Today we’d like to introduce you to Jenna Ward
Hi Jenna, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I took a round about way to finding myself as an artist. I started out as an art major at a small college in Virginia (now Southern Virginia University) but didn’t stick with it. I tried graphic design but the program I tried at Dixie was a lot of coding and again, I couldn’t sit still long enough to make sense of c++. Sometimes I think schooling is wasted on the early twenty somethings who just need to explore and figure out what they want to do before settling in and getting the work done. Or maybe that’s just me. I was too young to realize the opportunities in front of me. The forty something me would go back and tell that young thing to stick with those things and learn all I could. I worked for a couple of interior decorators while living in St George and loved it so much I went back to school and got a degree in Interior Design. I honed my love of color working on interiors for years. So when I had my first daughter I was ready to take a break and decided to spend nap times playing around with paint again to see what I could come up with.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
So many obstacles. I don’t think I was set up properly in high school to really understand my options as an artist. It felt like the focus on any serious discussion was on the amount of debt I’d be strapped with if I accepted the Institue of Art partial scholarship that was offered to me when I was a senior in high school. I wish I’d had more guidance and a better perspective on how my decisions would affect my life. I would have jumped for it and figured it out along the way. Life has taught me how to do that but at the time it felt impossible. But that’s life right? You don’t know what you don’t know?
I knew I wanted to pursue art while working as a designer, but I wasn’t sure how to break into that world. I’m so grateful for the local artist women who were so warm and welcoming on Instagram when I started putting my work out there and connecting with other artists. Katrina Berg played a major roll in giving me the courage to get out of my own way and just start making art. Ashley Collett of Salt and Honey also played a major part in pushing me out of my comfort zone and inviting me to participate in one of her markets. Each little success would give me the courage to reach for another goal. The feeling of being an imposter is real when putting your art out there. It’s so much a part of who I am in a weird way so rejection can be so hard when it feels personal.
Nanette Amis was a name I kept hearing among the artists I was becoming friends with and her markets were something to aim for. My first time showing with her my entire display fell down! I was mortified.
But I just keep learning and growing from each experience.
One of the biggest challenges im facing right now is the algorithm on Instagram. My following is up, but interactions are way down. I’m not alone in this. My online sales are down, but luckily in person sales are up. After 8 years of doing I’m learning that adapting and pivoting is always important.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I create florals, landscapes, and abstracts using lots and lots of layers of paint. I’m kind of obsessed with what happens when I put two colors next to each other.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
I talked a lot about this in the obstacles and challenges portion.
I love collaborating with collectors when they ask me to create custom work for them. I’ve had the privilege of painting something that is personally meaningful to them. It never gets old. With every single painting I sell I always feel such a sense of joy that I get to share something that brings me so much joy. It’s so crazy that I get to do something I love and it helps support my family.
I have a selection of prints available with Juniper Print Shop online which has brought in a lot of work because Jenny’s shop gets a lot of exposure online. I’m so grateful to be a part of that shop full of amazing women artists. (The photo of the village in France is one of my prints available with JPS.)
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenna_marie_ward/
