We recently connected with Valerie Ostenak and have shared our conversation below.

Valerie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I was a creative kid, always making something out of anything and I loved animals. So I decided to be a veterinarian when I grew up. Artist was not on the list of possibles. High school classes were all science focused, with art classes for keeping me happy and I loved them both. In college, I planned a science path and registered for classes geared for majors in biology. No art class my freshman year . . . and I missed it.

In the second semester, I took a phylogenetics course that included a separate lab filled with all sizes of jars holding snakes and other creatures, bones, and skins . . . it was a wildly magical room for me! I had also added an art class: jewelry/metalsmithing. On one particular day in the science lab, we were studying bone structures and the instructor was passing around a box of tiny anteater bones. They were gorgeous, so delicate! I raised my hand to ask where I could get some. The instructor asked why I wanted them, and I answered that I wanted to use them as burnout models for casting so that I could make jewelry out of them. He was appalled, raised his voice in indignation, and stated that this was a class for biology majors! I told him I was a biology major, but that I also loved making art. It was at that moment of declaration that I knew I was an artist first and foremost and wanted to do it for the rest of my life. And I did.

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 first and foremost an Artist, which I define as designer and maker. To be exact, I am a Painter and a Sculptor. Drawing, painting, and metalsmithing are the creative directions I have focused on throughout my life. I applied the training and knowledge I gleaned from art classes and translated it to the graphic design field in order to make a living. I started out as a technical illustrator for proposals and deliverables in the aerospace industry learning publications design and production, which led to designing books and magazines for publishers. Concurrently, I was also drawing, painting, and making jewelry in my studio.

There reached a point where I became more serious about developing a professional career for my art. While still working full time as a graphic designer, I worked part time as a blacksmith in a shop and as a silversmith in my own studio creating sculptures: decorative, functional, and wearable as art jewelry.

My art has received many awards: the 2017 Saul Bell Jewelry Design Award in Alternative Materials; the 2011 Centurion Luxury Jewelry Show Emerging Designer Award chosen as one of six from an international field; and the 2009 Halstead Jewelry Design and Business Development Grant. I was interviewed by National Geographic for their online education site and twice selected for their annual American Artist Appreciation Month. British automotive-maker Rolls-Royce contacted me to co-brand with them for their North American Owners’ Meet in Lake Tahoe in 2018, I exhibited my sculptural jewelry with Artistar Jewels during Milan Fashion Week in Italy four years running, and presented my work on the fashion runways in Phoenix AZ and LA. I have had my work published in numerous books and magazines on art jewelry and blacksmithing, taught & lectured on metalsmithing for both Northern Arizona University and Arizona State University art departments, and various metalsmithing organizations nationally.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I learned a valuable lesson early on about entering juried exhibitions and shows. I had entered a juried exhibition and was confident my drawing would be accepted. I thought my technique was well done: layers of rich color applied like glazing in a painting, and the subject was beautiful: my orchids. It was a large piece, 22″ x 30″ so it was also reflective of time and labor.

It was rejected.

A month or so later, I entered it into another juried exhibition, this time with a larger art organization that encompassed three states and a well-respected juror.

My drawing was accepted.

I learned that art really is subjective . . . to whomever is viewing it. One can dislike it and another one can like it. No matter the technical considerations, your piece may be accepted or rejected.

Many years later I was the Gallery Director for an art gallery within a city hall. The building was designed to function as an art gallery as well as a city hall. Once a year we had a juried exhibition with three respected local artists as the jurors. I learned two more valuable lessons about juried exhibitions from them.

• Each exhibition venue itself has limitations. Even if every piece was perfectly gorgeous, it still comes down to what will fit best on the walls or in the space.

• Decisions are also made on how the entire show looks as one event. Equally fabulous pieces will come down to which one fits the overall look of the show better.

Keeping putting your work out there. Whether anyone you know likes it or not, this planet is full of people and there are those who will absolutely love it. With social media, it’s easier than ever to have someone see it who may fall in love with it, someone whose life will be enhanced by viewing your art.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

There are five books that have helped me and that I refer to periodically. Sometimes to just pick one up and read a page that I randomly open up to. They are not listed in any particular order of importance . . . I like them all. They are encouraging, philosophical, mindset-changing, and practical. They have helped me to move steadily forward, they are worthy of reading more than once:

“The Big Leap”, by Gay Hendricks
“Big Magic”, by Elizabeth Gilbert
“Leading with Emotional Courage” by Peter Bregman
“A Fearless Heart” by Thupten Jinpa, PhD
“How To Sell Art” by Jason Horejs

Contact Info:

• Website: www.valerieostenak.com
• Instagram: @vostenakstudios
• Other: Clothing design: www.legaleriste.com/vostenakstudios

Image Credits
Valerie Ostenak