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

Jodi, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

At the age of five years old, I realized I wanted to be an artist. My friend and I spent an afternoon making crayon drawings of animals on large sheets of newsprint. The drawings were the largest I had ever made and I decided to try and sell them. This was the 1970’s when door-to-door sales were prevalent, so why not me? I rolled up the drawings and fastened them with rubber bands. I went about pulling them around the neighborhood in my wagon, knocking on doors, offering them for sale at a dollar each. Success! I went up and down the block and two neighbors bought the drawings as well as one person gave me a $1.00 donation. I was so excited about this new possibility! It started to rain before I got home and the remaining drawings got wet, but I didn’t care. It was in that moment I knew I wanted to be an artist and thought that it was possible.

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?

For 28 years, making art and teaching has allowed me to connect with many friends and fans in a meaningful way. I have been a full-time artist creating contemporary, nature-based paintings and wall sculptures in Minneapolis. Teaching encaustic painting (beeswax, pigment and damar resin) in national and international workshops has allowed me to travel and share what I love to do, which is make art! Over my career, I have created original paintings and multi-dimensional wall sculptures for public spaces, hotels, hospitals, medical facilities, restaurants, educational institutions, and private residences.

Encaustic painting captured my attention about 15 years ago when I took a workshop. I immediately loved the translucency of painting with wax and the techniques of scraping, building texture and collage. Encaustic is currently my primary art medium. When making a painting, the wax builds up and can be textured or smooth. I am intrigued with how light accentuates the depth of the waxy paint creating light and shadow on and between the surfaces. Each layer of paint is fused to the previous with a heat source and has a surface like no other medium.
Even though I knew I wanted to be a full-time artist, my parents were very skeptical of this career choice and encouraged me to consider getting into finance. I chose to give it a try because I did have a slight interest and received a two-year accounting degree at a community college. The last semester, I was able to choose electives and I chose all art classes such as photography, acrylic painting and sculpture. Being able to focus on art for the semester had me realize I was studying the wrong profession. After I finished the degree, I immediately started researching art schools and settled on the Minneapolis College of Art & Design. There I discovered printmaking and loved the repetitive process of making an image (relief, monotypes and books arts) and that quickly became my new passion. I graduated with a BFA in 1995.

While I was going to art school, I utilized my accounting degree and became a finance manager at a car dealership. This job allowed me to have a flexible schedule where I could work on my art after hours for my degree. I also learned more about business and sales which gave me experience to be an entrepreneur selling my art. After graduating with my art degree, I became a resident artist at an art consulting firm in Minneapolis making work to sell in their showroom. I learned the discipline of showing up every day in the studio and focusing on developing my voice in my art. This also became a huge networking opportunity meeting designers, developers and business owners who I still have relationships with to this day and place my work in public and residential spaces. After 6 years, I decided it was time to go on my own and found an artist co-op studio where I own part of the building in the historic North Loop area of Minneapolis with 22 other artists.

My work is nature-based and is sometimes varies from representational to abstract. Having a large subject-matter base allows me to experiment with many mediums to express my ideas. I enjoy exploring the landscape to contemplate a whole scene and at the same time like to focus on the macro aspects. I make seed-shaped artworks, which are symbolic of the beginnings of plants repeated in the landscape. I’m currently exploring wall sculpture where my work is coming off the wall in series such as circles, seeds, grids; focusing on the shadows. My background as a printmaker has me explore making multiple, original paintings and sculptures almost as an edition.

As an artist, my understanding of the business side of things is unique and I work to collaborate with my clients and keep the integrity of my work. My work changes over time and I develop new series. I love working on commission, which sometimes pushes my work in new directions and gives me food for thought for new work. I maintain being the expert of my art but am open to feedback that I can consider or not. Oftentimes the size is changed in a commission which allows me creative challenges of balance, composition and design. I am very proud that I’ve been a full-time artist making my living solely from art sales and teaching art workshops.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

In 2020, when all of my workshops locally and nationally were cancelled, I missed my art community and wanted to find a new way to connect.

I pivoted and started offering live online workshops via Zoom with the help of my son, Without him, I couldn’t have offered these workshops since video conferencing was foreign to me. These hour-long workshops were structured over two days where I demonstrated encaustic techniques via Zoom. I set up my teaching materials like a cooking class and had paintings in various states of completion to show as the techniques progressed. The artists could work along with me or watch and work later in their studio.

I promoted these workshops on Facebook via international Encaustic groups and was amazed at the response! I had over 50 artists sign up from all over the world! I got teary-eyed when we were all there staring at each other on-screen. We had managed to connect in a new way despite the separation. Now, I offer art study coaching and mentoring to individual artists to support them in their careers, goal-setting, focus to build a body of work, accountability, marketing and finding their audience to sell their work.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect is being able to express my creativity every day. I take the weekends off from my studio practice and I can’t wait for Monday! I can’t imagine doing anything else and I enjoy taking the responsibility for what I make. My art has developed over time and you have to put in the time to build your style. As an observer, I’ve created so many different styles of work but it’s all connected to the last thing I made like stepping stones across the pond. There’s a shift over time and I trust myself completely to show up and keep working.

I’m also a curator and partner in a contemporary art gallery in Minneapolis where I’ve shown my art for over 10 years. It’s rewarding to play a larger role in the gallery after being involved as an artist over many years. Having your work in a retail setting allows you to see how visitors experience looking at an exhibition and the individual artworks. After installing many shows of my work and other artists, I’ve gained a confidence and sense of how I think artwork needs to be installed. It’s very subjective but I’ve learned a sense of my own balance and how my eye sees the individual works and the show as a whole.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jodireeb.com/home.html
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jodireeb/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jodi.reeb
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodi-reeb-7b658ba/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQtJVim4RfNgbIhkU1ngqZQ

Image Credits
All photos were taken by me.