Tough on Art

Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Ellen Dieter’s interest in art began at an early age. After graduating high school, she began traveling in between studies at the Cleveland Institute of Art and the Cooper School of Art. llen settled in Paris, France for over a decade and studied part time at L’Ecole des Art Appliqué.

Over the years, Ellen has worked as a seamstress/designer in a leather shop, a fashion model in the US and abroad, she has taught art for ages k-9, portfolio class for seniors and workshops for adults. Working as a scenic artist for the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, Ellen found her love for painting large.

In 2007 Ellen left the traditional work force, and started devoting all her time to her painting practice.

Ellen’s work is bright and colorful, her abstracted figures and  landscapes have a whimsical and raw quality. Never one to shy away from a bright palette, Ellen’s work reflects the sun drenched world seen in her two home locations: San Diego and Hawaii.

There's a lot of talk of Cleveland.... (you've been warned)!
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NEW WORKSHOP FOR ARTISTS:

The Tough Method for Getting Galleries, a live workshop via Zoom Sat March 26
Get in the galleries of your dreams with this simple, step-by-step system!

End the guessing game and anxiety for approaching galleries, and gain knowledge to last a lifetime. We’ll give you a step-by-step plan, email scripts and spreadsheet templates. Plus, you’ll be able to ask Jen questions relevant to your own unique situation in our closing Q&A.

Register NOW because enrollment is limited! Go to JenTough.com
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Jen Tough Gallery: www.JenTough.gallery

Today Jen does another artist interview with Bay Area artist Liz Steketee. We discuss moving to California from the midwest, how her photography has evolved over time, motherhood, exhaustion and how to keep going with your work, how mothers who are artists tend to get less attention in the art world simply because they are mothers, and why one of her favorite sayings is "plant the bulbs now".

About Liz:
Liz steketee is a mixed media artist focusing on photography and fiber. Originally from Michigan, Liz now lives in the Bay Area of California with her husband and two kids.

Liz’s work has a haunting quality to it, touching on memories, family, and the natural world. She photographs people, places and things that resonate with her, prints them on paper or fabric, and then assembles them into unique and hard to look away pieces. 

By wrapping wood or rocks with photos printed on fabric, sewing together paper photographs, or stretching photo printed fabric over embroidery hoops, Liz creates new and intriguing narratives.

Liz Steketee website: www.LizSteketee.com

Gallery Website: Jen Tough Gallery

Jen Tough's Blog: JenTough.com

Artist Alliance membership: artistalliancemembership.com

All artists know the importance of showing their artwork. But what about showing themselves? Ask most artists, and you'll get.... "ugh".

Today Jen talks with therapist and artist Dr. Dee Tivenan, EdD, MFT about the anxiety of showing up online, showing ourselves, selfie culture, and how it can cause, well.... dread. Dee presents easy to follow tips and tricks to help alleviate this dread and anxiety, soften any blows that may come, and how to keep moving forward.

Dee Tivenan is an artist and therapist in the Bay Area of California, has been in private practice for over 35 years, and hosts "Head Talk" in the Artist Alliance community. Check out her art on her website: https://deetivenanartist.wixsite.com/home

JOIN THE CONVERSATION ON KINDLING our free art marketing community!
www.Kindling.community

BECOME A MEMBER OF THE ARTIST ALLIANCE:
www,artistalliancemembership.com

JEN TOUGH GALLERY:
www.JenTough.gallery

JEN TOUGH'S BLOG:
www.JenTough.com

Bay Area artist Karl X Hauser joins Jen for a conversation about his long career in art. Karl creates narrative drawings and sculptures that are quirky, playful but also a little dark. His characters spring from his imagination, and seem to be up to childlike antics, but always with a slightly sinister edge. 

Working in materials such as cast metals, kiln formed glass, wire and nails, and keeping them in a raw unpolished state, Karl’s materials tamper any overly playful sense of innocence or purity. This contrast creates a yummy combination of slightly sinister and sweet, and encourages the viewer to ponder just a little longer. 

Check out Karl's work on the gallery website:
https://jentough.gallery/collections/karl-x-hauser

On Karl's Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/karlxhauser/

On Karl's website:
https://www.karlxhauser.com/

Become a member of the Artist Alliance! We offer stay-in-place residencies, exhibitions where artists earn 100%, challenges, workshops and a friendly community of artists of all levels! Join today: https://artistalliancemembership.com/

Miriam Hitchcock is a California based artist, mother and teacher, who has had a fascinating and prestigious career that has taken her from San Francisco, to Yale to Italy and back again. We dig into the "boys club" that was present in the east coast art scene when she was there, living in Italy, the east coast vs. west coast critiques, the "camp" of abstraction, motherhood, and more.

Miriam primarily makes paintings often using eccentric shaped formats. She uses a hybrid visual language that is both abstract and figurative, fusing domestic and landscape elements. To me, her work is simultaneously quirky and elegant. Her shaped substrates have an animated quality that magically work with her simplified forms and colors.

Miriam's home and studio are on an Arroyo and Santa Cruz, California, where she lives with her spouse, two cats and an Australian shepherd, a bay area, native Merriam completed her BFA at the university of California, Santa Cruz, and received her MFA in painting from Yale.

She began teaching, painting, drawing, and design at Brown and Rhode Island school of design. She was also an assistant professor at Cornell university led studio courses in Rome ,Italy through both Cornell and the American university. Returning to live in Santa Cruz in 1990, she taught drawing and painting courses at Stanford and San Jose state. She was a continuous member of the art faculty at university of California, Santa Cruz from 1992, until 2012.

Miriam's website: http://www.miriamhitchcock.com

Miriam's work on Jen Tough Gallery: https://jentough.gallery/collections/miriam-hitchcock

Miriam's work on Artsy: https://www.artsy.net/artist/miriam-hitchcock/works-for-sale

Artist Tom Owen joins gallerist Jen Tough for a fun and casual conversation about his life and work. Tom is part of the roster of Jen Tough Gallery. Tom and Jen met five years ago when he responded to a call for entry for a show called Guilty Pleasures. Tom is an art collector and painter living in northern Kentucky, across the Ohio River from Cincinnati.

We nerd-out on spreadsheets and their power to connect artists and galleries, making the huge transition from a 9-5 job to being a full-time artist, life in the midwest, how a business background is beneficial to being an artist, art collecting, dogs and other good things. 

You can check out Tom's work on the gallery website: https://jentough.gallery/collections/tom-owen

On Artsy:
https://www.artsy.net/artist/tom-owen-2/works-for-sale

On Tom's website:
https://www.tomowenfineart.com/

Take away some great tips from two seasoned artists who are also married and run a thriving art business. It's a casual conversation (pre-pandemic) with artists Diane Williams and Chuck Potter, who are some of the hardest working artists we know. They both maintain prolific painting practices, work full time, are addicted to art collecting, and also run a thriving art workshop business.

We discuss the power of community for artists, and how it can help with an art practice in ways you may not consider. We also discuss:

•how they literally raised their kids inside their loft art studio

•maintaining a practice while raising kids

•a strict schedule is what allowed them to work full time and still paint

•how attending events is very important, even if you're shy or introverted

•how collecting art benefits galleries and artists

Diane Williams is represented by Jen Tough Gallery.

Diane William's website: www.dianewilliamsart.net

Chuck Potter's website: www.chuckpotterart.net

Membership in the Artist Alliance: ArtistAllianceMembership.com

One of the most common questions artists have is about achieving gallery representation. In this episode, I present three ways to improve your chances of representation: research, connection and understanding the actual mechanics of selling art and how a gallery operates. I also cover the importance of maintaining a database to track your approaches, the best way to maintain a positive relationship with your gallery, and more.

Gallery website: www.JenTough.gallery
Join the Artist Alliance: ArtistAllianceMembership.com

Discussing the ideas behind emerging and re-emerging artists, older artists and marketing, painting the edges of your painting, concern about too many creative directions, online sales, and switching gears in your art making. 

Visit the gallery website: www.JenTough.gallery
Ask a question for the podcast: www.ToughonArt.com
Join the Artist Alliance: ArtistAllianceMembership.com

How many times a day do artists think this to themselves? This thought happens on the micro (with each new change to a piece of work) as well as on the macro (a whole career). 

In this shorty episode, Jen talks unscripted about how to take more risks with art marketing (and maybe not hate it quite as much) if we throw the "this may not work" fear into the trashcan. Maybe there are some nuggets in here. And maybe not.

Hey! If you'd like to be part of the Artist Alliance, and be part of our new residency program starting soon, sign up now! www ArtistAllianceMembership dot com (our monthly fee is only $36 a month, which is about the same as an entry fee!)

Visit our new redesigned website: www.JenTough.gallery