We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jennifer Vasher. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with jennifer below.
Jennifer , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
One of the greatest risks, one with an extreme lifestyle reward, was the building of our studio home here in Placitas, New Mexico. Filled with enthusiasm in the adventure and faith in my husband, then soon to be, Architect Max Vasher, we financed the property and construction independently, designed, and then built a sustainable, studio home. Let me reiterate this, we built the studio house ourselves, and this was done on my husband’s tattooing income and my adjunct instructor’s income, as those were our steady sources of money at the time. Prior to finding property on this great arroyo at the foothills of the Sandia mountains I had been away installing an exhibition in Atlanta. When I returned home, my husband, who was interning with the renowned architect Bart Prince, had designed and built the most extreme sexy bungalow bed for us. That was the gotcha moment. After that, I just had a hunch that he could and would do it, so, it wasn’t exactly, but almost, blind faith. Sometimes the greatest risk is having that faith in yourself sure, but, and maybe even more importantly, sometimes in others. Today, my creative energy from dawn to dusk is quite literally in a harmonious physical and psychic flow with my lived, spatial existence.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am a visual artist, design consultant, and college arts instructor. I divvy my time and energy between these creative professions. This multi-pronged labor/work lifestyle originated through pragmatic means, not wanting to compromise in my fine art practice, my lifestyle choice, and, of course, having at least one sound source of income. Each feeds a part of my creative needs, and my desire to leave the world a little better than when I entered it.
As a visual artist, I work in a variety of 2D and 3D mediums, from drawing and painting, mixed media sculpture and architectural installation, exploring the psychological and environmental landscapes of society. Working with mediums that range from charcoal, ink, and paint, to viscous petroleum, resin-coated pharmaceuticals, and cheap PLA plastics, I am drawn to make art about “things that make me go hmmm”, most recently critiquing consumer culture while illustrating the intersection between systems of industry, government, and our bodies. Truthfully, in one way or another, I am and always have been inspired to make art works simply because of a deep interest in the human condition and a keen awareness that the personal is universal.
I think because of this interest in people, their stories, and the conditions in which they find themselves, I love both teaching in the arts and (design) consultation- listening to a wide mix of people and solving specific (cultural, art, and design related) problems. My design consultation has focused on color and subsequently, texture, working to solve interior/exterior design problems, while collaborating with architects, interior designers, landscapers and small business owners.
Over the past five years I have been busy with a novel project working with the Inter-Tribal Community College in Albuquerque and the American Indian College Fund. I have been developing and now facilitating culturally specific Indigenous art courses on campus. This has been unbelievably rewarding, creating a means to bring to the college incredible Navajo and Puebloan Knowledge Sharer’s; these are master artists willing to share their traditional knowledge. We have many students that come from far out and pretty isolated locations, so I’m also programming a field trip arts and culture course. We visit Santa Fe and the surrounding areas, taking advantage of our unique location, exploring heritage, and cultural expressions in food and art. These projects have been rewarding; every day I say, “I get paid for this?!”
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
Remember the saying about work, “Leave it at the door”? It’s saying to get a job that you can just leave at the door at the end of the day. This is why teaching works for so many artists as their money gig, it can pretty much be left at the door after hours. I guess there are so many fields today where performance pressures and other demands have made this saying completely passe now. I have gotten very good at compartmentalizing my time, and, also, being quite flexible, acknowledging and accommodating when the creative spirit from whichever prong demands special access.
I had just been talking about the building of our home studio, and this makes me think about having to have a studio right next to the bedroom, but also very private. Ideas, images, and the aha moments come to so many creatives in the middle of the night or in dreams. Sometimes there is an energy, if even a quick 2 am burst of energy that needs to be recorded or satisfied. Years ago, one of my worse /best apartments was a place that had an enormous bedroom, which worked as my “clean studio”, while the connected garage was the “dirty studio”. The bed was a futon in the “clean studio”. The studios were always accessible for scheduled hours, late nights, early pop ins, and quick glances. Know what works for you.
One more piece of insight I would like to share with any creative, is this idea of “play”. As in studio play; explorations with that type of loose freedom. Take it seriously. For likeminded creatives like me, I’d also add time to read. And I’m not talking an hour or two before bed reading. I am a voracious reader and am inspired by what I read. When I say something has been ‘explored’ for a better understanding, it has been read on extensively. Sometimes I will take long breaks to “feed my soul”, to read, to play, to sit, and to think. This is intellectual and creative food. It took me some time to allow myself that total freedom- to give myself this time- so much so that for a long while I had to justify it by calling it “work”. Feeding our creative selves is work.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
Knowing I’m living my fullest most authentic life is the highest reward for me as a creative. You only have one go around. To expand on this, I’ll say that it is the highest form of reward when someone reaches out to say that an artwork of yours, or a meaningful consultation or conversation helped them in some very deeply, meaningful way. It’s heavy. It’s beautiful. It definitely doesn’t happen every day, but it really gives a sense of peace and purpose – the kind that counts- when it does.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jennifervasher.com
- Instagram: jennifervasher
