Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jules Elders. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Jules, thanks for joining us today. Can you share an important lesson you learned in a prior job that’s helped you in your career afterwards?
“In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative, original thinker unless you can also sell what you create.” – David Ogilvy
“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. –Thomas Edison
Jules, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I am a fine artist, a muralist, a teacher and a creative director. I graduated college with a major in painting and a minor in graphic design. I now own and manage 2 companies: Evergreen Art School and Wall of Sound Murals. I live in the foothills of Denver and my school/studio is in Evergreen, Colorado. During the week I teach art classes in 7 mediums to all ages in my studio and Enrichment art to grades 1-5 at select Jefferson County elementary schools. I create mixed media art and paint large scale murals on the weekends. Managing 2 businesses takes a lot of time so my advertising/marketing skills come in handy on a daily basis. I am grateful to have found a way to live my passion and pay the bills, a task not so easily achieved!
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
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The road to get here has been quite bumpy! My original desire upon graduating college was to be the next “big artist on the scene” showing and selling my art in the world’s biggest and best galleries. But life as a “starving artist” was tough. Luckily I was able to fall back on my minor. I bought a computer and got a design portfolio together. I broke into advertising and climbed the ladder for 20 years. I was very successful, worked at the world’s best agencies, and finished my career as a Creative Director at Ogilvy and Mather. I retired at age 43 when I was blessed with my baby girl, realizing that raising her was what I wanted to do. I had to make a lot of adjustments and gave up a lot financially, but to me, she was the only thing that mattered. I decided to get a job where I could spend more time with her and give back to her generation, teaching art! I developed an Enrichment school called “Art’s cool,” targeting elementary schools, bringing art into the school after school. I had 2 successful years before COVID hit and changed the world. I lost my job and had to find a new way to make money. I decided to try teaching art on Zoom, which was surprisingly successful! Denver News aired a segment about me which went national, so I had kids from around the country logging on to learn art. It was amazing… until the world opened up again and zoom went away. The schools were open but on strict lockdown, only students and full time teachers were allowed in the building. I had to start over again, and decided to open a brick and mortar school, allowing students to come to me. This was slow as we all wore masks and learned to be among the public again. I painted murals outside to make ends meet, enduring the changing times. Next came inflation… art was not a necessary expense. It was tough and money was tight but I made it work. Finally now things are picking up again. Art classes are on the rise, schools are allowing after school clubs, and businesses can afford to hire my mural company. My art is also being shown in Denver galleries! The pandemic changed the world but rolling with the punches and tweaking my business plan along the way allowed me to stay on my artistic path. Thank you Universe! |
Contact Info:
- Website: Wallofsoundmurals.com, evergreenartschool.com
- Instagram: @Wallofsoundmurals, @evergreen_art_school
- Facebook: @Wallofsoundmurals, @evergreenartschool