We were lucky to catch up with Johanna Falzone recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Johanna thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
Currently, Read With Me has been a collection of self portrait and still life illustrations that has a lot of meaning behind it. It documents my healing and growth before and during the pandemic. Viewers see a personal journey while also being invited in to learn about the books themselves. It ended up unfolding at a pertinent time as politicians started to call for books to be banned. Many of the books featured in these illustrations are books politicians would or have threatened to ban. This body of work was exhibited as my first solo exhibition at the Morean Arts Center in St.Petersburg, FL from July 2022 – August 2022.
Johanna, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I always knew I wanted to work in Art and Entertainment from a young age. I took dance classes and worked to perfect my art. I actually wanted to be on Nickelodeon as a kid, I’d would make up skits and film them on a hand-me-down VHS camera, one of those big heavy ones. I studied Fine Art, Graphic Design, and English at Flagler College. After graduation, I continued to pursue what I loved while working a day job teaching in public education. Now, I teach Expressive Art Workshops and have a much more open schedule to work on new projects. This journey hasn’t been easy, I sacrificed a lot to pursue this career, but as time goes by, more opportunities arise and it becomes more lucrative.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Five years ago, I was about to quit the industry. My mental health was not in a good place. I moved to and left Los Angeles very quickly, but if it wasn’t for all of that, I wouldn’t have gotten the idea for my award winning screenplay, Princess Coyote. It was like a reset, it also prepared me on how to handle future disappointments and mental health problems. It was the push forward that needed to happen to finally take the dive into all the parts of the Art and Entertainment industry I was afraid to venture into due to my own insecurities. The short film, I’m Not Margot Robbie and sketch comedy, What’s Up Chicago? are examples of going for it and putting all the insecurities aside.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
We need more funding for kids/teens/college programs and funding for working artists. We need better programs in our public schools and colleges to prepare kids to actually accomplish their goals. The “it’s just for fun” “it’s just a fantasy” attitudes toward this industry need to stop. Art and Entertainment careers are very much real careers that can be attained if people have the support from childhood into adulthood. We need to have financial support from our government that directly goes to individuals who work in this industry. Currently, these careers are hard to attain because of the high cost and systemic problems with racism, ableism, and sexism etc. We need to make this industry accessible instead of only reserved for the privileged.
Contact Info:
- Website: www,johannafalzone.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doll_legs/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johannafalzoneart
- Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/johanna-falzone-b8b36aa7
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjOEFp719-fwIGGmDlInu3Q
- Other: https://www.backstage.com/u/johanna-falzone/ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm11782449/ https://womeninfilmfl.org/Sys/PublicProfile/51810897