We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jean Blackwell Font. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jean below.
Jean, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?
I knew at the age of 5 that I wanted to be an artist – or that I was an artist. Other than loving glue, glitter, crayons, and creativity, I didn’t know what “artist” meant. My grandmother sewed and made drawings, and let me play with her materials; as I grew up, I embraced the idea that I was an artist. The idea of a creative career never entered my mind, not even as I graduated high school and adjusted to life as an adult.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
As an artist and arts marketer, I bring all of my experience, skill, and passion together now as the Executive Director for collaboARTive. My role allows me the privilege to create resources and opportunities for visual artists.
As the co-founder of Font Squared, I’ve built award-winning websites to expand audiences and awareness for artists and creatives, while generating revenue through e-commerce sales and donations. Our small business has developed successful social media and email campaigns, generating $100,000 for non-profit organizations.
Over the years, we’ve committed our resources to building an artist community by providing affordable art studios, digital marketing workshops, and access to calls to artists for exhibitions, grants, and residencies. In 2022, my husband Ignacio and I formed collaboARTive as a non-profit arts organization to strengthen our commitment to community and solidify our organization’s sustainability. Today, as Executive Director, I’m able to partner with artists and nonprofits while providing the highest level of professionalism to create impactful tools and resources to enrich our artist community in meaningful ways.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
I am an artist first, and an arts marketer second. I don’t know what my life’s purpose is, that is still unfolding. I do know that I get great joy from sharing my knowledge and experience with others who are on the same creative journey, embracing the arts, and making culture part of their life’s purpose.
As a young adult, I took a job as an administrative assistant at a hotel, which led to a career path in hospitality. Along the way, my creativity seeped through everything I did. My tasks evolved and, as technology changed, so did my job descriptions. I moved into marketing and social media and found my niche, combining a fascination with the internet’s capacity for connection, the welcoming nature of hospitality, and my own creative abilities.
As fate would have it, my career path meandered into the arts and hospitality sector. I learned what it was like to have a job that was more like a calling; this is what alignment felt like. Later, I would change positions to work in the nonprofit world and the path became even more clear for me.
My journey took a sharp turn in 2020 and put me on my current path – deep in the lush and vibrant forest of the arts. The path I walk today is paved with the skills, interests, and abilities that I’ve developed and now serve as a bridge to support the arts community. Font Squared is my vehicle for taking artists and nonprofits on the journey with me, guiding them along the path to better communication, diversified audiences, and an expanded, global reach.
My own art practice continues to develop and grow; I am that 5-year-old playing with materials and exploring my inner world through visual communication on canvas. My business path has finally aligned with my personal passion, and I am steeped in the gift of living a creative life. The drive and passion of others fuel my journey and keep me energized and focused. What drives my mission is the idea that I can take others along for this ride.
Have you ever had to pivot?
I mention a sharp turn in my creative journey in 2020; like so many I had a “pivot” that year in my life. As the COVID pandemic began to stretch out across weeks and months, the realization of life’s fragility began to sink in. Then in July, life threw me a different kind of curveball and brought the message home. After an accident that left me with a traumatic brain injury and many broken bones, I was unable to work for several months. It was during this time that family and friends rallied around me, and the community that I’ve worked so hard to build wrapped me in a warm and loving embrace.
I eventually left my full-time position to heal, while working with a few long-time clients that trusted me to get things done with a team of family and friends. It was during this time that I decided to become self-employed, and developed the realization that “I only work with people I love, and people who love me.”
In 2022, I was strong enough to take on the role of Executive Director for collaboARTive, bringing together all of my life experiences and finding real purpose in everything I do for the artist community. I’ve come full circle, spending my days working with fellow artists to share ideas and inspirations as we practice “Creative Play” with glue, scissors, and materials.. sometimes there’s even a little glitter thrown in.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.fontsquared.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fontsquared/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/font-squared
Image Credits
Photo by Ricardo Sevilla