We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jaclyn Gordyan. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jaclyn below.

Jaclyn, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you wish you had started sooner?

I had about 15 years of wandering after I graduated college. I had been really active in my creative practice while earning my BFA. I studied art, art history, and design and it kept me inspired. But when I left and moved out to Chicago, I found myself searching for my medium. I explored every medium and style I could get my hands on. Realistic, abstract, digital, ceramic, textiles, realistic graphite, chalk, art blogs, furniture building, and photography. I was building skills that would ultimately help me build my art business, but at the time it felt like I was failing because I couldn’t define my art.

Looking back, I realize I was also searching for my artist group because as an artist having other artists around you is so important. Not only to talk art, but to keep you on your path. To push you, keep you honest, and ‘to touch antenna with’ (as Jerry Saltz says).

I was working a day job in advertising that took up a lot of my mental space, but I did get to meet some creative friends who I was trying to rally to pool money to get a shared studio space. After a lot of searching, it fell through because the costs of accessible spaces were just too high. So my art stayed small in my apartments.

So to answer the question directly, I don’t think my artist career could have started sooner. I had to get some failures and learnings under my belt before I could begin to envision it.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a nature artist and sculptor. I use real organic elements in my work. In fact, the organic elements are what drives what I create because my foraging practice is just as important as my studio practice. I am always searching for materials. It’s a practice I’ve had since I was a kid, but now I have a practice that funnels those organic pieces into fine art.

My work is incredibly dimensional even when on canvas. It’s part of what sets my work apart- my pieces stand off walls visually and play with light and shadow. And as the light changes throughout the day in a room, so does my art.

Another aspect that sets my work apart is it invites nature back into our homes. I find that having nature in my home and studio brings a sense of calm. It centers me in the same way as when I’m out in nature. I attribute that to our ancestral connection to nature. We can easily recognize the connection we have in the beauty it offers, and the nutrients it provides, but there’s a deeper layer that often gets overlooked–the sense of well-being it brings us. I think our current society offers us many solutions to our ailments, and it’s great to have those options. But for me, the small moments in nature, the invitation to pause, and the awe and wonder it brings are incredibly beneficial as well.

With my art, I aim to invite others into those small moments they can access every day. To see nature through a lens that they haven’t before or have forgotten about. To give them access to the connection they have and really see it as vital.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

My instincts have always been slower to develop and I used to think that was a huge issue. Now I see it as a strength. Think of it as flavor. The slower a flavor develops, the deeper it is.

To get there, I had to develop my own inner guidance. Our culture is one that is driven by productivity. You are defined as strong and successful if you are producing, deciding, promoting, moving up, etc, etc. I didn’t recognize that as only ONE part of what makes an artist successful. I drove myself into the ground when I was younger. Grinding constantly, pushing my body and my mind in order to feel successful.

And then one day, I got hurt. I herniated a disc one day. I say “one day”, but it was a long journey of not listening to my body or myself that got me there. And it took me 2 years to recover. In those 2 years, I had to stop a lot. I had to get comfortable with pausing. I learned how to decide what I wanted to do vs what I felt I should be doing because my body only had so much to give in a day and I sure as hell better choose wisely. It is a common thing to herniate a disc, and for me, it was a big life change to know I need to be more in tune with myself.

So, the lesson I had to unlearn is listening to cheap, outside influences. And those voices can show up as individuals or learned behavior from society at large. But real freedom and authenticity show up when you can recognize what’s driving you. As an artist, you have to learn to listen. Listen to yourself and to the work. You have to learn how to pause. That’s how you learn to understand how you feel about the work. Because that’s how you create work that is unique to you.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

When someone connects to your work. Art is a form of connection at its core. You create something that is authentically speaking your language and how you see it. And to have someone else say “I relate to this” is a big deal. The biggest deal. It’s like developing your own language and when others catch on and start to speak it with you, it’s unreal and so rewarding.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jaclyngordyan.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaclyn_gordyan/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JaclynGordyanArtist
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jgordyan