We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jennifer Gillia Cutshall a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jennifer Gillia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

Art thrives on taking risks! The very nature of being an artist or choosing to work within the arts is perceived as a risk (by society). Without risk and bravery there would be no expression. Skill is admirable, yes, but individual voice and vision shows up when artists dare to reveal something (a vulnerability, a new approach with the media, and beyond). New ideas and approaches may not be heralded until they have mass appeal, but mass appeal should not be our concern as artists (leave that to the corporations). Every step I have taken in the arts has required me to step out of my comfort zone. It has always been important for me to honor my ideas and to place a high value on them. This belief in my vision has propelled my momentum (against the tide) in my lifelong arts career with public art and mural projects, set work, art sales, gallery ownership, curating, and more. It is not a perfect or perfected endeavor, but one riddled with opportunity for success and failure all at once! And it’s the flaws or the unexpected beauty in blemishes that sometimes attract me most…and without risk I would never find them. One example that I love involves a youth artist. I was leading a mural in the early 2000’s in Santa Fe, New Mexico and one of the teen artists (I was mentoring) accidentally dropped a can of paint from the top of a ladder.  It spilled over a portion of the mural that had already been completed and just missed the top of my head (I was adding detail to the margins below)!   I noticed the look of terror on her face and I looked at the wall.  I am not exaggerating when I explain that the placement of the spill was impeccable and made the outer space theme come to life in a surprising way!  I asked the artist to back up from the mural and close her eyes, then I asked her to forget the spill and open her eyes…we both gasped.  It was magical. The risk afforded something new, something outside the sphere of control.

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 love affair with art began so long ago and as a young girl I felt as though the vast halls of the Brooklyn Art Museum were my second home. The collections resonated with me in rooms with ceilings that loomed three stories high. I felt small and profoundly elevated at the same time. That sensation still echoes in my response to thoughtful art collections and inspired art spaces. My affinity for museums remains, but I realized early on, that art is everywhere and not exclusive to formal settings. During my daily train ride to the High School of Music and Art I remember seeing Keith Haring’s work underground on platform walls and subway cars. His guerrilla approach showed me that artists do more than make work, they create environments. Since those early influences, my art-journey has traveled 3 paths. My studio practice occupies the most personal. I am driven to experiment with materials including life sized hand sculpted paper mache sculptures filled with ephemera, drawings, larger portraits and abstracted dreamscape paintings.

In contrast to my studio work, I have developed a less personal pathway as a mural painter. This channel has suited my penchant for working large and my attraction to themes. I have designed and painted over 300 large-scale murals (including public art grants, commissions, as well as theatrical scenic art jobs).

This need to explore larger formats has not been confined to my mural practice and has pushed into the third area of exploration. I opened a gallery/exhibition space in 2013 where I have exhibited the works of over 2000 artists. It has been a powerful creative tool to incorporate my intuitive impulses into collective concerns and exhibition projects. I am also the Gallery Director at a local community college. This curatorial outlet feels inherently connected to my experiences (as a girl) at the Brooklyn Art Museum when art collections dictated the greatest sense of narrative and reverence for me.

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

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.verumultimumartgallery.com/ https://www.jennifergilliacutshallart.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/verumultimum/ https://www.instagram.com/jennifergilliacutshallart/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/verumultimumartgallery https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063510852672
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-gillia-cutshall-75982a91/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsnxzQTS0qqS2-noE0wW6Sg/videos

Image Credits
Photos of me in my gallery space at Verum Ultimum the work in those photos (first 2) show exhibitions I curated (me looking at a work I featured at my gallery). Photos of my sculptural work in the round. Photos of my mural (one mural, the blue panel on exterior building of figure with arms open was a project with the non profit Color Outside the Lines in Portland, Oregon) after the murals there are photos of my paintings and drawings