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Art & Life with Jennifer Vigil

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Vigil.

Jennifer, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
Art has been a foundation in my life since childhood. I took my first art class at age 5. I have been creating and exploring art since then. I find my greatest satisfaction when I am making things. For me creating is joyful and soothes my soul. It is a way to connect with others and to address issues both profound and sublime.

I was fortunate to grow up in a family of creative people many who are musically inclined. While few pursued their creative passions full-time, we were raised to value the role of creativity in our lives. My father, for example, was a cell biologist by day and avid photographer by night, switching between an electron microscope and a camera lens seamlessly — one informing the other. My dad took art classes alongside my siblings and me at the Milwaukee Art Museum—us downstairs in the kids’ classes while he was upstairs exploring painting and other media with the adults. My father is a Renaissance man who in addition to his passion for science, loves music, photography, and art. Growing up, he bought me books on Leonard Da Vinci and took me to museums. I continue to find inspiration in Da Vinci’s life and work. His inquisitive mind and passion for exploration and learning guide me along my path.

Consequently, I never saw creating as separate from the rest of my life, but like many people, I didn’t allow myself to major in art because I bought into the myth that I couldn’t make a living as an artist. Like many others, I chose an art adjacent career path, art historian (examples of those professions—graphic designer, interior designer, architect, advertising, editor, critic, etc.). I majored in Art History and minored in ceramics and sculpture ultimately earning a Ph.D. in Art History which brought me to Tucson to teach Native American Art History at the University of Arizona.

I slowly built my studio with money from freelance curatorial work and art history writing. An essay might mean a new kiln, curating an exhibition a slab roller and wheel. Piece by piece it came together, and throughout my career as an Art History professor I continued to make artwork.

In 2009, I stopped teaching and began working full-time as an artist. I have always been an artist, but this was a turning point committing to it full-time. I never stopped creating as my creative journey took me through advanced degrees, teaching and working at museums.

Who knew these experiences would give me a unique advantage as an artist. I had to cultivate both right AND left-brain skill sets. I also learned how galleries and museums work, how to curate and weave a story through exhibitions, and how to work with artists to bring their ideas forward in their work and clarify them in artist statements (handy skills for my artwork).

This duality in my professional life, artist and art historian/ art professional, is something I embrace. While I once lamented that I didn’t major in art (only minored) and didn’t get an MFA, I now appreciate my journey. I have a unique combination of skills and experiences that inform my work and also allow me to support other artists in their journey.

Now I fully embrace my professional identity as an artist, art historian, curator, creativity coach, and teacher. I love helping others reconnect with their creative passions and ignite their creative potential.

As my art practice deepened, I saw that there were others like me whose creative journeys have meandered and who are now ready to recommit to their creative passions. This revelation evolved into annual creativity retreats in Florence, Italy where we walk in the footsteps of the Italian Renaissance masters (like Da Vinci, woohoo!) while gleaning their creative secrets. The retreat creates a unique opportunity to experience engineered serendipity—the right place + the right time + the right people + the right support equals a personal creative renaissance.

I feel fortunate to be able to pull together my diverse art background to create inspiring retreats that refill people’s creative wellsprings, teach them how to tame their inner critic, how to expand their creativity and how to keep the magic flowing when they return home.

I guess it was fate that led me here. I intended to become a Plant Pathologist. My dad was with me when I registered for classes my freshman year, and he suggested I take an art history class — a good thing since I failed chemistry. And the rest is history, my own art history.

Can you give our readers some background on your art?
Like my multi-faceted career, I work in various media—ceramics, sculpture, encaustic, and photography. Most people are familiar with my functional ceramics, but I also have been creating a new body of work that includes encaustic and bronze sculpture.

My area of specialization as an art historian is 20th-century American art with an emphasis on race, class, gender, and ethnicity, basically, intersectionality. These same issues inform my art. As I child, I was very affected by the Carter years—gas rationing, solar panels on the White House roof, and concerns for protecting the environment. I have had environmental guilt since then and have been acutely aware of my impact on the planet.

My functional ceramic work reflects my concern and connection to nature. Climate change is disrupting and devastating various ecosystems around the globe. Celebrating nature is in part an act of resistance. It is a reminder of what is disappearing and what is at stake by our continued actions and refusal to make desperately needed changes.

Trees often appear in my work as do leaves. I have been drawn to trees my whole life. I spent much of my youth in trees, studying trees, mesmerized by their cycles and seasons, their rhythms and their songs (the sounds they make as a breeze travels through them). They are a universe unto themselves. They are home to a myriad of animals, insects, fungi, bacteria, and so much more.

They are liminal creatures that live simultaneously below, above and in the middle—underground, on the land and in the sky. They are the earth’s lungs and the biggest creator of oxygen and most important converter of CO2.

They provide food, shelter, and medicine. Walking among trees, aka forest bathing, Shinrin-yoku, reduces stress, lowers blood pressure and stimulates your creativity. Trees are magical, unique and precious. This is why I am drawn to them. If they go, we go. For me, incorporating images of trees is part devotion, part warning, part resistance.

I chose functional ceramics as my “canvas” because they are objects that we intimately connect with daily. We cradle cups as we sip our steaming coffee. Even as adults, we still have our favorite bowls, mugs, and plates. What makes them our favorites? The feel, the look aka design, the shape. There is a huge difference between a mass-produced mug from the Dollar Store and a one-of-a-kind handmade mug. We feel a connection to the artist. When we drink out of that mug, it is like having a conversation with the artist.

I love doing in-person shows because I get to know and connect with my collectors. I enjoy that my functional work acts as an ongoing conversation with them and that my images prompt reflection.

Do you think conditions are generally improving for artists? What more can cities and communities do to improve conditions for artists?
It is an exciting and challenging time to be an artist. New technology has disrupted the art market. Galleries, once the gatekeepers to artistic success, are seeing a decline. Artists don’t need a gallery to reach a wide audience, but this also means that artists have to work harder at marketing and managing the business side of their careers. This results in time away from the studio to master new technology and to develop new systems to manage it all.

Many artists struggle with this side and long for a gallery to represent them. I often hear artists looking for someone to manage the sale of their art. But the reality is that it is up to the artist to manage their career and to market and sell their work. No one is going to do it, and if they offer to, you should be wary.

Technology is also changing how we consume art as we rethink art not in the age of mechanical reproduction (which was the crisis at the turn of the 20th-century) but in the age of digital distribution.

What does an original mean in a world filled with digital art? What is the value of an original? Is there even such a thing as a digital original?

Does the original even matter or is an image that includes 360 views, a video of its creation, and an interview with the artist sufficient or even better?

The emergence of licensing digital images of tangible art will come as 5G expands.

How do you stand out in a sea of visual digital noise where millions of images are shared daily? How do you find a real connection in all this noise?

But technology has made it easier to be an artist as well. Gone are the expensive credit card services as Square and other card reader services inexpensively turn your cell phone into a credit card processor. WYSIWYG drag and drop website construction sites abound, and it is easier and less expensive than ever to have a web presence. Companies like MailChimp offer free email services to manage and connect with your email list. Cell phone cameras are so powerful now and editing apps so robust that an artist can photograph their work, capture amazing photos and edit them all with a pocket-size device. They can then immediately share the images with the world on multiple platforms.

Unfortunately, social media is a double-edged sword. We can reach millions and share our work, but we also have more opportunities to be criticized in unproductive ways leading to self-doubt and stifling creativity.

Despite our “connected” world, many creatives feel isolated, unsupported, and often vulnerable. Even if there is an active art community where you live, it can be hard to find people who aren’t unhealthfully competitive or who are at the same stage and level of commitment in their art career as you are.

I know first hand the many challenges artists face–creatively, financially, and managing the business side of it all. Many are turning to art business coaches. But it still leaves a void for having a supportive community of artists that you can turn to.

I have struggled with creative isolation. It is why I have volunteered to manage my artist mastermind group for three years now. I do it because I get so much out of the group. We have members in Australia, Canada, US, UK, and Paris. We meet on video conference calls and have a closed FaceBook group. It is my lifeline. We also meet in real time for annual retreats twice a year.

I know I long to go back in time and be part of the turn of the 20th-century artist salon of Paris, to have a group of artists, intellectuals, writers, musicians, dancers, curators, etc. to meet with at a cafe and have dynamic and contentious conversations with. To have a group that pushes me creatively and intellectually while also supporting me.

As artists, we need to be willing to make these things happen and to show up and be part of an artist community. That is why I started leading retreats in Florence, Italy. I wanted to create this kind of environment for a small group of artists/ writers/ creatives annually.

What can cities like ours do to support, encourage, and help artists survive?

Make sure that there is affordable studio space available as well as affordable rents for galleries. Help to develop and support art districts and encourage symbiotic business to locate near them–galleries, coffeehouses, restaurants, clubs, community centers, libraries, museums, etc.

Have reduced business license fees for artists. Offer free business training courses for artists or direct them to resources that offer this. Offer grant writing workshops. Connect retirees with business skills with emerging artists to mentor them on starting, growing, and managing a business.

Offer community exhibition spaces for pop-up art events.

Include artist profiles and information about our arts community in tourism information. Encourage the Chamber of Commerce to reach out and nurture the artists in their community. We are a vital part of the community that enhances the prestige and appeal of a city for visitors, business, and people relocating.

What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
You can find my work at local shows in the Tucson area. My website has my upcoming shows on the bottom of my home page and the blog sidebar (which has a slide show of some of my recent work).

You can also purchase my work online through my site.

Looking for an opportunity to be part of a creative community for an inspiring week in Florence, Italy? Join me on my annual retreat that takes place in mid-October. Sign up for my email list and be the first to know when registration opens.

Follow my creative adventures on Facebook, Instagram, and my blog. I share the inspiration I find along my travels on Instagram.

Become a Studio Insider by joining my email list and follow along on my creative journey, learn how you can tap into your creativity (we all have creative potential, we just use it in different ways), and learn how you can live an artfully inspired life.

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Getting in touch: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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