Meet Heidi Jeub

We were lucky to catch up with Heidi Jeub recently and have shared our conversation below.

Heidi, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?

I always seemed to surround myself with people would wanted me to succeed. There was no artificial esteem boosters, however, I had to find beauty in myself on my own. I had a tendency to overcompensate somewhere in my life to counter any inadequacies, too.

For instance, I was horrible at reading and taking tests. I would find ways to boost my appearance of “intellect” by reading more materials on a subject than my fellow classmates. If I had things like YouTube when I was a kid, it would have been much less of a challenge. But I would sit in the library reading magazines, poetry, and renting movies around a subject so I could understand a subject better. This time I spent never was a waste, and sometimes I would come to a class conversation with an entirely different perspective because of the added info I gathered. And I still read the required material… I just was able to digest it more because of the relevance I found in other source material.

I also had been in marching band since I was 6 years old, where you were “only as strong as the weakest link.” This philosophy is in my bloodstream to the level that to this day, I feel an obligation to perform up to par… or raise the bar to a level higher than the day before. I’m constantly improving myself, and surrounding myself with strong and confident people.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I’m an artist and arts facilitator, through and through! As a multidisciplinary artist, my work spans across painting, bookbinding, collage, and public art, all aimed at delving into complex personal or community-based issues. Through my art, I seek to create meaningful engagement within communities by providing accessible avenues into visual language. Each piece I create is a catalyst for deep exploration, fostering conversations and prompting reflections on topics that are often challenging yet crucial to address. My goal is to not only spark dialogue but also to inspire collective action and empathy, using art as a powerful tool for social change and community cohesion.

Over the years, I had all my personal art making and the community art and art education under one umbrella. While this was primarily because I had no time to differentiate between all the arts work I was doing, I did find that there was some issues with my own intellectual property (my paintings and persona) and the broader work of my community engagement. Therefore I made a change in my organizational structure, so there could be some differentiation between my legacy as a visual artist and as a community leader. That leads to my creation of Heijeu.

Heijeu Arts, established in 2023, aims to deliver top-notch arts education, community events infused with art, and purposeful collaborations across Minnesota. The foundation of Heijeu Arts is rooted in my extensive work and experience as a teaching artist. Noteworthy is my creation of the Tiny School of Art & Design in 2019, a mobile art studio fostering community engagement through art creation. This program serves as the flagship initiative in Heijeu Arts’ inaugural year, offering complimentary pop-up art gatherings as well as fee-based art camps.

I have been putting my own art practice on hold in order to get Heijeu up and running. Yet, I’m excited to get back to the studio soon, as my partner and I have found a house that can provide both of us with studios (he’s a musician). After quite a long hiatus from the studio, I am looking forward to see what I want to put down on canvas.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

I have a deep understanding of technology serving as an extension of my ideas. I never had the privilege to hire people to help me. So I figured it all out. I stumbled a lot, but I learned, nonetheless. I now have the resources to bring people into my projects and organization, but I’m not really filling gaps in my knowledge, but allowing myself some freedom to focus on my strengths. This also influences my desire to learn something new even when i don’t need to. I have a bookkeeper, and yet, I insist in understanding how Quickbooks works, and I ask tons of questions.

I’m also strategic, but don’t always show that in how I interact with people. I am able to see how new and old relationships, interactions, and activities can lead to something long term. No interaction is a waste of time. This is a blessing of a perspective.

My graduate program was in arts and cultural leadership, and not many people realize that. Therefore, I’m sometimes at a table where people will talk “down” to me because I’m “just an artist” in their eyes. Maybe it will seem deceitful, but my bestie calls it ‘stealthy’… but I let them think that until we start getting deep in the conversation… usually about budgets, profitability, and ROI. I’m no dummy… I usually read or consumer 4x more info on a subject than my competition. Sometimes it’s best to keep those cards close to your chest. Show your hand when the time is right.

Lastly, I’m fearless. I don’t know where that comes from, but I think I made enough risky decisions, and still landed on all fours, that I learned how to take the leap when the calculations seemed to land in my favor.

We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?

I think I already addressed this, but I can go deeper:

I don’t want to manage my nonprofit only knowing one or two aspects of what needs to be done. I know that having legal, financial, and organizational experts on your board, but I need to understand their language and they need to understand mine. Therefore, I read a lot about subjects in ethics, finance, nonprofit management, and strategies. I watch other sectors in how they respond to the changes in our world, because it would be ignorant to think that other sectors don’t influence or mirror the arts sector.

The place this is hardest to do, is in my studio… I take time to read about other contemporary artists and their color theory, painting techniques, and business practice. It sometimes throws me off balance, but helps me build a strong core in the long run.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.heidijeub.com
• Instagram: heidijeub
• Facebook: heidijeubstudio
• Linkedin: heidijeubmn
• Other: https://www.heijeuarts.org
  

Image Credits

All are Heidi Jeub, except the one of me with the flowers in front of the blue painting (By me), which is JD Jorgenson