For the Love of Creatives
Imagine a space where your creative spark is truly seen... a community where people get you.
That’s what Maddox and Dwight bring each week on For the Love of Creatives... a podcast rooted in the power trio of Creativity, Community, and Becoming.
As your hosts and “connections and community guys,” Maddox and Dwight invite you into soul-stirring conversations with artists, innovators, and everyday creatives who’ve faced challenges, found inspiration, and said yes to the next version of themselves.
Whether through storytelling, real-time coaching, or deep dialogue, this is where heart-centered creatives come to explore what’s possible... not just in their craft, but in who they’re becoming.
Expect:
- Practical insights
- Fresh inspiration
- Real stories from the worlds of art, design, dance, culinary, and beyond
If you’re a creative seeking clarity, connection, and the courage to step into who you most want to become, this podcast is your invitation.
Tune in weekly to explore the magic of community-fueled creativity... and start your own journey of Becoming.
For the Love of Creatives
#053: From Networking To Galleries, Here’s How Artists Get On The Wall With Jennifer Luney
Curiosity brought us together years ago in a networking room; purpose brought us back to talk about how creatives actually get their work on the wall. Jennifer Luney, a private wealth advisor with deep roots in advertising and an even deeper commitment to artists, opens the backstage door to the North Texas art ecosystem and shares a practical playbook for visibility, momentum, and community impact.
We trace her journey from print media and radio to championing her husband’s fine art photography, then onward to leadership roles with the Visual Arts Guild of Frisco and the Business Council for the Arts. Along the way, Jennifer demystifies juried shows, explains why noncompetitive rotations are a powerful on-ramp, and shows how every acceptance builds an artist resume that galleries and festivals actually read. She walks through the full cycle—submissions, curation, installation, receptions, and documentation—while offering smart tips for social storytelling that nudges collectors without burning you out.
If you’ve ever hesitated to share your work, you’ll hear thoughtful alternatives to competition-heavy paths: coffee-shop galleries with rotating exhibits, lobby shows curated by local leagues, and duo or group events that lower the stakes and raise your confidence. We also talk about time and energy—how purpose fuels late nights, how critique circles and classes create momentum, and why mentorship could be the next big unlock for emerging artists. Jennifer’s closing reframe on patience and perspective lands like a breath: do the work with urgency, trust the outcomes to arrive on time.
Ready to take one step toward showing your work? Hit play, then tell a friend. If this episode serves you, subscribe, share it with your artist circle, and leave a review so more creatives can find their way to the wall.
Jennifer's Profile
Visual Arts Guild of Frisco
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For the Love of Creatives Community
Well, I'm also looking for people in the art industry that have an arts background, visual arts specifically, educated in the arts, you know, museum and art curators, gallery owners, and so forth. And that's how I got introduced to the Business Council for the Arts and several of the Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, Dittison, Sherman, you name it, arts organizations. And then I just built this whole other group or network for artists to help artists, right? To be a resource for artists. And it's kind of like grown since then. Um someone had recommended that I apply for leadership arts in Dallas through the Business Council for the Arts. And I got in the class. And these were two actually artists that had recommended me to go through it.
SPEAKER_05:Hello, this is Maddox, and I'm here with my little buddy and my cohort. Wait. Yes. This is For the Love of Creatives Podcast. And our guest today is Jennifer Looney. And we met Jennifer, I met Jennifer many, many, many years ago in a business networking group. And then we just came face to face a few months ago at, I believe it was Art Boost 2025. And and then recalled that we knew each other in a former life. And so we've kind of gotten to to know each other again. And we've hung out a few times at varying different art things. And she agreed to come on the podcast. And so here she is. Welcome, Jennifer.
SPEAKER_01:Thanks. I appreciate the opportunity. And uh running into folks that how life changes, right? And how sometimes it stays the same.
SPEAKER_05:You know, you just never know who you're gonna meet at an art gallery, right?
SPEAKER_01:Right, right. And uh I was really glad to see you all there supporting Art Boost. Um, I'm actually a graduate from the leadership program from Business Council for the Arts. So it was really wonderful to see folks supporting that. That was only our third art boost. And my understanding is they're gonna keep doing that. It's it's a need, it's a want, it's a it's a gap filler, as you probably saw and recognized. So I hope you'll continue to you know keep your finger on the pulse of that uh that art boost every year.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, we we enjoyed it. We had a good time. I don't know that we would hesitate to be part again if they, you know, if definitely pull it off. So um, and I don't know if you know this, but Dwight is part of the the art.
SPEAKER_01:I do know I saw that, I celebrated that. Congratulations.
SPEAKER_05:Well, we we both applied, but they they said from one company we can only take one because we've had so many applicants and uh so um enjoy the program and feel welcome to reach out to me if you have any questions or need resources. Oh, thank you. Yeah, yeah, he's really enjoying it. Well, all right, let's jump in. I'm I'm gonna turn it over to you for a minute and let you tell our audience a little bit about who you are and what you're about.
SPEAKER_01:Who I am and what I'm all about. I was born a small young girl many, many years ago in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A lot of people don't know. I'm not from around here. Um, but I grew up mostly in Texas. I moved around a lot. I am a twin. I have a fraternal twin sister, and my twin has twins, gave me boy, girl, twin, niece, and nephew. Um, but we were raised by disc jockeys. If y'all were if y'all are familiar with what those are.
SPEAKER_02:Oh yes.
SPEAKER_01:I am these days, right? Disc jockeys. Um, my father is actually was inducted into the uh Rowan University Communications Hall of Fame for being one of the boss jocks back in the days when it kind of kicked off late 50s, early 60s through early 70s.
SPEAKER_05:Um our young listeners right now are Googling that.
SPEAKER_01:I don't know that. Uh they actually actually spin records before they started spinning records, if you know what I mean. And so we moved around a lot. Uh radio stations, formats, uh just the music industry changing and evolving from the 60s to 70s, 80s. Landed in Texas in the early 80s in Houston. So I always say my home is the Houston area. I still have family in the Houston and Sugarland area. So that's what that's what I call home. Uh went to college at Texas Tech University, so from one corner of Texas all the way to the other, you know, school. And my background is in advertising, and it was free internet. So before the internet was invented, the original cut and paste, before it was copy paste, it was cut and paste. So I was print, mostly print media. Um, so that would be newspapers and magazines, a little bit of radio. So I sold air on the radio, uh, just because I had the background, and copywriting is copywriting wherever it might be, right? Now it's uh a lot of AI generated, but um you know they're Googling that too on air.
SPEAKER_02:They're Googling that too.
SPEAKER_01:What is that? What is that? Um, we still have to make newspapers. I work for newspapers and magazines, so I do have a creative background. Um met my former husband at university, at Texas Tech University, and we were together 20 years. I have two kids. I'm a very proud military mom. My son is in the Air Force and he is married now two years. And my daughter is in sports management and marketing, and she works for a university here in the Texas market. They're both close now, they were very far away for a little while. My son actually served for five years in Japan, so we got to go visit him in Japan, which was a lot of fun. Um, what else? So we moved our family to Frisco, Texas in 2001 before the big boom up here. There was a big mall, and that's about all there was up here in Frisco. And um early on in my career, I was in the barking department of a bank with my ad degree, and the bank got bought out and I couldn't move or transfer. So I moved into a teller role. Some people may want to look up what that is. That's the person that gives you money at a teller line in a bank, not the automated teller machine. And I had to teach people how to use an automated teller machine back then because those were brand new on the market, you know, in the late 90s, and then moved around the country a little bit with my former husband's job and then landed in the Dallas market, ended up getting some investment in insurance licenses, have been in banking about 30 years now. The Dallas market just sort of moved through. Um, that's kind of in a nutshell where I got to today, where I'm a private wealth advisor for Bank of Texas.
SPEAKER_03:Well, that's that's an amazing origin story. And you know, a testament to how creative you are is you're in great company because uh I don't know if a lot of people know this, but uh James Patterson, the famous author also had a background in advertising. And uh I I think the the biggest contribution to the the field is he's he's the author of the famous. Well, they're gonna have to look this one up too. Toys R Us Kindle.
SPEAKER_01:Oh yeah. I don't want to go. I'm a Toys R Us kid. I could see the whole thing. I won't bore your listeners with.
SPEAKER_04:We're all showing our age now. It's like these young ones are going, oh my God.
SPEAKER_01:You know what? All of that happening. Now I am remary and I'm married to a photographer, a creative, fine arts, and business photographer, and I was a photographer as well, but back in the film days when film was affordable before digital. Um, so I've I feel like the moving around as a child growing up, and then the moving around with my former husband's job, and then having my kids move around and wanting that to move around and see life out there, don't just stay in one spot. Um, that is part creativity. I think part of it is for some people might be a courageous act. For me, it's like that's just kind of how I wasn't born and raised a nomad. I'm just gonna move around everywhere. But I feel like that gives a skill in that pivot area, that favorite word we all have, pivot, right? So to be able to transfer, transform, transition, and not it be a huge, traumatic, life altering, even though for a lot of people it is. I know that. It's kind of like we grew up with putting computers in our kids' hands, so it's super easy. But then when you talk to my mom and those, let's say over 80 years old, it's not as easy for them to pick up and learn. You know, we're working with a phone and we're just how do you get your text message, how do you get your pictures, how do you get your videos, how do you get to your social media, constantly reminding them how to do that. It doesn't seem to be as intuitive for them as it is for how we grew up and how I think at least those sitting here on this conversation probably pivoted a lot with technology, and some of it might have been a little bit scary, some of it you dove right in, especially if you uh might have a tech background. But for some, it's not so easy, and there's so much creativity behind technology that sometimes that mind you understand it. That's why there's a big difference between like iPhone and Android, right? And Apple and and everything else. My first computer was a Mac. I thought I would be Apple forever, but no, I was in this industry, I was branded on Blackberries. If you remember the Blackberry store, you can go watch a movie about it and a documentary about it now. But people are gonna be looking up, what is that? And so to me, pivoting to Android ended up being easier for me than it was iPhone. I've tried the iPhone and it's as intuitive for me, right? So I feel like sometimes, you know, having all those transitions and changes, it's an interesting skill, skill set, I think.
SPEAKER_05:I think so too. Yeah. I didn't uh ever touch a computer until I was probably about 36 years old. And I can remember, you know, going uh going out, you know, with uh a mate at the time, and and he was very computer savvy because he worked in in industries that had to use computers all the time and helped me pick it out. And we got it out, got it home, got it out of the box, set it up on the desk. And I'm like, cool, how do you turn it on? I didn't even know where the on button was. And um, I'm quite literate now, but uh, and that's really odd for somebody that started so late. I think I'm an anomaly in some cases. I started so late, and yet um I just kept pushing and learning, and I'm I'm I'm pretty literate. Now it's kind of going in the in the opposite direction. Now things are I'm getting older and things are getting more sophisticated. And now I feel like I'm actually my my skills on computer are are diminishing a little bit, but um I think it's just moving faster.
SPEAKER_00:It's it's moving everything's coming up, it's moving faster and changing faster.
SPEAKER_05:And I'm moving slower. Yeah, you know, and I'm less interested at this point in my life. You know, I I don't I I just don't want to be quite as engrossed in it as I I once did. Um I I want to ask about because I know we we've learned just enough about you to know that you have a whole other life away from the banking industry.
SPEAKER_01:Multifaceted, as they'll call it, right? Multifaceted. Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_05:And I think it would be interesting for our listeners to hear um how that came about and and and how what that looks like for you, because it doesn't look like like I you you you said you did photography, but you used it as it was a past tense thing, you know. And to my knowledge, do you do you paint? Do you are you in? I didn't think so. I didn't think so.
SPEAKER_01:No, but I'm still a photographer. I still love playing with photography, manual mode on my awesome. Look at all these cameras on my phone. Like, look at all those cameras. There's manual modes, there's filters, all the social medias, anything. I mean, the minute social media came out and I was aware of it, which for me was LinkedIn, it was more business networking, it's still social, it's still a social network. Then it was Facebook, and then it was Instagram, I think, in that in that order for me. I just I just gravitated toward it. It was that creative advertising, marketing, psychology. I loved it. I just love it. I I'm the weird person that wants to watch the 30-second, 60-second advertisements, unless they keep coming on and on and on, then I want to skip them. I love to see a brand new ad. I know what's behind it. I I worked behind television, uh, print, radio. I I did all of that. So I love to see where it where it is now. Um, but what brought me to sort of the art world in the more recent decade would be meeting my husband SWAT Beetovich. He's a professional photographer and a fine art photographer that had to sort of blossom and be presented to the world as that. I saw his photography when we were dating, and I was just like, the world needs to see this. I'm a photographer, and I haven't played with this type of photography, film and digital photography for years. We met in 20 oh my goodness, 14 in a business networking group group, and he was not presenting as a photographer. That was not the business that he was presenting at that business networking group. He and I had coffee, like we're talking now, and in that one-on-one, found out what we had in common. And part of it was photography, a big part of it was photography. So the next time we met, I asked him to bring this book that he was talking about that he had printed out a lot of his travels. Now, my husband's not from around here, he's from Europe, and so he was able to travel a lot more than let's say folks that might be in the United States. It's easy to travel in the United States, but it's so big. You know, his weekends were, you know, and and summers with the family were in Croatia, Dubrovnik. It's just over the other side of the mountain from where he's from. Italy is across the pond. It's like going to Lake Lake Louisville. It's not far. And so he had these amazing opportunities to take some incredible black and white film photography, Ansel Adams being his, you know, epitome of the awesomeness of photography, as most photographers go for. And he practiced it. He's more of a science mind. And that black and white film photography, the lighting, the depth of field, that just it struck him. He got his first camera when he was 11, gifted to him by his father. And he was just became, in my opinion, an expert at it in his style. There's definitely photography styles, what you'd like to take photos of. And it resonated with me. It was a lot of landscape photography, both city and country and water and mountains, and he did a lot of US travel as well. And that's sort of what brought the creative back. And we when we ended up engaged and moved him to the Frisco area, we were at an arts festival. It was an old, it was called Frisco Arts in the Square. And they had art booths there. And we just ran into one of the nonprofit art organizations there called the Visual Arts Guild of Frisco. And in upon looking it up and researching it, I want to say this was in 2017, maybe 2018, late early 2018, uh, found out they had monthly meetings. They were an artist community. I was like, they have photographers. Yes, they have painters and sculptors, mixed media artists, and so forth, but they're all visual artists, and you're a visual artist. And maybe you should put some of your art in one of their shows. We should go to their meetings. He ended up doing that and winning some awards, and that kind of pulls you in, right? Now you've got your community, you've been recognized by the community. And then in 20, I want to say late 2018, early 2019, they needed someone on their board that could help with communications and some social media. So they asked him to apply and they approved him. And he got on the board, so he got even more involved in the visual arts guild. And then 2020 hit, and we know how everybody had to pivot. Some people needed to leave the state, some people needed to leave their practice, they needed to change jobs. And all of a sudden, the board started to dwindle, everything had to go online, you know, and couldn't lead in person because of COVID, pandemics. Um that's when he took the lead and said, if you need a president, I'm there. And so they voted him as president of the visual arts field of Frisco. And at the time the treasurer needed to step away. And I said, Well, I have a banking background. I think you can trust me with your money. A lot of people have for 30 years. If you'd like me to be a part of the board, they said yes, and approved me on the board. And let's say he was approved and on the board in 20, I think, 18, became president in 20 end of 2020, and I became treasurer at the beginning of 21. Went through a year of just learning more, getting more in depth and entrenched in what they normally had done for the last 20 years that they had been an organization. They started in Frisco in 2001. And this was now, let's say, 2021, right? Okay. So how do you normally do things? And then What can we do differently? And what how can we grow? And do you want to grow? And and so that's when I started visiting other art guilds. Some were had videographers, some were um all things art, so even performance, uh theater, ballet, dance, so forth, um, musicals, and just getting to know people in the art world, I had to call folks to come out and speak at our monthly meetings for art-related subjects. I had to schedule jurors to do um either online or in-person judging of the art to give art awards. So I just started meeting the most interesting people. And then at work, when I would have work one-on-ones, when I was meeting people in the office and having one-on-ones, partners, COIs or centers of influence, and they asked, what do you need, other than clients, right? What do you need? Prospects, clients, CYs. Well, I'm also looking for people in the art industry that have an arts background, visual arts specifically, educated in the arts, you know, museum and art curators, gallery owners, and so forth. And that's how I got introduced to the Business Council for the Arts and several the Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, Dittison, Sherman, you name it, arts organizations. And then I just built this whole other group or network uh for artists to help artists, right? To be a resource for artists. And it's kind of like grown since then. Um someone had recommended that I apply for leadership arts in Dallas through the Business Council for the Arts. And I got in the class. And these were two actually artists that had recommended me to go through it. And they do like that not just artists, but people in business who want to support the arts in general arts, like not just visual arts, the arts in in North Texas, that they should consider joining and going through their nine-month leadership program, which I did, and that introduced me to so many more people and what they did for art on the side, art as a hobby, art as their full-time job. Maybe they were in advertising and they were the artists doing all the art boards at a pad agency. Maybe they were marketing for a bank or financial institution, so they still had to work with creatives and art and video and social media. And so it just built another whole avenue to help bring back to the Frisco area. And we don't just serve Frisco artists, we serve artists who any artist who would like to be a part of our organization. To me, there's not enough walls in DFW or in North Texas to showcase all the art. So I try and find those walls and empty spaces and the resources for a lot of emerging and and semi-professional, all the way up to experienced visual artists. And for me, it's just become this passion because I'm passionate about my husband and his business and his art. And because I was a working paid artist, I understand some of that. Now, I'm not in this generation. So going to the monthly meetings at these different art organizations, including my own, and learning from folks, let's say you all that come to speak at our event, or we have a gallery owner come and speak. They're all different. All galleries are different. So when they come in, I take nuggets and I'm able to, you know, counsel or give resource to our artist community. I've created what we all feel like is a very safe space for people to come in. A lot of artists are introverted, and that their art is the way that they speak to the world, is the way that they communicate. And so we appreciate having the opportunity to have as many events as possible. We have 12 full months of programming. And I just surveyed the artists and said, what else could we do as an arts organization? How else can we help you? So that's kind of that whole other life. Now, if I wasn't an empty nester, as I mentioned, my kids are grown. I don't know that I would have the type of time that I've given to this organization that my husband and I have both decided to give to the organization over the last five, six years. But we this has been our baby, basically. We're gonna make sure that this is nurtured and it is grown and it is known, at least throughout the North Texas area, as an opportunity for visual artists to thrive.
SPEAKER_05:You know, you're you're talking about a lot of stuff, and this is kind of a baseline question, but I know that our audience is out here thinking this and in their mind asking this, because so many creatives do what you're doing, and that is they have a full-time career, and then they have their creativity on the side. And that's a challenge for any of us, but you just described a lot. And I'm thinking people are wondering, how do you do all that? How do you full, I mean, time management job time blocking time management?
SPEAKER_01:Um, first of all, I I if that's if that's the question and you didn't have a caveat to it, I can answer that question.
SPEAKER_05:Well, I'm I mean, there is a little bit of a caveat because anybody can time block, but then there is the how do you maintain the physical energy to do all that? So there's a kind of a two-part question.
SPEAKER_01:That's DNA. It was just, I think it was like I said, I had disc jockeys, you know, uh, as dads. Um my energy comes from the passion. So why would an artist continue painting painting? It there is something speaking to them, there's something that has to get out, there's something that has to be done, there's a purpose to their project, their process, right? Whatever that might be. If you don't have a passion for it, you'll put it down. You won't paint anymore, you won't take pictures anymore, you won't sculpt anymore, or you'll take a break, maybe and come back. It's like writer's block, right? But once you have that passion again, all of a sudden the energy is there, and you could just be writing all night, typing, writing, whatever it might be in typewriter, whatever it might be. For me, the long term of being able to be a creative again, that's energizing to me. To be able to be that resource for artists is energizing to me, and I think I'm an extroverted extrovert, so I soak up everybody else's energy. Just sitting here talking with you all, I'm soaking up the energy, not in a bad way, not taking it away. You're talking about an energy vampire, huh? I'm taking advantage of the energy, and I feel like artists who belong, and I know you all have would probably answer it this way. So I know that confidently. When you get your groups together, your creative, connective source groups. Do you not all of a sudden feel like yes, you might be drained at the end of the night, but don't you feel uplifted? Don't you feel the energy of having all those creative people around you as a source?
SPEAKER_03:It's amazing. I mean, it is it is what we live for. I I remember one of the hardest things about pulling together the events, they would take weeks of preparation and planning. And it when we executed them, it was like laying down dominoes to have them fall, to have it just be a very brief glimmer, but it was intense. It burned hot and it was amazing. And it at the end of it, we were exhausted because we had to spin all the plate and make it all happen. And we would reach a moment where we're like, oh my goodness, all of that for just uh just uh a couple hours of everything to happen. And then, you know, the next day we'd be like, Yeah, let's let's plan the next one.
SPEAKER_05:Well, and on the on the when on the days we have events, the the night after I don't sleep. I I don't ever sleep after an event, no matter what I do. I that like horse pills would not take me down at all.
SPEAKER_01:Um I don't know if that's healthy. So I definitely get sleep. I definitely do get sleep and I work out and I try to eat healthy. Try, you know, so I'm trying to keep myself up. But I see the purpose of helping others, the purpose of paying it forward. I see that they need my help and I can help them, and I'm a giver. So that's what fills my cup. The creative part, if it wasn't creative, um, I don't know that I would have as much energy to at night, on weekends, on my vacations, to pull up a laptop or open the phone, you know, call somebody on the phone and and work for the visual arts guild of Frisco, which I do voluntarily. It's all the fully volunteer run. Um, it needs to have an executive director in the future because of all the programming that we are embarking on and have embarked on. But to me, what you just talked about, when I have an idea and I create it, and I have a group of people around me that help me create it, help me build it, help put it on or produce it, and then all celebrate together. They all want to bottle it up, drink that, and let's do that again. Um, and and look at all the people that we served and look at all the smiling faces. I mean, I haven't seen sad faces in a gallery. Now I have seen people emotionally, profoundly emotionally touched or have an emotional experience with art. I love that. And that's good. It's cathartic, it's energizing, it can be happy, it can be sad, it can be for some people. Maybe it brings up tragedy or trauma. My hope would be it would be healing in some way. So I think with this vast array and area of visual arts, the vast array of energies and emotions, the people that are attached to it, it's real, like the word behind you, it's authentic, it's original. To meet these people, to touch them in real life, like a monet in real life. Like when are you ever gonna be able to do that? So to me, that that's what I think that's what gives me the energy. Um to me, helping people get to where they need to be from point A to point B or C or D and seeing them grow, seeing everything that they aspire to do. You as a coach, when you see someone have a breakthrough or have a growth spurt in some way, it must feel you must feel some type of, I don't know, special responsibility for that. You must feel energized, uh appreciative of the opposite if you're able to serve them in that way. And that just if I can just have that continue, I'm gonna have that continue. It should just never stop. And then hopefully, you know, transition that mentor others into this same role. There are other visual arts organizations around town, around the state, around the country. And so they all serve a very similar purpose, usually to support local visual artists. And I think that's kind of my middle name. I just want to support, I just want to be a resource.
SPEAKER_03:And you now deliver that.
SPEAKER_01:I want WhatsApp?
SPEAKER_03:You you deliver that in in a way that's just incredible. I I know that a couple of events that we've had the opportunity to to just go and take in and be a part of. It was just amazing for you to give a stage for people to try their their creative chops. And and I know for some of them they're they were showing their work for the first time, and it was like they they got to be in a place where all of their hard work was put on display for for everyone to see, and they got a feel for what it was like to have a showing.
SPEAKER_01:Well, it's uh my understanding from my husband asking him to showcase his work the first time, to put his heart out there to be judged, to be criticized. That was very hard. And I just take that as that's probably how it is for the majority of artists. Let me put myself in their shoes. Let's not assume this is easy for everyone.
SPEAKER_05:Um, I would I would assume the opposite, that it's easy for few.
SPEAKER_01:That's what I'm saying. I don't want to assume that it's easy for everyone, it's easy for very few. And it takes a lot of encouragement, coaching, mentoring, talking with, being with, being the room. He didn't just join DJF and the next day put a piece of art on the wall. Went to several meetings, met several people, made sure we were comfortable with the people and the organization, and we invested in it. We paid membership and donated our time and our resources and our treasure and our talent, our our ties, you know, our everything. Um to the organization before he decided, uh it might have even been a year before he decided to finally enter a piece and had a debate. Which piece do I want to be my first piece that I put out there for people to judge and potentially stand next to someone who's going, I could do that. Or look at that. That shadow is all you know, people will say beautiful things and they almost say ugly things.
SPEAKER_05:Oh in person. My nine-year-old could do that. That's that's one of the things I've I've heard.
SPEAKER_01:Well, my answer is they didn't. My answer is, but they didn't. This one's on the wall. Yours is not on the wall, you know. And then to win an award from a an art educator gallery owner, and won first prize, what ended up happening? I want to say he entered several in a year and kept getting first, first, first. And his the first time one of his pieces got a second prize, second place, he was like, What's this? Wait, what? I'm not first, like, no, you're not always first. And so um the one thing I do hope comes out of all of whatever I'm doing when these artists go from emerging artists, either unknown or they were known for a different art. They changed from photography to painting or from painting to sculpture. That means they're emerging in their new media. Doesn't matter what the age is, 1212. You're emerging if you're in a brand new medium to you. You're just learning the medium, you're just showing it the first time from emerging to experience, which means now I have sold, now I have entered, now I have been juried in, now I have won awards, accolades, been written up, whatever it is, been in a gallery, had a solo show. Um, now you're experienced that they pay it back, whatever level you're at, that you pay it back and remember where you started. Remember that they need your help. The organization needs your dollars, they need your time, they need you to share out their social media, they need you to attend, they need you to mentor. And I think that's probably the next step for Visual Arts Code. There's several programs we still want to put out there, but a mentor type matching would be awesome. That I have not seen in a lot of visual arts organizations because they are all volunteer run. So now you got to add extra time to somebody who's already volunteering. So it's gonna have to be someone who volunteers for that and understands they're volunteering for it. So they're not a paid coach, they're probably a working, producing, part-time or full-time artist that will take some of their time over a year and take someone under their wing and we'll have a process for that. So I'm hoping we can bring that as one of our programs. I think it's hugely important. Whether you've gone to uh a technology technical type of course school schooling, if you've gone to a full art program, if you've taken classes online or in person, if you're self-taught, at whatever level you are, would you be willing to mentor someone? So I'm hoping that we can bring that into the visual arts build if we still.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, that's a tall order. I I I really w wish you the best on that. I I think it's an absolutely brilliant idea, but my gosh, people are so the whole world is so busy right now. It's so hard to get people to carve time out for hardly anything. Well, we're not really carved time out for this.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I and what you're speaking to with that is something that we've talked about for a long time, and that is having people to take the time to swim upstream just a little bit and make it so that they're not short-sighted. They're not just thinking in terms of what's in it for me, not making it transactional, but making it relational. They plant seeds and they wait for them to sprout with deep roots because when you do that, it comes back around. And in a small way, I would I would say that I can see how you've already laid the groundwork for that to happen. Or I would say the the Visual Arts Guild itself has lots of connections that run deep that are part of the the intersecting art communities. A lot of a lot of those intersections run through the work and the artists, the gallery owners that are associated with the Visual Arts Guild.
SPEAKER_05:For sure. Yeah, you you you are um more out there than anybody I know as far as you know, most people just like they would stay in just their lane, you know. They it would just be Frisco and they would, but you're you're out there going in like a gazillion different directions. And it's a it's just amazing what you're able to do and what you're able to accomplish by being willing to get out of your neck of the woods and meet people. And I I really uh admire everything you're doing like greatly.
SPEAKER_01:Well, thank you. I feel like getting the artists to get out of their comfort zone, which is their studio or their circle of friends, find another comfort zone. You can have multiple comfort zones.
SPEAKER_05:I I I'm having something come up for me right now that I'd kind of like to hear your take on. You're you were talking about how long it took your husband to step out there and put art in one of the shows. I I'm not, I mean, uh I've dabbled a little bit for a number of years now, painting. I I started painting in 2012 and painted for a while and then put it down for about seven years, and I'm painting again and have been for, I don't know. Maybe five months now, hard to say. I didn't mark the calendar the day I started. Um and friends and people that we know are saying, oh, you need to put your you need to show your art somewhere, you know, and and I have not. Nobody's seen my art except for Dwight and a teeny handful of friends that I've mostly just shown it on my uh the screen of my phone because you know there's been a couple of people that have been in the house and seen, but I'm I'm less reluctant to put my art out there. Like I might enter in something where, you know, it was a show, like, but I'm more reluctant if it's a competition. And I'm I'm wondering if that's just me, oddball me, or whether that would be something that would be shared by other artists. I think what's coming up for me is okay, so most of those things, you know, sometimes it's just a first place winner. Sometimes it's first, second, and third. But you have all these entries and you have three people that walk away really excited, and then all the rest of the people are disappointed. And I I kind of I I have shied away from competition most of my life. Now I can be very competitive with myself, you know, wanting to do better than I did last time. Um, but competing with others. My dad and my brother were fiercely, fiercely competitive. And I am more like my mom, and neither of us, we we weren't drawn to competition. And so I'm just wondering, you know, you you're out there actively encouraging people. If I were one of those people, what would you say to me about my re reluctance to not so much put my work out there, but put my work in a competition where there's going to be, you know, perhaps only three people selected, you know, or it's like your husband, he got all these first place, first place, and then he got a second place, and he was like, What? What?
SPEAKER_01:You know, he was getting a big head about it. Wait a minute, I thought I was the best photographer. Wait a minute. Well, you were for that show for that juror, because art is still subjective. Even if I even if I have a master's in art history or I've taught art in one medium or another, what medium are you painting in right now?
SPEAKER_05:I am doing acrylic and mixed media.
SPEAKER_01:Nice. So the first thing I would say about putting your art out there is it doesn't have to go immediately into a competition. Um, if you find that there's an art call out there and the Visual Arts Build of Frisco has a plethora throughout the year that's non-competitive technically. When you say three people got an award at a show, I bet there was more than three pieces on the wall, right? At that show.
SPEAKER_05:Well, I mean, I'm thinking about the the one that that your husband officiated over recently, you know, that we were with a guest there, and there was just like art, a bunch of artists involved. There was a lot of art in that place, you know, and some of it was really brilliant art. And and I remember, you know, that there were some awards given, and I didn't count, it may have been more than three, but it it it it wasn't, you know.
SPEAKER_01:And but what you have to what you may not know, Maddox, is that 200 pieces of art were submitted, and like 56 or so were put on a wall. So there are 56 either artists, let's just say they were all individual artists, because some might get to that were scored high enough to get in the show. So all the art that you saw in that show, all those artists won. Yes, because they got on the wall, and they got to do a couple of things. And if they take our advice and guidance, one of the things is while you're in the middle of painting something, now do I have a piece behind you? Let's say that was an incomplete piece. I'm not saying it is, but let's say it was.
SPEAKER_05:You're still an incomplete piece. That's one I started probably seven years ago and have never finished it.
SPEAKER_01:That's okay. So let's say it was his piece, he's working on it, and there's a little top right corner that has a, or maybe it's a left corner on your screen, it's a little bit of purple and green, and maybe you just take a slight picture of that and say, I'm gonna enter this, the visual arts field of Frisco Cremeville Crame. Y'all need to come see the reception on this night, da da da da da, whether I get in or not. Y'all need to come to this and see some great art and meet some great artists. Okay. That doesn't take much time. The painting itself does, but just taking a picture, writing a post, celebrating the fact that you are about to enter this into something. You may never ever ever come back to that again if you're not chosen for that one show. And that's fine. You can keep showing parts of this piece of artwork if it's for sale, or you want to know people that you're painting artwork for sale, that you're looking for collectors. And so you haven't seen anyone in person. Right now, you're only online. You're suggesting that you're gonna go submit some art to this show. Maybe you'll get selected for the show. Either way, you're gonna go to the reception because you want to see the art, you want to meet the juror, you want to meet the board, you want to volunteer for this event, you want to see art be a part of art around artists. All of that should be like a positive energy, a positive feeling of putting that out there and and promoting that yourself and the other artists. If you get in, I was selected for the Kremla Krim show. Again, you've got to come out because that'll be several weeks out. Now you're gonna post maybe the bottom right-hand corner because you don't ever want to reveal the whole piece. You can. I just say, why not tease people with what you're doing? So now I'm gonna do this bottom piece that has a little red and green in it, right? Maybe I'm gonna do like I'm gonna act like I'm gonna turn around from the back to the front. You've probably seen those reveals where people are turning their okay. Maybe you only do half of it and go, uh, you gotta come to the event to see that right. And so you just kind of play with your prof online, and then if you and so now you you've gotten in the show. Now you have what's called load in. So you have to bring that artwork. So you can video somebody or take a picture of somebody with just parts and pieces of you moving that artwork in, maybe pretend like you're putting it on the wall or standing with somebody putting it on the wall, maybe just a park, maybe all of it. Here's the finished piece, come and see it in person live, and it's for sale, thousand dollars, whatever you want to say to the visual arts code. It doesn't have to be for sale, no shows, but I'm just giving you an example. If you're trying to sell art, sell your art or build collectors, build an audience, come to the reception. But if you can't come to the reception, it's going to be up from this day to this date, this whole month. You know, come and see art, bring art into your life, be a part of art and enjoy, you know, wherever it's hot. Enjoy the rest of the art that's there. So you have now four weeks of an opportunity to do videos and post pictures of your process, other art that you might be entering, other art you might be working on, other artists you're talking to, other art meetings that you're going to, but you have a whole month that that thing's on the wall that you can do whatever marketing you want during business hours and take pictures and stuff. And then you have the actual night of the event where you can take videos and pictures, and let's say you win an award, honorable mention from the juror. Now you want to post that. And for artists, getting on the wall goes on your resume. And artists need an art resume. So you were accepted to Creme de la Creme 2025 Visual Arts Go to Frisco. Doesn't matter who the juror is at that point, you were accepted in the show. That goes on your resume, your piece, everything about your piece, when it was painted, the size, the medium, right? If you did stretch canvas, if it was an aluminum, mixed media piece on board, all the information's on there. If you win a prize, that goes on your resume, along with the juror that gave you that prize. And the reason why that's important is artists sell their art and work in different uh areas of what we'll call it retail spaces, but galleries, getting in galleries, you have to have a resume. Have you shown your work before? Have you sold your work before? Have you had a juror accept your art? Have you been juried into an art festival? And there are art festivals that require a resume for you to be juried into an art festival. Like once you get into this world, you start figuring out where you want to sell, how you want to sell, where's your collector's. There are plenty of artists that never want to work with a gallery, or maybe they only want to work with a local gallery, and maybe they only want to work with a co-op gallery where they're all artists, just artists in there, all supporting each other and selling each other's art and you know, learning together in a cooperative space. So all of what I just said is possible for anyone. However, we at the Visual Arts Field of Frisco and many visual arts organizations have calls for art that are not for jurors and prizes, but they do get you on a wall. So we have a rotating gallery at the Sweetwater's coffee shop in Frisco, it's in North Frisco. For over three years now, every six to nine weeks, we rotate art out of that coffee shop. There are plenty of businesses that do that in the DFW area. Find one or find an arts organization that partners with one and ask them if they would rotate some of your art or submit to the call for art and see if you can get online scored onto the wall. Because ours is still scored, it goes on a resume. You can say I did a solo show at XYZ coffee shop, XYZ dental shop, the lobby of a bank, or like I'm in a big office building, maybe the lobby's having a show. Uh the Visual Arts League of Allen has a lobby show in um oh, what's the name of that building? It's at 635 in the toll way. That LBJ area, that building that's there. Anyway, they have it in a lobby of that building. Uh a couple art pop-ups that last for a weekend or last for a month. Those are things that all go, you got chosen, you got scored into that, that goes on your resume. And there isn't a first, second, or third prize, but you could sell your art, that goes on your resume. I sold peace, da da da. I painted it in 2018, sold it in 2025. You could put the dollar amount or not put the dollar amount, but that can go on your resume. And so not everything has to be a competition. You can go out there and find your own solo shows, duo shows, group shows, you know, so that it either so maybe it doesn't feel as intimidating if you go in with a friend. So you're a painter, you go in the photographer, a sculptor, and you go and do a show somewhere. I think just getting your art out there is the first step. It doesn't have to be in competition. And even if it was in competition, I wouldn't feel bad if my art got on the wall and didn't win a prize because it you're a winner because you got on the wall. If it didn't get on the wall, keep trying. Right? It's a diff usually it's gonna be at least for us, it's a different scoring judge or judges and different juror for every single show, never the same combination ever. So it's always gonna be a different set of eyes on a different set of art. So even if that piece sitting behind Dwight, even if that piece was entered into Creme de la Crown and didn't make it, then enter it in Fresh Star. If it didn't make it, then enter it in Artrageous, right? Enter it in another show until it gets accepted. And then if it ha the biggest problem I hear is I just got this text message this weekend. When is your call for art for so and so? Because there's another call for art for so-and-so, and I only have this one piece left in my collection, and I got to pick and choose which one I want to put it in. I'm like, oh, it's a great problem to have because that is a great problem.
SPEAKER_05:You know, I just want to say, I mean, this was very enlightening for me because you're talking about things that I had no idea about, even as active as we are in the arts community. There's a lot of what you're describing that was like, oh, oh, oh, you know. And I think you just unpacked something because I suspect that at least a percentage of our listeners are people that are like me. They are creating, but they haven't put their work out there yet. Maybe they're in the early stages, or maybe they're not, maybe they're in advanced stages, but have never put their work out there because they're intimidated, they're they're afraid. And you've just unpacked it in a way that has, I I hope that it's opened as many of our listeners' eyes as it has my eyes. I, you know, it it I I knew, and that's why I asked, I knew that you would share it in a manner that I would be able to see it from a different little different perspective. Um, and I don't know that I'm ever going to want to enter into competitions, but I do love the idea of entering into just having it on the wall and and having eyes on it, getting people to see it. I mean, I I'm not my intention is not to um make my living selling art. So I I it's really for my own enjoyment. Um, but do I like the idea of people liking my art enough that they want to buy it? Absolutely. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01:Or that they or that they connect with it. Just that they maybe some artists just want, does this connect with you? It and it and there are there are two different schools of thought that I've heard over these last few years from artists. They'll stand next to their art and they'll listen to what people say about it and not tell them that they're the artist. Like, what are they getting off of that photo? I'm sorry, what are they getting off the painting that's behind um Dwight right now? Is it bringing is it resonating anything for them? Is it making them think of nature? Is it making them think of death? Is it making them think of birth? Is it making them think of family? Like, what is it, was it, what is it, what are you sharing? What energy are you getting back and forth? And that that I think has got to be kind of the one I want to share with the world, my heart, my soul, my spirit, my mind, whatever it might be, me. I want to put myself out there, but I don't want them to know it's me. Then you have others that say it's my piece. What do you think? And they'll ask. Everyone always asks, Well, you as an artist, I'm asking you as an artist, what was your intent? Right. And some artists want to tell you what you're supposed to see in that painting is I don't know, Thanksgiving dinner. Do you see it? Do you see what I'm doing? You know, and some artists say, I want you to make up your own mind. So I think there's those. I'm one of those.
SPEAKER_05:When when I paint, I don't paint anything into it that's representational. I'm I'm abstract. And when people say, Oh, I see a cat, or I see somebody's face, or I see a house on the horizon, well, that's what they chose to see because I didn't paint that in there. And I'm I'm I'm like that. And I would be one of the ones that would own that it was my art. I don't, it's I don't there's uh something a little sneaky about standing there like you're just viewing the art, listening to what people say. Because that that feels a little entrapment, maybe, you know.
SPEAKER_01:No, I think it just depends. Each artist is a little bit different on who they want to talk to, how they want to talk, if they want to talk, if they want to even be a part of the interpretation. Some say, I just want you to get out of it, what you get out of it. Some say I want to tell you what I was thinking, what I was going through while I was creating that piece. It doesn't necessarily mean that's what's resonating off the piece. But I was going through a really rough time. My mother just passed away. It was a really dark time. Um, I'd lost a job, or I was elevated. I just got married, or I just got a new puppy, or whatever it might be. Like this is the mindset I was in when I created this. But what you take from it is what you take from it, right? So everybody's different, even if it was a landscape, even if it was a landscape photography. Like, what is it? What is it, what is resonating with you? Some artists don't want to put that illness on the person that's viewing it and enjoying it. They want them to just interpret it their own way. And how and how does it make you feel viewing it? And by the way, not all of our, I think I mentioned this, not all of the shows that are out there, are you required to sell your art? And so maybe there's a piece that you just want everyone to see. Maybe it's the piece that's behind white. You just want everyone to see it, you want it to resonate, you want to share it with the world, but you don't want to sell it. So you make it not for sale. You can do that at plenty of shows. I would suggest, especially for new emerging artists or even those who are experienced that are just like, I don't know if I can or like physically can show my work. If I mentally and physically am up for it, I think having an artist community is important because that helps to build up your support system, your support group. I believe you can find um art organizations. We've had some, we're going back to them this year, they're called um critique circles. So either artists critique each other's work, so you talk about each other's work and you learn, like, oh, if you use this brush, this brush stroke would da-da-da. If you use this palette knife, maybe would pull out. You know, if you're like, I'm really trying to pull this color out, I don't, so you're asking for their advice and guidance, and they're not expecting you to take it or take it or leave it. Um, so those are great supportive groups to be a part of as well. Taking classes with another artist, you go together and you take a class, even if it's online, you're both doing the same YouTube class, or you're both going to Dallas College or Collin College or whoever has an art class, even uh individual artists have art art classes in their homes. So you both sign up for it to go together and you both talk about in your pieces. I think that's that's that support system, that support group is there if you want to go and connect with it. You just might have to look for it or ask around. In our organization, I always say ask all the artists what they're doing. Where are they showing their art? Who are they showing it with? And it's about time management, right? So if you're if you have a family and you have a job and you're trying to paint at midnight, some people love the competition. Some of these artists love the competition. They they they thrive on it, they think it's fun, they think it's interesting, and some like it for the prize money, some like it for the accolades and the pat on the back, the recognition. Some just want to be a part of that group. They just want their piece on the wall with other pieces that have won awards. So it's a bunch of different camps, right?
SPEAKER_05:You you are definitely a wealth of information. Um, this has been really enlightening, you know, and and we've we've talked about creativity, we've talked about community without even needing to prompt you. I mean, you just went into it. But I want to shift gears just a little bit. We're we're kind of running towards the end of our time. And because part of our platform is about becoming and wanting you to just share a little bit about, you know, what you're working on now, the things that the goals and the things that you're setting out in front of you. And and I'll I'll clarify because um when we say who is it that you want to become is different than what is it that you want to become. You know, when we were kids, we said I want to be a fireman or I want to be a nurse. That's the what do you want to become? The the who you want to become is something in here. You know, maybe it's a more compassionate person, or maybe it's a person with uh more intuition or And the sky's the limit, but as you think about your next step, the the the next thing that you want to do, because we've all heard what got you here won't get you there, you know, who you had to become to get here, you had that you did now, you've got to become somebody else to get there. And and it maybe not even be relevant for us to know what the there is, because this is more about less about the there and more about who is it that you need to become to get to that there.
SPEAKER_01:I'm almost afraid to say because I'm worried about diminishing my energy. Um I think I'll use the word patient. I want to become a more patient person. Does that make sense? Should I define it?
SPEAKER_05:It does because most of us could use a little bit of that. You know, I've always heard never pray for patience because the universe will give you lots of things to have to be patient for.
SPEAKER_01:I know. Maybe it's I don't know if it's like slowing down, but I don't want to slow down. Um, understanding that everybody is on a different level. Um, I think the patient part is what I want to happen to the organization and for the organization. It's not going to happen tomorrow. It hasn't, it has slowly been a process, and I wish it would just speed up. So I have to become a more patient person, waiting for things that are out of my control to happen.
SPEAKER_05:Well, and what if I'm not sure the reason that it's happening slowly? Maybe that's why it's happening slowly.
SPEAKER_00:The IRS teaching you economy.
SPEAKER_03:And what you describe is one of those universal pains that we all experience. You know, it's a part of the whole maturation process. I heard Maddox joking about it the other day. Yeah, you remembered a time when as a child he couldn't wait to be grown. And it just it couldn't happen fast enough. But we have a lot of things that happen to us, the the good and the bad. And there's there's a time when through life experiences, we learn to lean into seeing the gifts and the things that uh are happening and not see them as happening to us, but we can appreciate how they happened for us, how they helped to shape us, how they helped to prepare us for what was to come.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, absolutely. You get it right very well said, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:But I always say the the fact that this was born out of the heart of true artists, original artists, that I feel it's not mine. I don't own it, and so I have a fiduciary responsibility because of the role I play in my banking career, the role I play as a board member. I have a passion because of the role I play for as a wife and supporter of an artist and my friends who are artists, and I feel I have to just go above and beyond and give the best of the best that I can to the organization that I pledge to do that for. And what I'm not patient about is you know, waiting for grants and grant opportunities and waiting for buildings to be built and waiting for the people to say yes. That's what I mean. It's it's hard for me. And so I just I'm I I push and I push, I think, in a in a in a decent amount, right, to get things to happen, like art in the arena, which you all were able to be able to participate in. That was several years. That was cool.
SPEAKER_03:It was amazing.
SPEAKER_05:May I offer up a suggestion?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, of course.
SPEAKER_05:What if rather than wishing or wanting more patience, what if it's not about patience? What if it's about seeing it, what you're looking to unfold, seeing it from a different perspective?
SPEAKER_02:Yes, I like that.
SPEAKER_05:And Dwight kind of alluded to this, I think, a little bit in that. I mean, I look back on my life and I can see around every turn how life unfolded very purposefully and in its own time. And there was a reason that it didn't unfold in the time I wanted it to unfold. And I and I've looked on so many incidences and times how it was like, oh, it would have never worked if it unfolded in the time frame I wanted it to work. And that's a reframe how you how you can in that be and maybe it's not even at all about patience. Maybe it's about just seeing it differently. Taking a deep breath and letting it unfold, you know, in its time.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you for that. Thank you both for that.
SPEAKER_05:This has been delightful. I mean, I love everything. It was so nuts and bolts and and nitty-gritty, and all of the things that you've learned that were, I mean, I I can imagine literally just punching replay and listening to that, you know, you went on a little bit of a rant there that was really amazing. You're you're knowledgeable, you're also very, very connected because you're rattling off all these different organizations where you can show work. You you could um you could generate some type of a documentation that you could give away or possibly even sell, you know, that would have all these organizations and resources for people that want to, you know, instead of having to ask around all over the people, just talk to Jennifer Looney, she's got the goods, you know.
SPEAKER_01:That's a great idea. A resource for sure.
SPEAKER_05:A resource, yes. And you know, blood, sweat, and tears have been put into that, so you don't necessarily have to give it away for free, you know.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you know, one of the things I'll say is it's kind of like having it's that whole you can bring a horse to water, but you can't make them drink. I know you know this as a coach. I know you know this the positions that you've held, the the jobs and the people in your life. Um, I can be the best resource. It's a matter of are people going to use it? How do you get people to use it? They need a coach, they need someone like a Maddox, they need a creative coach.
SPEAKER_05:Well, yes, exactly. And um, I think I'm also thinking, too, they need an incentive and we place more value on what we pay for in some shape, form, or fashion. We either pay for it with time, we pay for it with energy, we pay for it with money. That resource is more valuable if they had to give something in exchange for it.
SPEAKER_03:Well, uh there's uh another uh couple of times of that fork, and I I'm gonna do a callback to uh the way that you came out through the ranks. Um it's that old principle in advertising uh or just communication. You don't know when it is that someone's actually going to hear it. You you may have to present it multiple times before it makes a dent, and it's even something that they can understand, that they can actually hear. Because until they're ready, it just sounds like noise.
SPEAKER_05:Well, it's readiness, and then it's also a combination of all of the noise that's out there right now. It's amazing how many times you can see something and not see it just because there's so much noise. Good stuff.
SPEAKER_01:I think that's what I think that's where prioritizing and time management might come in for some people. You have to prioritize what's important.
SPEAKER_05:Yep. Yep, I'm being bumped up against my edge on that right now. Okay, right now. Jennifer, thank you so much for coming and being a guest. This was absolutely delightful. I love all the twists and turns of your story, the moving around part. Um, it it was all very interesting, but also very um enlightening, very engaging. I know I got a lot.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, this was wonderful.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you so much for the opportunity. It was fun hanging out with y'all today. It was fun hanging out with you, too.