Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jo Moore. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jo, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

I am happiest when I have the kind of work I have now: using my job as an artist to bring the community together.
It’s not just one job: artist. It’s a balance of volunteer, artist, community leader, community member, student. Every formal relationship within my community is like a medium for an art piece but the piece is me and how I curate myself into the community so that I can communicate the best!

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?

I have been an artist my whole life, but never took it or myself seriously until about 2023. I began showing my art and realized how little a role that is in being an artist. If no one cares about you, they won’t care about what you are doing or making. And if you don’t know who cares about you, you won’t know who your art is speaking to. Showing art and being present in your art community requires putting the carriage before the horse: you must know who you are inside your community so you can find your place at the table. And once you do, finding others to sit next to you so they can find their place.

When I finally found a community that modeled that feeling, I brought their gathering model to our community and started a meetup called Sowing Seeds. I’m most proud that after a year of meetups, a solid community has emerged and blended with the current one with collaboration instead of competition.

I am most proud of the Sowing Seeds community when I am running late and people are there before me, gathering on their own. To have begun something that perpetuates itself is like watching a flower bloom and live, or a houseplant send out a new leaf.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I built the audience for Sowing Seeds on social media by collaboration with other groups and community members. I also straight up ask people to share the events.
When you include others, they tend to care about a shared outcome. Including others is just going to broaden your reach and extend your table, which is my ultimate goal in the community: give everyone a seat they feel welcome to sit in.
I also found other similar groups to share their events because we all offer different things even if our communities are similar!
Our presence in the community was not apologetic in tone; it was adding value.

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

I had to unlearn the idea that I needed permission to be an artist, create art, or gather others in community.
None of that is true and once I gave myself that permission, everything changed.
I realized that I already painted without anyone’s permission and so to host a meetup without permission, to share the events without permission let Sowing Seeds really gain traction in views and attendance.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: sowingseeds.omaha

Image Credits

Henry Lanik, Jo Moore, Sky Odell