Tough on Art

Today my guest is Gina Tuzzi, one of my favorite artists (and humans). Gina lives in Blue Lake, California and teaches art at Humboldt State University. Gina was born and raised in Santa Cruz, California, has an MFA from Mills College in Oakland, and a BA from Humboldt State University.
Gina's paintings are both magical and energetic: her bright saturated palette with complex detailed and dream-like imagery explore a world rich with symbolism with a touch of the psychedelic. Lush with a mixture of pop and ancient culture, icons of feminism, art and music, her work crafts new stories created through a collage of cultural references paired with lyrics from pop songs, ancient fables and symbolic elements.
Gina Tuzzi's website: www.ginatuzzi.com
Jen Tough Gallery: www.JenTough.gallery
Jen Tough website: www.JenTough.com
NEW ARTIST WORKSHOPS:
Zoom workshop: "The Tough Method for Getting Galleries" Sun April 24 www.JenTough.com
Santa Fe workshop "The Tough Method for Artist Success" Oct 10-12 www.JenTough.com
1-year Artist Alliance membership with 30 minute personal consult www.JenTough.com

On today’s show, I’ll be speaking to Marie Cameron. Marie Iis a realist painter and mixed media assemblage artist living and working in Los Gatos, California. Her work ranges from large scale realist paintings with images from the natural world, some creating a repetitive kaleidoscopic image, others that involve quiet contemplation such as birds perched on dainty teacups. During the pandemic, Marie created and launched her “Rainbow Project”, where she embroidered rainbows on found vintage photos creating new and charming narratives. She invited the world into her studio, one person at a time, to take in her wall of rainbows. At a time when the world felt painfully disconnected, this project created community and optimism amongst a backdrop of isolation and a worldwide pandemic.
NEW:
The Tough Method for Getting Galleries
(a live 5 hour workshop via Zoom) Sunday, April 24
Learn how to get a gallery from a gallerist in an easy, step-by-step method!
Sign up at JenTough.com/getgalleries
Marie Cameron's website: www.mariecameronstudio.com
Jen Tough Gallery website: JenTough.gallery

Laurie Blessen lives in San Francisco and focuses on minimalist, color-field monotypes. Her works are bright and bold, with rectangular or square fields bumping against each other while intermingling with more delicate textures and pattern. Reminiscent of aerial views of landscapes and fields, Laurie says she creates with intuition leading the way.

She says the “magic happens” when a 1500 pound steel roller presses her designs onto dense paper, and no matter how many prints she pulls, there is always a bit of a surprise.
Laurie's website: www.laurieblessen.com
Works available through Jen Tough Gallery
Become a member of the Artist Alliance at www.jentough.com/membership
Become a member of Kindling, a FREE art marketing community www.kindlingmembership.com

Unscripted and "off the cuff Tough" for episode 9 of Gallerist Q&A!
Questions include:
Making prints, and does it devalue work
Pricing on websites
How to get a gallery
Best online places to sell
Are online shows worth it?
And more!
Submit your own question here and it may be answered on the podcast!
https://airtable.com/shrCGnbW4gHtctcKa
Become a member of one of Jen's artist communities:
Artist Alliance: https://www.jentough.com/communities
Kindling Art Marketing: https://www.jentough.com/communities
Sign up for the MARCH 26 live workshop, "The Tough Method to Getting Art Galleries"
https://www.jentough.com/

Dealing with rejection after rejection for artists can be demoralizing and depressing and sometimes can even cause an artist to lose all hope and stop creating altogether. In this podcast, I'm going to break down this process and discuss ways to cope, feel stronger and weather rejection storms just a little bit better, and we'll touch on why certain outdated expectations for pathways into the art world are not only irrelevant, but can also cause a lot of grief for artists.
My guest today is Dee Tivenan. Dee is an artist and psychotherapist from the Bay Area of California. She established her therapy practice almost 40 years ago and at the onset of the pandemic she closed down her office and moved everything home, continuing to see patients via zoom.
Dee's venture into painting came about 15 years ago and she now has a beautiful art studio in the back of her home that her husband, Kevin built for her. These paintings are primarily abstract expressionist, non-representational works that are buttery and often filled with violets and fiery reds. She shows her work both locally and nationally and has made her pathway into the art world by primarily making connections... and this is something that we talk about in the podcast.
Dee is also one of the most supportive and involve members of the Artist Alliance, the online membership community that I started when my gallery closed down due to COVID. She runs a group on there called Head Talk, where members can discuss getting unstuck and all of the other things that artists are dealing with right now, including rejection.
I hope you enjoy this hour long casual conversation with Dee and I, and as usual, a small world word of caution that a few profanities are shared (of course by me!). Enjoy!
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We've opened up enrollment into the Artist Alliance!
We have annual and 6 month membership subscriptions available. Membership includes juried exhibitions with no entry fees, earn 100% on sales, art challenges, resources, a growing video library, and also the complete BASIC Method, a self study 20 module course that breaks down the FIVE ESSENTIAL areas artists need to focus on to achieve their goals.
Join today at ArtistAllianceMembership.com
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Would you like to ask a question for Artist Q&A for this podcast? Go to the gallery website to get the form: www.JenTough.gallery
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