We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jennie Sweo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Jennie, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
I don’t know if I could have sped up the learning process. A big part of the process is allowing yourself to take the time you need to learn, to experiment, to explore and make mistakes. And an important skill to have is to be able to teach yourself and to trust your learning.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Jennie Sweo I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California and I have always wanted to be an artist, making art. I remember when I was first starting out and I could not figure out away to make a viable living as a fine artist, so I earned both a bachelor’s degree in fine art and in graphic design and got a job working at a small advertising agency in Los Angeles. I then worked as a graphic designer for various design firms in North Carolina and Texas.
While in Texas I got back in touch with art making as fine art and went to University of North Texas, Denton where I earned my MFA in Painting and Drawing and my husband earned his Ph.D. in Business. We both worked overseas first in Czech Republic and then Russia for several years. I worked as both a graphic designer and as a painter. We came back to the U.S. and got jobs working in Maryland, where I worked as a graphic designer, an artist, and an art professor.
I began to search for ways to continue my learning by wanting to figure out away to merge graphic design with fine art and ways of researching to find a balance between design and art. The U.S. at that time really had no viable Ph.D. design programs, so I applied to schools in the Common Wealth. I was accepted into a Ph.D. design program at Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand. I earned my Ph.D. in Design Studies and moved back to the U.S.
This time my husband and I landed jobs in South Carolina. While I worked as a professor of both design and art I began to apply my research to various ways of painting and drawing focusing on paper as both media and medium.
My husband and I currently live and work in Tucson, Arizona. I teach as an adjunct professor and work as an artist, exhibiting in shows and galleries. My focus continues to be on paper and exploring paper as both media and medium.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
There are always more things to learn when developing processes for making art. I am always delighted to learn more. Change can be scary, learning more can help.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
Earlier in my career many resources that we take for granted now, had physical limitations because there was no internet or world wide web. Now I can see so many resources for ideas and imagery from all over the world.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jsweo.blogspot.com
- Instagram: jsweo
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-jennie-sweo-74b76841/