure, I'm Jennifer, and I am predominantly an oil painter, but I also love to draw. I would, I classify myself as a contemporary representational painter. Always funny to kind of put labels on your visual stuff, but that helps kind of kind of understand it, and yeah, I'm the art instructor, and but yeah, that is who I am, as far as the visual art part of it, there's more to more to who I am, but yeah, yeah,
Laura Arango Baier:yes, there's always more things in life. Yeah, I think that question can sometimes, some people like, oh, tell us who you are, what you do, and I think some people can really get deep, deep into.. I know, I know, like, well, there's all other things,
Jennifer Balkan:but let's just talk about the art, yeah, exactly, yeah,
Laura Arango Baier:but of course the art comes from your experience as a human on on this fine earth, so it can go deep. I mean, it's it's inextricable, it just depends on how far you want to go, but, but yeah, you did have a very interesting background before you became a painter, so actually I really want to know, when did you begin to follow the path of the artist?
Jennifer Balkan:Yeah, so you know, I have drawn all my life, and always, yeah, always had a pencil or a pen in my hand, and I didn't, you know, I didn't study art formally as a kid at all, other than, you know, just playing around, and I think it was really.. I took a couple of, you know, exciting, informative classes in college that were a studio art class, as well as a, an art history class, and loved, loved it, loved them, but was kind of just pursuing other things, trying to figure out what my major was, and, and exploring, and, and so it really wasn't until at. Actually, after I finished graduate school, not an art on a trip that I gifted myself, I was sitting in an internet cafe when those existed in Paris, and signed up for my very first painting class, I guess, painting class as an adult, and, and that in Austin, that that is so signed up when I came home, having been like super inspired by seeing all these master works, and sort of just trying to, trying to imagine how, you know how to, how to learn such things? Yeah, basically came home in 2001 and took a class and just kind of got hooked and went from, went from there. So that was sort of like the, the spark, the beginning of it all. Yeah,
Laura Arango Baier:yeah, and I think also I feel like a lot of people that have interviewed as well have a similar sort of, like, oh, I know I love this, but oh, my family wants me to be rational and have a, you know, a career that they're not worried about, so and then they always end up just going back into it anyway.
Jennifer Balkan:Yeah, I mean, I think, like, I don't know, in this, in this life, in this one life, you know, some of us believe we have one life, you are at least on this planet, it's like you've got to do, if you're lucky enough to be able to pursue a dream, you got to do it, it's, I mean, that's basically what happened with me. It's like, I, I, you know, there are all these, not, you know, this forces that were sort of, sort of trying spelling out a life that I guess I had started putting together, or a path based on what I studied and what I went to school for, and, and that, that just.. I don't know, like once, once I, once I really discovered painting, I felt so.. I know, so fueled, and so passionate about it in a way that I had not felt like anything else before, it, and so at that point I realized that I've got to do this, this like this is what I need to do at the cost expense of letting whatever else go, so yeah, it's a, it's a, it's a strong force,
Laura Arango Baier:it's, it's like, you know, a magnetic force. It really pulls you back, and it's, it's also, you know, for some people it's even like after a successful career, where, like, they retire, and they're like, okay, this is what I always wanted to do, and now, like, nothing's gonna stop me. So it takes a lot, a lot of strength and gumption, to you know, pick up from a sooner stage, right? Like, oh, wow, I like, I studied this crazy major, and then it just wasn't fulfilling, and I know exactly what fulfills me, you know. I think, yeah,
Jennifer Balkan:you know, and I, and people around, you know, friends, family, they were just sort of like scratching their heads, like you just finished a PhD, and so it, my, my graduate studies were different from my undergrad, so my undergrad was in behavioral neuroscience, and then my grad later in sociology with a focus on Latin American sociology, which, which is what brought me down to Austin, the proximity to Mexico, and, and so, yeah, you know, like, had some really great experiences living, living in Mexico, and conducting field work, and it was, you know, really, really beautiful, and so after all, after all of that, and I mean, you know, there were there were a lot of low points, as because that's that's what life looks like, and and that, and I think mainly that I just kept on kind of like questioning myself and wondering if this was the thing that I'm, I'm meant to be doing, and so when I, you know, when I discovered the thing, and it was not the same as sort of this, this path that I had started creating for myself, it was like, what, you know, people were just kind of puzzled, and like concerned, and, but you know, you just gotta have to go with what I don't know with yourself, like with, with you have all the answers for yourself, and sometimes. Don't know what they are, but you know, in the universe helps guide us to kind of determine what what's next, so, so, yeah, that is, yeah, kind of went, went, went forward with, with the, with the help of, of having some like wonderful interactions with people who you know, as I was telling you about this when we first met, like a couple of people, and not necessarily in, in visual, in the visual arts, but had, like, taken a big leap of faith, so to speak, like just had pursued a creative, a creative passion, a creative pursuit that was not in line with their kind of prescribed practical life, and just went for it, and I, you know, I kind of glommed onto some of these, these stories, and I'm like, all right, I don't want to look back someday when I'm when I'm old and regret like not not doing it, so so I went for
Laura Arango Baier:it. Yeah, exactly. I was actually going to mention that, you know, the regret part, because, like, you were saying, you know, we have one life that we can control at the moment, maybe, right? Yeah,
Jennifer Balkan:right, right. So
Laura Arango Baier:it's good to keep in mind, like, oh man, like, how do I live a life that I know every morning I wake up, I am excited to wake up, and I'm excited to work on a project, instead of, you know, leading all the way down to my deathbed, eventually, and just regretting not having the strength to trust myself, you know. I think that's, you know, it's one of those things to consider if someone out there listening is like, oh, maybe I want to be an artist, but I'm a little scared. It's, it's scary
Jennifer Balkan:indeed,
Laura Arango Baier:but yeah, but if you're gonna regret it at the end of your life, not at least trying, then there's your answer, you know.
Jennifer Balkan:Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's, it's just, I don't know, it's like it's taking risks, risks of all kinds, and, and some are much, you know, feel much bigger than others, but, but I like, you don't, I mean, even in whatever it is you're studying, you know, whether it's whether it's art or something more academic or scientific, it's if you don't take these like little, like, I don't know, kind of throw caution to the wind and trust yourself a little bit in, in taking a step forward, kind of out of your comfort zone. You're just like, you're never going to, I don't know, you're like, like, I feel like you're never going to move to the next level, whatever the next level is in life, like in getting to a higher, higher space, and something that's more rewarding and fulfilling, and and connecting in some way, so, so it is, it's like it's not necessarily always the safe way to go, the safe, comfortable, yeah, route, but, but that doesn't, yeah, I don't, I don't, I think like those that don't, that that are just always on that safe, comfortable route may never get to a spot where they like feel like complete elation, you know, this sort of like this, this bliss that doesn't last. It's like, does it's like these moments of, I mean, that's just.. I guess that's just.. I don't know, this like the metaphysical aspect of our lives and such, which we're, we, you know, hold on to these like these moments, these flow states that are like very, very precious, and of course, if they were like continuous and they lasted, then they wouldn't be what they are, and it's just this, you know, yin yang thing that's a constant up and down, but it's good to try to bite onto those little morsels when we can
Laura Arango Baier:exactly, yeah, yeah, and actually I also really wanted to ask you, because you, you have such a studied STEM background, do you find that your past studies, you know, neuroscience, sociology, have they affected your career as an artist, or the way that you perceive painting, or the subject matter.
Jennifer Balkan:Yeah, I think you know, I think the short answer is yes. I think that, like, I mean, really everybody is what all of us do in our lives, whether we want it to or not, like impact the choices we make, and whatever those choices are, and what we choose to create, what we choose to describe in words and in pictures, and so even if I were to say no, like it has. Has to, it's like it just like has to impact what I'm, what I'm, or how I'm thinking about what I'm thinking about, and I'm when I'm articulating something with paint or coming up with a, an idea for a series or paintings, and so I think, like, very like tangibly. I love, I love the idea when I, and I've always been drawn to painting people, like from from the get go. The the work that has spoken to me most before I ever even started to paint was figurative work, and particularly the kind of figurative work, the kind of mark making that's probably, I mean, you know, now as a like a learned person in this, which I didn't know how to describe really before, I'm like optical mixing, basically work that in which you can really see the artist's hand, but has has a strong capture of, you know, some naturalism and reality, but is very much a little bit of a beautiful abstraction of of swaths of paint, so, so, like, you know, basically getting up close, and you know, this, what, like, what, what reads from a distance as very realistic and very continuous and fluid, is a, is a, is a wonderful little collage of, of little shapes and bits, and so, so that's so that's been the kind of stuff that has that has like really really spoken to me over the years and and I see it like I want to, well, so when I'm working on visually describing and and a person or a face or I'm like thinking about what is underneath that skin, so to speak, and so you know, thinking about the thoughts of what's happening under the expression and really trying to evoke an emotional state in the paint, and and so like that is like that's very kind of brain like emotional neuro scientific thinking about sort of the cerebral and the emotional within all of us and so somehow when described like describing that in paint, so I am, so I, so I think that just because I always loved that kind of study, it definitely informs the way I think about painting the human subject matter that I, that I do,
Laura Arango Baier:yeah, and I totally agree that it is inevitable that you know anything that has happened in our past in some way or another is going to influence what we do, regardless of whether we perceive it that way or not, because the human brain is so complicated.
Jennifer Balkan:Totally, yeah, yeah,
Laura Arango Baier:yeah, and actually speaking of, besides, you know, the evoking emotion and the collage of color, what inspires a piece for you? Like, where does the idea start for you?
Jennifer Balkan:You know, it's so like, as a, as, as somebody who's been doing this for a while, and I know you, as you know, fellow artist and painter, can relate to what, what you know, what, what drove us at one time change has changed, you know, and I, we, I hope, like I hope, I hope that we all, you know, who are on this path can continue to grow and change. I mean, I know you know we all probably see, see work out there, you know, maybe not know personally or not know personally folks who are like look very much the same as they did, you know, 10 years ago or 15 years ago, and, and so, and it always kind of puzzles me, because I, I get, I don't know, I get tired of, of the same thing, and what's like, or like creating the same thing in the same way, and I am, and what's funny about that is that I think, like, okay, I'm kind of totally going off of thrills here, like, tangent-wise, but I'm realizing, but anyway, bring it back and maybe expand on that thought in a moment, what is what inspires me, so I would say at this moment. And time like shapes and light, and it as, as related to human subject matter. I mean, this is so.. it was like I'm laughing at myself because I feel like this just describes everything, but like human subject matter and objects, people and stuff, and their stuff, not our stuff assigned to them. If you are like creating a composition, and much like you know, in the past I used to think of creating concepts and series somewhat like a storyboard and film, and so I would, and I've, I like, actually, to this day, I still continue to paint like this, and I, it's like something that it's very hard to shake, and I guess that's just, you know, we are what we are at some point, but, but from the very start of when I, when I began to paint, I would think in like little series, and so, so it might be, you know, working with a model and kind of coming up with this narrative that includes various physical elements, objects, and things, props that, that kind of tell whatever the narrative is that I'm creating and and so and that and working that out across like you know anywhere from three paintings to six paintings or whatever whatever my my my idea is and so so that of course, is like a little series of something. What we usually label, and I got so accustomed to kind of thinking like that, or maybe it just has always been in me, that that it's hard. It's like hard to just paint a painting and leave it at that, like it's like frustrating, I mean, when it comes to like working on something in my studio, like not just, you know, responding to in the moment of whether you know it's a still life project or working on a model at the at the school or in an open studio, which all of which I love to do. I just like love somebody puts something in front of me, and okay, draw and paint that thing, like that is that's a that's something that I, you know, it's like just just drawing and painting for paint sake, and not coming up with the the thing that you're going to visualize, so, so that, yeah, so like, but, but in my, I would say earlier I was very much driven by it, like, okay, I'm creating this particular narrative and spelling it out, and with paint, and but in, in like the last, I don't know, hand, like few years, I've, I've been really, I don't know, like the impact of the light and the color and the shape within the pictorial space is so exciting to me, so it's like, like, more so than it used to be, and I, you know, when I look at work out there, I am like, so moved when I see really strong shape, I don't know, like shape relationship, and so when, so now, and things that I'm thinking about now is like, how can I use elements that I, you know, like actual, you know, person, and and various objects and such to create that effect, like I'm so, and and then sometimes and also I love color and so there are times where I'm like I just want to paint pink and yellow, like it has to be pink and yellow, and so so I will like that color relationship will kind of drive something, drive and, and the idea, the concept, whatever. So, I think, like, it's gotten just less concrete for me, as like, I don't have to paint like the person doing the thing, but it's more of, like, yeah, the person might be doing the thing, but there has to be all this exciting light shape thing, you know, first and foremost, almost before whatever the actual identifiable stuff is,
Laura Arango Baier:yeah, and I think that's a really great route to start with, because at its, I guess, at its core, like painting in general is an. Abstract form of reality, because it is a d on a d, so there's no way around it. You are taking, you're drawing out from reality, and you're putting it on something else with the illusion that it's something entirely different than a flat surface. So, yeah, I think that that makes perfect sense. And I totally relate to, you know, I think a lot of us are so motivated by ooh, this object, and like, what if I put it like this with this other thing, and yeah, and it tells us about this other thing, and that's perfectly normal, because you know, as humans, that's how many of us perceive visual narrative, but yeah, I think exploring that is really cool, and it actually wanted to circle back on, you know, what was it like for you? And it's okay, this is like a little too personal, but what was it like for you when you realized, man, I don't like what I'm painting anymore, or I'm bored of this, I need to break away. Like, what was that transition like for you?
Jennifer Balkan:I feel like it's.. it hasn't been so.. I don't know, dramatic, I guess it's just like these little moments where, and it's, it's usually where I'm, I don't know, like exploring, maybe exploring a slightly different medium, a different palette, a different, you know, just doing something a little different, and I just, I kind of really recently read another artist, trying to remember who now, I can't remember somewhere, somewhere out in the social media world where they were saying that if they, if they get stuck in a rut, they try something in a different medium, which I thought was like very relatable, and so one, you know, one thing that, like, really changed, or I don't know, added, added, and adjusted a lot for me was during the pandemic, like, you know, a lot of, lot of change happened for a lot of people, and it started off as being like really, really hard, I know, I know, you know, it's like either as an artist you were having the time of your life because like you could lock yourself in your studio and nothing mattered, and I've heard of people being like the most creative they ever were, but as an artist and a parent and a kid, you know, just trying to navigate school and isolation and all that stuff, it was, is pretty rough, pretty rough, but anyway, thankfully that's behind us, but one thing that did happen for me during, during the COVID times was that I discovered some new drawing medium, and it happened because I, you know, at at our school, Telia Dojo, while we were, while we were trying to survive the pandemic, like as a school and financially and such, we we started remote hope hosting remote open studios, which actually ended up being like just a savior for so many people out there that were, you know, I mean, feeling isolated and wanting to continue some kind of drawing communal experiences or painting experience, and so what we, what we would do was that we would, we would host Zoom sessions with recordings of live models, so it was kind of, so we would do these recordings where it's kind of funny to think about a recording where someone's just sitting like that, like recorded, like, but but it's still, it still was not a photo, you know. It's like we wanted to sort of the feeling of like we're work, you know, there's a, there's a person in there that it's not totally still. So, at any rate, we did that, and the silver lining in that was that we had, you know, people tuning in from all over the world, which was not, you know, I think that's what a lot of people talk about now, about pandemic stuff, but so that was pretty neat, and so, so, as, as, as someone to host the Zoom session, you know, we would alternate among the people working at Dojo, and so what I had decided was like, I didn't always feel like, you know, it's like computer screen, you're navigating a Zoom session, letting people in and out, and doing all the kind of technical stuff, and then also working on your, your whatever, your drawing or your painting of the individual on the screen, and we would share, we would take breaks and share and such, so, which was pretty cool, and you could see everybody's little head, you know, working on their stuff, and, and so at some point I, you know, it just like became a little too cumbersome painting because of the work, you know, because of the key using the keyboard and all of that, so I'm like, oh. To draw, and, but I'm like, I want to draw in color, and so my, I had gotten my kid a set of Posca markers, and so the, are you familiar with those? What those are, they're paint pens, and so they look like markers, but they're actually acrylic paint in, in pen form or in marker form, rather, and, and so, anyway, I was like, huh, maybe I'll try, you know, this is like random, maybe I'll try using some of these, and so that became a whole thing for me, and, and so, because they, they're opaque and they dry like that, just like acrylic paint does, but you have a lot of control because it's really like using a drawing medium, and so, so I, you know, I got really into it, I got really into all the hatching, basically, like, so I would describe the, you know, the physicality of a person with hatching with cross hatching as color mixing, so it was like it just fulfilled this whole like this real fun optical optical mixing kind of process that I love, and, and so I ended up like getting more of them, and getting a bigger palette, and, and really, really kind of rolling with that for a while, so that was a whole new thing, and people responded to them pretty well, and I started doing little commissions of little like portrait heads and such, with doing that, and so that was born out of needing something a little different, and some change, and then, and some change in that, and then from that I got into Bic pen drawing as well, very similar, except ink, and, and using those little, like old, like old school clicky mix, the four, the blue pens with the red, red, black, green, and blue ink, and they also have a couple other varieties of color, so, so, yeah, and so I kind of, I just like developed another way of mark making on with a, you know, dry-ish medium on paper, which was really, really fun and different, and from that, after from that, my next kind of, I don't know, idea concept was like, how can I merge that with my oil painting, so that kind of like spawned trying to figure out a union between the two, and I did, and I created a body of work with that, bringing those two things together. So, anyway, all this is to say that, like, it's just exciting to try new things, and so, and I like, but, like, in the end, when looking at all, you know, the kinds of things that I have done, I kind of like laugh, because I realized that there's still such a similarity, like what I perceive as like such a big step in a different direction in the overarching umbrella of all of it. It's like you're still painting the people, you still like the masks, you still like the animal, like it's just like you still are doing kind of a lot of the same thing, but in slightly different ways, and I guess that I guess that is what, like, really describes, you know, somebody is like personal voice, you know, in through throughout it all, so it's like you see all these changes, but there's still kind of a common thread of that, that individual through, through it all, so, but, uh, but yeah, so that has, that has kept me from, I don't know, things getting like stale after a while,
Laura Arango Baier:yeah, yeah, and I think that's it's one of those things as an artist, where that growth is there, it's waiting in, you know, like in your case, like a new medium that you hadn't explored, and or even just in digging deeper to one subject matter. I mean, there's, there's so many different ways to just grow as an artist if you're looking, and if that's what you want, I mean, I think it's inevitable that we grow, and in terms of the voice, I mean, yeah, that's like one of those things where, like, you look at your work, there's like one piece part of like the micro and the macro, and like you, it's like it's totally different, but then in the macro, it's like, oh, never mind, still me, it's still me. Yeah, like I still write exactly the same with pen and with pencil and with a giant marker or Sharpie, it's still going to be the
Jennifer Balkan:same. Yeah,
Laura Arango Baier:so it's yeah, it's inevitable. And then I also wanted to ask you, how your time with Atelier Dojo has also affected your work and your inspiration as well.
Jennifer Balkan:My whole Atelier Dojo existence has been, you know, such an incredible part of my life as an artist, and, and you know, I think it's just, I don't know, it's beautiful, what, when, when, when things unexpected happen, and then they end up being like such a big part of you, and so the story behind that is that back in 2018 my dear friends Denise Fulton and Karen Offit, friends, fellow painters opened up the school, and that was that came out of us regularly painting together, and just painting models together, like we were for a little bit with a couple other people calling ourselves the five LPs, which were the five lady painters, never got, never got the T-shirts with the actual like LP record, but anyway, we talked about it for a while, so, but at any rate, opened up a school, and the initial vision for it was a place where we could teach classes, painting and drawing, not just us, but, you know, other hire other people to host open studios, live open studios, were model poses, and, and also bring workshop artists in from all over the place, so there was like nothing like that in Austin, and we were, you know, we were frustrated that this, these kinds of places existed in, you know, other cities all over the country and world, and so decided that it was time for us, so really got that rolling, and what it was met with like great acceptance from the community, which was wonderful. So you know, we wanted to have a figurative art making, mark making hub in Austin, and like you know that seemed to be a need for other people too, so, so, yeah, so that was, you know, so the dojo became, you know, a popular place from from the get go, and then come about 20, about, you know, probably about a year, like maybe a year and a half later, one of our wonderful instructors, Justin Baiersa had yearned to teach some classes with longer poses akin to what he had studied at in the Angel Academy, where you went. I learned, and so, so he, yeah, so you know, we were like, we're very open, we're like, well, if people want them, let's, let's do it. And so Justin started teaching a couple classes, a cast drawing class and a long post figure drawing class, and and students were signing up and signing up repeatedly, and wanting, you know, wishing that they could do it on more of a regular, you know, not just a weekly basis, but come in a couple times a week or more, and so it just really organically grew out of a desire of from from students as well as just in teaching it, Danny Grant jumped in with him, and they were co-teaching for a little while, and then come, I guess, in 21 I had, I had just had a solo exhibition, and I was like ready for some change, you know, the feeling of like finishing up a show, and just being, you know, kind of exhausted, so, and also, and also having taught in the same manner I had been teaching for years, which was really wonderful, and I'm like, you know, super grateful that I was able to do that for so long, but wanting to just pause, and I don't know, be a student for a little bit, be a student again for a little bit, and, and try something different, and I don't know, just kind of like a little bit of, I was at a little bit of a crossroads in my, in my own art world, meaning I was definitely getting a. Little burned out on the classes that I was teaching, and just the format of them, and so I began to study with Justin at the, at what we were at that point calling Dojo Academy, and I loved it. I just, like, I, you know, I don't know, I think it was just, it was he chuckled when I told him I wanted to be a student, and but he, yeah, jumped in there, and spending time with these casts, and the figure for longer than I had ever done was really, you know, like I don't know, just really, really exhilarating, taking a much deeper dive into observational work than I had been doing in the past, and so anyway, super loved it, and kind of just sort of inadvertently became Justin's assistant with students, didn't plan for that, but it just kind of happened, I think, like I, you know, I did, I did okay as a student, just having had all the all the experience that I had in a slightly different way, so it, it was like I'm learning something new, kind of, but I, I still, I felt very connected to it, so, so, anyway, fast forward, Justin decides he's moving out of state, because he'd been in Austin for a long time, and I'm, I realized it was up to me to sort of say to keep this thing going, and so I was like very, very committed to it. I did a ton of research on atelier programs, consulted with some painter friends who are very like well deep in within their own programs, teaching, that is, and, and, yeah, basically, got the program going, hired, you know, it's, it's crazy to think about, it's been through some changes, hiring some different people, we are now at this moment, we have an incredible staff, and we are, I guess, coming up on our third year and graduating our very first students, so.. and it's like.. it's just such a.. I don't know. it's. it's so neat to be on other artist students journeys with them, and so that, that's something that I didn't experience as a teacher before, before this, and so, though I had, like, you know, it was, I always loved teaching, I loved geeking out on technique, and, and, you know, and I had the range of students, like people, take art classes for all kinds of reasons, some, some pretty serious, some like really, really want to, you know, learn and better their craft, and have some professional goals in mind, and other people are like hard after a hard day's work, just want to, you know, relax a little bit, and so, and all of that is equally good, you know, it's like there's so many reasons for, for, for, you know, trying this kind of thing, but when I started teaching in the academy, it was like, it was, it was just a whole different kind of teaching experience, because you know, continuing to teach the same students over and over, and watch, get to get to be by their side as they were like having those light bulb moments, and these, you know, also pitfalls, like just, you know, the things that happen as we're, as we're all learning and continuing to work, and um, and and just like developing like really strong relationships and community and camaraderie and I like, wow, this is such a beautiful thing, and, and it's like, I can't imagine life without it at this point, so, so, yeah, Atelier Doda, we've been growing, we've, we've moved into a different space from our original space, and now we're getting ready to move into an yet another space, because we're expanding the size with an additional classroom to get to offer more programming, so we still, we have lots of six week classes, we host workshops still from with artists from all over, we have our open studios and we have our three year ish tuition based Dojo Academy program, so lot of good stuff going on at the school and and it's yeah, it's a lot. Really great place to be. I feel grateful for it.
Laura Arango Baier:If you've been enjoying the podcast and also want to ask our guests live questions, then you might want to join our monthly webinar, The Faso Show, where our guest artists discuss marketing tips, share inspiring stories, and answer your burning questions in real time. Whether you're a seasoned painter or just starting your creative journey, this is your chance to connect, learn, and spark new ideas, and whether you're stuck on a canvas or building your creative business, this is where breakthroughs happen. Don't miss out. Ignite your passion and transform your art practice by joining us. Our next Faso show webinar is coming up on the 18th of June with our special guest, Timothy Tyler. You can find the sign-up link in the show notes. Yeah, yeah, and I think if anyone's in the Austin area and wants to get some good education, they should totally, of course, add the link in the show notes for Atelier Dojo, so anyone can go check it out and sign up for any workshops and fun stuff, you know, you never know, you can try a figure session one night and before you know it, you're obsessed,
Jennifer Balkan:totally, yes. yeah, yeah. Oh, and you know what? One other one thing I wanted to say about that, you know, as I was thinking about some of the questions in advance, something that maybe you'll, you know, you were thinking of getting to anyway, but something really special about the art program, and something that I think about in my own artistic path is that, that we really, you know, I think, like, as artists, or as, let's say, as, as growing artists and students, we wonder how we will cultivate our own voice, you know, it's like, you know, it's like, I don't, I don't want to just learn how to draw and paint well, but I also, you know, I want to, I want to be unique in some way, or I want to, I want to do something a little different, and and be able to express myself in my own way, and have, you know perhaps be identifiable in some way, you know, and and I hear that a lot, like, how, okay, like, how do I figure that out, and I think, like, my answer to it is, like, either, either you already have it, and you just need to work like hours and hours of, of like, you know, really, really learning and practicing and growing within the craft to, to more successfully articulate visually what's all what's what's there, or you maybe don't know what that is yet, but you're working on it for hours and hours, and, and experimenting, you know, with instruct, you know, taking the instruction in and trying things in different ways, and, and just, you know, learning the medium, and such, that you just can't, you will, you will, like, there's no way you will won't figure it out, you know. It's just like you will kind of just gravitate towards something, you know. Certainly, some subject matter, some way of paint handling from all your studies with different people. You like a little of this, a little of that. You take, you know, you take something good from from each person, and then work out how best to describe that yourself, and that becomes the you, and so, so at our school, like, we're really, we don't, you know, we're something that's very important to us is, is to, you know, is to really cultivate being the best, the best version of yourself, and so that means that when a student comes in, we never want to strip them of what is already there, because something is already there, and so we're, you know, it's like with our instruction and our critiques and our, you know, help helping them to grow as a, as a painter, as an artist. There's, there's kind of, there's caution not to, like, you know, remove some of what's already there, but instead, How can we help improve? How can, how can we help, help them to see a little more, see differently, I guess. And so, and with that, you know, certainly the all the technical stuff, you know, the measurement accuracy and line and mark making and construction and anatomical knowledge and all that technical stuff, but it does not necessarily have to be at odds with the with the the voice that's that's already in that that particular student, so we don't need to kind of strip them of the of the Eunice, I don't. To take the you out of you, but we just are adding all this other stuff to it, so and I think that also just helps with them coming out the other side and feeling like motivated and feeling like they, you know, maybe they don't actually know exactly what you know, I mean, you know, it takes a while, as we know, to sort of figure, figure yourself out, but, but they're not, they don't feel stripped of anything, so that's that's important to
Laura Arango Baier:us. Yeah, and I totally appreciate it, because from my experience, obviously, this doesn't happen to everyone, but you know, when you go to these academic schools, there's a lot of course competition, and there's a lot of really rigorous, intense training, which is great. It's really great, but at the same time, like you said, you know, there's a little bit of that erasure of the self that happens because in order for you to reach a specific level of skill you need to erase your mistakes a lot, and I had a guest, actually a long while ago, who said your voice is actually the mistakes you repeat, which I thought was really interesting. Of course, you choose what mistakes you want, or what could be deemed as mistakes, right? Because, of course, there's no real right or wrong in drawing. In the end, it's really just like, okay, well, if this is my goal, then these are the steps I have to follow. But then, when that's no longer your goal, say, for example, the super high finish, high render academic style, now you have to figure out, okay, what's my new goal, and what are the steps that I need to get to there, because if I keep following these steps, I'm never going to get to this other goal, and I think that's one of the hard parts about graduating from a very rigorous academic program, which is you become so reliant on this from a to b situation that when you want to go to point C, sure, you have some of the starter tools, but you, you don't even remember what point C was supposed to be anymore, like, like it, because, of course, the academic can, it can be really addictive, it can be really fun, because it's like, oh my gosh, I could paint a million still lives, because I know I can accomplish it, but at the same time, it's like, for me personally, I just felt very unfulfilled by that. I was like, yeah, I can paint all these still lives, but I don't, I don't get any fulfillment out of it in the same way that I would if I was trying to explore these other ideas that I have, so I appreciate that Atelier Dojo, at least, wants to retain some of that. Okay, let's think about, you know, how we can make sure that we're using what you know and what you want and your style, and just develop that, so that it, it's more accurate without erasing you completely, which I think is it's a great goal to have. It seems a little hard, but it seems like a great goal. I think, like,
Jennifer Balkan:it's definitely.. I mean, it is.. it's hard in this.. it's what am I trying to say.. it can definitely be hard in the sense that maybe the progress, quote, whatever progress in quotes that a student hopes to make might be a little slow, might happen a little more slowly, and that's okay, I, you know, I've, I think, like that's really, we've got, got your whole life, and we're, you know, I'm, I'm still, I still consider myself a student of all of this, so it's, it, it, there's, there, there are never any shortcuts, no matter what, like, no matter, no matter what particular kind of, of instructional program you pursue, or maybe, or not at all, and you are just on your own, trying, you know, learning and figuring it out. It's time, it is time, and patience and discipline and hours and like hours and hours of bad drawings, bad paintings, and you keep on going, and so, so in that sense, like there's, it's just literally doing it as much as possible, and that is the way to getting better, like improving, you know. Regardless, there is not.. there's.. I mean, I.. I would say, if, like, I did not attend the programs that exist now, didn't, when I. Was when I was a much younger person, and, and I, you know, I'm like, oh man, you know, like, uh, if only, if only I would have gone to said school and done such and such, and it would have been quicker, like, so, so I do, I, okay, I do believe that there is a more efficient road to improvement, and to great, to great improvement, for sure, for sure. But even with that, it's still, it's still the hours of studying and sketching, and you know, keeping a sketchbook and drawing whenever you can, and all that stuff, so in that sense, you know, it's just like it's just you gotta love this stuff, you gotta love quote practicing, because we're always practicing, and so it's like, if you don't love the process, then it's not worth your time, because it's too, it's too darn hard to like sustain yourself financially for you not to love the process and just love the practice of doing it.
Laura Arango Baier:Thank you. Yes, we're so happy you said love the process, because there's always, and I feel like it could, I could just be speaking for myself is the last before we continue to the next part, for the next question, because this is just so fascinating, but I feel like a lot of artists that I've noticed, you know, when you're, you know, in the beginning stages, going into like early career to mid career, and then by the time you're late career, you're fine, but hopefully, but I feel like there's always this, a bit of like a struggle between process and end result, right? And it's always going to be like, oh, I want this end result, but then you don't know the process to get to it, or like, the process completely alters the end result, and you know the idea you had in mind at the beginning is just like it never, it's totally different, it's not even anywhere close to what it was. It's almost like when you have like a dream and things make sense in the dream, and then you like try to interpret it in real life, is like hands don't move like that.
Jennifer Balkan:Yeah, I like that analogy, that's totally,
Laura Arango Baier:so I feel like, yeah, loving the process, and just enjoying the process, and allowing that to also let, let your expectations shift, because if you have, like, these expectations about, I need this painting to look like this, and just have this extreme level of control, for some people, it works, and that's great, but I think also, in the, you know, the side of like experimenting, learning, and allowing yourself to grow, it is so important to release some of that control a little bit, give yourself some room to maybe take things in a direction that you would never expect, that might be even better than this, like extreme uptightness, so it might be preventing a piece from like really speaking back to you, which I like to say that like paintings oftentimes will tell us what it means. It's like screaming at you, and it's your responsibility to reply to it and be like, okay, fine, I'll move this over here, like you're asking,
Jennifer Balkan:I'm experiencing that literally right now.
Laura Arango Baier:I feel like we all feel that, or it's like, shut up, stop looking at me painting. I hear you, stop it.
Jennifer Balkan:Yes, yes, yes,
Laura Arango Baier:yes. So I'm really happy you mentioned process, because the more you focus on enjoying the process, like you said, the easier it is to, I would dare say, like you know, reach a painting that you might not have even expected to have ever reached, you know, if you had just kept limited your vision to like this level of perfection, instead of just like what can go beyond that, you know, glass ceiling that you're putting, you know, yeah,
Jennifer Balkan:yes, that's
Laura Arango Baier:a big one,
Jennifer Balkan:so yeah, oh my gosh, yeah,
Laura Arango Baier:yeah, that's the artist's life, but also, you know, in terms of the more monotonous side, that is a little bit tougher in the artist's life. What was the moment for you where you became full time? What was that like for you when you, you know, you said, okay, this is it, no day job, or I mean, having a teaching job is great because you know you're still an artist, but what was that like for you? That transition,
Jennifer Balkan:yeah, yeah, you know, I had to, when I was thinking about this question, I kind of had to like go back and actually remember a few of the steps, like before I was like, okay, here I go, and you know, and play that out a little bit, it was in 2005 Dave, when I think I could have, I said, like, I officially left the part-time job I had as a research assistant at University of Texas, which is, which was a great thing to be able to do, because I could fill the rest of my hours with painting, drawing stuff, and before then my first like opportunity to show work was in 2003 and I was invited, kind of like an artist collective of sorts to exhibit two paintings, and it was like, was a really big deal for me, and, and, and they were received, they were received pretty well, and I then, by kind of via that, had an invitation to a local gallery, and quickly developed a relationship with them, and they, and they offered to give me a solo show in oh four, and so that was super exciting. These are the days where you know, hard to believe for most artists now, but you, you could walk into a gallery with your images under your arm and be like, "Hi, I'm an artist, you want to look at my, you know, my portfolio, which later on, even, even like a little while after that, I remember people saying, "Don't ever do that again, or like, "Just do not do that, don't dare do that in New York, you might be able to do that in Austin, but you know this, all like, there are just so many rules and like good guidance as to what you should and shouldn't do as a, as a pounding the pavement, literally, artist, but it worked for me in that moment, and, and my naive self, and so, so, yeah, so that was kind of like the beginning of me exhibiting work, and and then in oh five, I, so I had been taking some classes, local classes here in Austin, and in 2005 I spent a month at the Denver Art Student League, where I just kind of filled my days with painting and drawing, and it was since I had never been like an official art student, it was as close to that experience, and it was just wonderful, and so when I returned from that was when I decided, like, all right, I think I'm going for it, and, and so that is when I left the part-time job, and, and I had recently gotten married, or in the, in the last couple years before that, gotten married, and my very supportive husband, Jeff, I said to him, I said,'Listen, I know this is like might feel really crazy, but if you can just financially support me for a little bit while I like really kind of figure this out, I'll get you back at some point. Like, I hope to be able to do the same for you. He's a super creative guy and musician and has played guitar all his life and such, so I, and a lot of other things, but, but I really, yeah, just with his support I was able to just say, okay, I'll figure this out, and and so I, so that's what I did, and then, and then in it was like later that year that I had my very first teaching job, and and the director of the local sculpture academy here in Austin was familiar with my work and asked me if I wanted to teach figure drawing, which was very scary for me, but also exciting and and very intimidating, and when I was taking some really incredible classes in Denver, I thought about the idea of teaching the stuff at some point, and like really, really holding on to some gems of knowledge that great people were bestowing upon me, and note taking, and everything, and thinking, like, okay, maybe I would want to teach this stuff. So that was my first, that was my first opportunity, which, you know, was scary and hard at first, but very rewarding. And then it just, and then more of that started to happen. I then taught figure painting there, and then that, then I ended up getting a couple other jobs, and so forth, and and eventually decided to start teaching in my own studio to small groups, so private but small. Groups of people where I'd hire, we would hire a model, and, and I, that, that, that, that began my regular six week sessions, which, at the time, I had, I had a wait list on them, you know, continually I would, I would alternate between portrait and figure painting, and then eventually I started doing some still life. It just because, at the time, there, aside from the university and the community college, there was very.. I mean, actually, at University of Texas, it.. you know, there was no representational mark making, not so much right now, either a little bit, but at the time zero, you know, it was not, you know, the the trend was not that, and so, so I had, yeah, I like the classes were in demand, which was like pretty good for me, so I did that all like for years up until 2018 where I kind of moved my classes into Atelier Dojo, and then brought on, you know, more students and all that stuff, but, but that, that really, so, so, you know, the teaching was very part-time, and it enabled me to be able to paint, be able to think about showing work do commissions from time to time, so I just, just kind of developing myself alongside that, so, so that was that, was it, that was that little turning point.
Laura Arango Baier:Nice, yeah, and honestly, teaching makes you a better artist as well, because it just forces you to know what you're talking about, and to also, you know, perceive different ways that you can explain to your students something that you know, if you may, if you say it in one way to one guy, he might not understand, or she, you might not understand, but you say it in a different way, suddenly, aha, that light bulb happens, and that's also extremely fulfilling, you know, the teaching side can be fulfilling in its own way, but yeah, yeah, teaching and
Jennifer Balkan:learning from students, learning from students, like I just, yeah, I mean, it just, I always found, you know, exactly, just to echo what you said, and, and just having, I mean, you don't know something until you have to teach it to something else, and figuring out, I think, like a methodical, I think, because of my, because of my kind of patchwork of education, and, and really determining what a really great and effective way of communicating through, you know, in method to be able to teach somebody else, so that was that was something that I had to, I definitely had to figure out, because nobody, it's not very educational just to watch somebody do their thing without structure, and so I had structure, but I didn't, it wasn't so clearly spelled out until I had to figure out how to spell it out for somebody else, and so yeah, that for 100% like, okay, what, what do I.. what do I do again?
Laura Arango Baier:Yeah, yeah, that's changed
Jennifer Balkan:so much over time too, because you know, like, the more you know, the more you learn to be a great teacher, you should always be willing to continue to learn, and, and, and, and keep current on just everything out there, so you know, just constantly tweaking and adjusting and doing, you know, getting rid of what doesn't work very well, and so, yeah,
Laura Arango Baier:yeah, yeah, and it's, it's, it's an endless, you know, sort of well of information, like you said, like you should constantly be learning, and also, gosh, like I know we've probably all experienced this as well, but like having a good teacher, it really just changes your life, no matter what subject matter, right? Like, you always remember that moment where that teacher, I think, at its core, what I think really hits when you have a good teacher is the fact that they listen to you and they respond in a way that you understand. It's almost like they have to learn a very unique little language with you to get you to understand it, at least with painting, and I think that can make a huge difference, equally, that, like, you know, you can tell when a teacher really doesn't care, like it's the worst, because then that also kind of stays with you, but yeah, you know, do. Just learning from a good, good teacher, and then also from the side of teaching, you know, learning something as if you were going to teach it, even if you're not, is also mind blowing. You can learn anything that way.
Jennifer Balkan:Very good point. Absolutely,
Laura Arango Baier:yeah.
Jennifer Balkan:And, like, and just, and also sitting in other people's classes, other taking classes, just like continuing your own education, is a wonderful thing. I, you know, I have the privilege of getting to sit in on my fellow instructors, colleagues' classes, and so, and we, we encourage doing that amongst amongst our little team, so that we can, like, you know, try to stay unified, try not to confuse students. She said this, he said that. What's the, you know, trying to, like, minimize, like, too much contradiction and conflict, but all, but just, I just, I get so much out of being getting, you know, getting to learn from them as well, and like, oh, wow, I love the way they just described that thing that I understand and describe in a slightly different way to students, like, oh, cool, I'm gonna, I'm gonna use that, like, that will work. I like that, you know, and so that you know, that's just what I.. I feel very lucky to be able to do that, and then, and to continue my own learning with, with all of that.
Laura Arango Baier:Absolutely, yes. And then I also wanted to ask, because you know, teaching, I'm guessing, is a good amount of your one of your incomes, which is great. So many artists, when they, you know, they teach workshops, or they teach at academies, that's a great source of income, because you get to keep a good amount of it, compared to, you know, working with galleries, of course. But what have, in terms of, you know, making a living as an artist, would have been, would have been some of your income streams that have worked for you, and your unique way of approaching, you know, your business, because everyone does it a little different.
Jennifer Balkan:Sure, yeah, I mean, really, I would say teaching is really the main one for me, or has been I've also done, you know, and continue to do commission work, but really that's it, that is pretty much it, you know, and being kind of open to different upper, you know, different kinds of teaching in the past. Yeah, I feel like I feel fortunate that that has worked for me, because it doesn't work for everybody, and not everybody likes doing it, and I, you know, that's totally fine. So, because it's worked well for me, I've been just keeping, you know, with that predominantly, and I, you know, it's funny because even in times where I have taught a lot less and I have way more studio time, I.. it's isolating, you know, it's sort of like it's funny because I, I'm around people, you know, as far as, like, professionally, art, you know, art wise, way more than I was before being involved in Dojo Academy, and so there was a time where the life that I had, like, I guess maybe five years ago. Well, I don't want to. It's funny, I'm saying five years, I'm like, not the pandemic. I didn't mean that, like, let's say before the pandemic would look like, like in the past, past I would have said, oh my gosh, like that is the ideal life. You're in your studio all the time, teaching your occasional class, and like, what a dream life, you know? Just, just you and your work. So I did that for, you know, a good number of years, and, and it was good for a while, and then it was a little lonely, and even, you know, and I would really look forward to those classes that I would have once a week or twice a week, maybe, and, and you know, place like, oh, cool, my like infusion of and, and like, an open, you know, open studios, it wasn't as if like I was I was seeing painter friends and such working from models occasionally and such, but like, but anyway, kind of like living the life that I thought I wanted, I. And yeah, kind of felt, felt pretty isolating, and so, and didn't even realize it until being involved with the school as I am that I have, yeah, it just, it feels there's just a lot more community, I guess is really the best way of putting it, but, but just also, and maybe it's my, it's also my like aging self feeling a sense of purpose, like a sense of giving back, which making art can feel, you know, very narcissistic at a lot of times, it's like, oh, here I am making my paintings. It's all about me, my voice, you know. It's like, here I'm talking about, like, finding our voice and all that stuff. This is what we, what we yearn for, but, but then it's like, here, buy my work, buy the thing that I'm putting out there, that's me, you know, that's which, like, it's all a matter of perspective, but, um, but I think, like, um, there's I I think, and maybe it's just sort of like my years doing this, I, it's a, it's a nice balance, you know, and people have different ways of balancing that, all different, you know, all kinds of different ways, and, and, and, so, and I, and I see, like, yeah, just like cool pursuits that other, other, other artists choose to do, whether it's like working for some kind of organization that promotes the arts in some way for young people, or, you know, all kinds of stuff, but I have found that it, like, for my, it really just, it helps, it, it has given me so much personal satisfaction, in terms of, like, what is this all about, anyway, kind of stuff. Yeah, like putting my work out there has been a big drive for me, but also just to be able to kind of pass it, pass this on, not, not, not my paintings, but like pass this wonderful knowledge and practice on that, that is just a beautiful part of humanity to others who will also yearn it is just like it feels, it feels like a higher purpose for me personally, and that feels, you know, it feels, feels nice, because there's a lot of questioning about all kinds of stuff right now, and on our planet, and so I'm like, if we can just be remembered once we're, you know, we're ruled by the robot overlords, or whatever, whatever's about to happen to us sooner or later, like humans, they made art, they passed art down, they, they communicated visually, they shared that experience with each other, and like, that's that's a bigger thing,
Laura Arango Baier:yeah, yeah. And, and you know, speaking of lineage, I mean, it's what, you know, what we're doing is literally what's been happening since the beginning of, you know, cave drawings, you know, yeah, we're still doing the same thing, just unga boom, pointing it. This is, yeah,
Jennifer Balkan:exactly, exactly the
Laura Arango Baier:deer that's over there, and it's fulfilling, because it feels also like, you know, to add to what you said, is like we're we're just following this very long lineage of human creative expression on two dimensional surface of some sort, which is beautiful when you think about the grand scheme of humanity, and what we've done, and I think it's important to remember that, yeah, because even if our name gets lost right in time, maybe someone we taught remembers us and mentions it to their students, and then, yeah, you know, you never know, life is strange. Then I wanted to ask you, if you have any final advice for someone who wants to become a full-time artist, do it,
Jennifer Balkan:because you cannot not do it. It's really hard. It's really frustrating. There are ways your ways to make some sustainable living decent money, like I'm not even talking about like oodles of money, here I'm talking about like a decent, a decent income. There's such easier ways to do it, so you just have to really want it, and, and, and be ready, you know. We're talking about income, sort. And such, you know, like, really, really be ready to embrace various income streams, and that is perhaps, you know, there's something that you've worked at that's not art related that you can, you know you've become successful at, and you can hold a job part time that doesn't take too much of your mental and physical energy that you know in that during your other hours you're too tired or too spent to be able to make art, so there's that, or art related, you know, but, but it's, I think it's really important to be very realistic about the fact that you're going to have to make some money between your paint, you know, between your ups and downs of your painting sales, but while you're maybe working on a body of work for exhibition, there's a chunk of time that you're doing that that you're not necessarily like churning paintings out to sell right away, so there are those spans of time, and so that you need to make some money between that, so, so, anyway, I just, I think it's a very, very important aspect of, of, you know, thinking about what life will be like to try to make a living as an artist, and that, you know, it's time, it's time, and discipline, and you know, getting back to the whole process thing, like you have to just love the act of doing it, and just really have to love it. You have, you have to love the discipline of it, and be willing to put those hours in, and try not to compare yourself to others, you know, which is really, really, really hard these days. You know, we all follow a gazillion artists and enjoy that, and see art, you know, scrolling on our feeds and such, and, and it's very easy to kind of get caught up in that, and, and be driven, you know, by that, and by, like, okay, I make this piece, and share, and see what the response is, and all that stuff, and, and that can really suck the suck the life out of you, as I have personally experienced, and you know, being willing to kind of take full on breaks and, and sort of work without distraction, like really try to remove all the chatter, the noise, so that you can put yourself to work and also be ready to, for to be able to be self-disciplined and self-motivated, you need that. So those are my little bits of advice, but it's, but it's all pretty beautiful. I mean, that sounded very, very like harsh, and like, but I think it's important to, you know, to really be realistic, like, you know, it's, yeah, it's, it's, it's hard work, and also wonderful and beautiful, which is, you know, why we did, why we put the hard work in,
Laura Arango Baier:exactly, and to add to the, you know, comparing yourself part, instead of, you know, instead of go touch some grass, which we should go touch some grass, go touch some paintbrushes, like, stay away from your phone, touch some paintbrushes,
Jennifer Balkan:yes, such a pencil,
Laura Arango Baier:and
Jennifer Balkan:to add to what you just said, like the little touching of grass, it's you have, yeah, you know, we've been, you know, of course, talking about all the, all the painting and art, and being in your studio stuff here, but, but, whatever, whatever it takes for you as a person to sort of like fill your cup, you know, and actually I love being outside and and cycling and stuff, and so, like, and that's when I'm out. It's really when I'm not in my studio, and I'm outdoors, and often by myself when I have, like, moment to really think, and not, you know, not necessarily have a lovely conversation with somebody else. But it's like, but is when I get painting ideas, and so it's, yeah, so that's pretty important. Take care of your body and your mind, and in whatever ways work for you.
Laura Arango Baier:Totally, totally 100% agree. You have to step away from the canvas as much as you have to step towards the canvas. Yes, yeah, and get sleep.
Jennifer Balkan:So, important. yeah, that's hard.
Laura Arango Baier:But I also wanted to ask you, if you have, you know, besides your classes at Atelier Dojo, do you have any workshops or any cool stuff that's going on that you'd like to promote?
Jennifer Balkan:Yeah. Yeah, so some something new and exciting is that I am involved with a brand new gallery here in Austin, Texas, and similar to our school name, we call it Gallery Dojo, but it is independent of the school itself, so it's a new endeavor spawned by Denise Fulton, and we will be the gallery will be featuring great contemporary representational artists from all around and includes a handful of us over at the school, so we are having sort of a grand opening in October, and I will have brand new work in there, so that's exciting, and yeah, I've been, you know, I took, I took a some much needed time off after 20 after 2024 when I had two shows, two solo shows, which were very exciting, one at the Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, and another at a gallery in Smithville, that's not far from Austin, and, and I needed a break, I needed such a break. Oh my gosh, I didn't realize I did, so I.. the last, you know, I can't believe now it's 2020 26 but the.. the last couple, I guess, or whatever year and a half or so, I have been drawing and painting as much or more than ever, but just like for paint and drawing sake, and so, and just kind of not knowing what's next, and being okay with that, and so now I'm like, okay, I am finally like thinking about new work and new ideas, instead of just responding, which I needed to just respond, I needed to just respond in paint or in graphite or whatever to something out there, and now it's like, alright, now I can think about creating from from inside me, so so that will be part of the show in October, and, and I do have a workshop also coming up. I haven't done that in a few years, since since Dojo Academy. I've been teaching exclusively with that, and so I have my first independent workshop, a three-day summer workshop at the end of July at Atelier Dojo on harmonious color in an oil painting as we paint a figure from a limited palette, so that is what's going on.
Laura Arango Baier:That's exciting.
Jennifer Balkan:If someone wants to see more of your work, where can they go? So I've got my website, which is my name, Jennifer balkin.com J E N N I F E R B A L K A n.com and I also have I post regularly on Instagram at Jennifer Balkin, and a lot of you know my day to day whatevers are on Instagram, whereas more completed works are on my website, but lots of studies and stuff are I share regularly, so those are the main places.
Laura Arango Baier:Perfect, awesome. Well, thank you so much, Jennifer, for the very engaging conversation. I think we could definitely go on for hours and hours if we were left to our own devices, so it's a bit of a shame to cut it short, short, quote unquote. Thank you so much for giving us some of your time to share your, your wisdom with us.
Jennifer Balkan:Thank you, Laura. It's been such a pleasure, and really nice to connect, connecting with you too, yeah, yeah. Look forward to more. Yes.
Laura Arango Baier:Thank you to everyone out there for listening to the podcast. Your continued support means a lot to us. If you've enjoyed the episode, please leave a review for the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or leave us a comment on YouTube. This helps us reach others who might also benefit from the excellent advice that our guests provide. Thank you.