Meet Jakob Hennekam

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jakob Hennekam a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jakob, so excited to talk about all sorts of important topics with you today. The first one we want to jump into is about being the only one in the room – for some that’s being the only person of color or the only non-native English speaker or the only non-MBA, etc Can you talk to us about how you have managed to be successful even when you were the only one in the room that looked like you?

There’s been a lot of times where I’m the only person in the room who looks or acts like I do- it’s kind of something I’ve gotten used to by this point. I grew up in a small town in Indiana and a lot of the time, I felt like I was on the outside looking in, or like everyone else had been given some kind of guidebook and I was the only one who didn’t get one. Even now that I’ve found communities of people like me where I feel welcomed and have similar experiences to other people, there’s still times where I feel like maybe I’m just a little too odd, a little too out there, a little too weird.
The biggest thing that’s gotten me through it is that at our core, we are all human. Even if you think you have absolutely nothing in common with someone, if you think you’ll never see eye to eye on anything, if you dig deep enough there will always be some kind of connecting thread between the two of you. Sometimes you have to determine if it’s worth it to dig that deep to look for it, but I’ve yet to meet someone that there wasn’t some kind of experience or feeling that connected us, even if they didn’t want there to be.
Another thing that’s helped me, especially as an artist who works with what a lot of people would consider a pretty weird medium, is that excited spark of connection that happens when someone meets you and has that mental moment of “you’re like me.” There have been all sorts of people that have come up to me when I’m tabling, some that you wouldn’t expect by looking at them, that feel a connection to my work in one way or another. You would expect it to be the person dressed in all black with skulls on their clothes, but it’s not always the people you’d expect. Sometimes it’s little kids in sparkly pink dresses and pigtails. Sometimes it’s the quiet ones in work attire. Sometimes it’s the sweet old grandparent type wearing a hand knitted sweater. But without fail, someone always surprises me by coming up and having a passionate conversation about my work and my medium, and how they’ve always admired oddity art, or what a cool perspective it is, or something like that. Because of that, I’ve learned that even if I’m the only person in the room who looks like me, I’m normally never alone. By keeping all of that in mind and being willing to reach out and connect with people, I’ve learned how to find my own version of success.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

Since I was a kid, I cycled through a bunch of different dream careers, but one thing I always came back to was being an artist. I always kind of brushed it off, since everyone around me told me it wasn’t a viable career option, and while I’m still not at a point professionally in which I’d be able to comfortably call art my career, it’s my dream to one day be able to sustain myself off of just making art.
I love to experiment with art of all mediums, but I’d say that professionally I’m most known for my skull and butterfly terrariums. I also make a lot of strange jewelry, utilizing bones, medication vials and supplies, and other upcycled miscellaneous jewelry parts like beads and charms. Another medium that I sell and am proud of is my paintings on old vinyl records.
I try to incorporate as much reuse into my art as possible, and I’m always excited for new ways to do that and new approaches to try. I started my journey with scouring all the thrift stores near me for as much interesting glassware and jars I could find, but since then I’ve branched out to using lanterns, birdcages, candle holders- I’ve even acquired a couple of cabinet wall clocks lately that I’ve started working with and I’m so excited to finish and debut. The only thing I buy new is some of my jewelry hardware, such as the hoops that go into your ear, and moss, since I go through so much of it I can’t find enough and don’t want to disturb the local ecosystems by taking too much of it.
I went through a period recently where I was really struggling with inspiration and motivation because of a lot that was happening in my life, but I’m starting to get my groove back. Ive been working on several paintings that I’m really excited to finish and debut and some fun new terrariums have been in the works too. The one I’m most excited for is either one of the cabinet clocks, or a piece I finished recently with a coyote skull in a mirrored box and several shards of broken mirror arranged inside as well. I’ve also been experimenting a lot with my jewelry, trying to get to a point where I’m more comfortable with beads and arranging them.
I recently received acceptance into an oddity expo as well, and I’m thrilled about that news. I’m hoping that I can make everything align to where I’ll be able to say for certain that I’m going, and things are looking good so far!

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?

The three most important qualities to me personally that I feel have also served me well are determination, honesty, and curiosity.
For those who are early in their journey as an artists, I would advise them to be open to learning and be willing to hear new techniques and perspectives. Never stop searching for new ways to do things, even if you’re comfortable in your method- by being curious and learning something new chances are you’ll improve your craft. Even if you think someone is in a wildly different field of art from you, don’t be scared to listen to their perspective, advice, and critiques. Some of my most valuable art advice has been from my friend Kat, who creates absolutely amazing assemblage pieces from scrap metal and pretty much any supplies she can get her hands on. At first I was almost scared of her critiques and reacted negatively to some of it, but once I learned to open up and welcome the advice I feel like it made me look at my art and methods with new eyes and improved the quality of my work as a whole.
There might be people in your journey that are only interested in themselves, and may be willing to step on you to get to where they want to go. Be cautious, but still be open and honest about who you are and what you stand for. Be honest to others and be honest to yourself, so that you can find your true passion, your true niche, your true people. It may be a struggle at first- you may feel like you have to change yourself to fit in to other groups or what’s expected of you, or that you have to change your art to be more palatable and marketable- but always be honest. If you maintain honesty and kindness things will turn your way in the long run.
Which leads into my next point of staying determined- even though there will be roadblocks, including but not limited to creative block, dishonest people and competitors, markets that you lose revenue at, personal setbacks- you can’t give up. Take care of yourself obviously, and know when to truly step back, but anything worth doing is worth struggling for, and your art is always worth doing. It doesn’t matter what inspires you, if you have that true passion and drive to create something, it will shine through and it will speak to someone- sometimes you just have to patient until you find that person. Every journey has a starting point, and even if you’re unhappy with where you are currently, all good things take time, practice, and determination!

Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?

I am firmly of the belief that you should work to improve yourself in areas you’re not as strong in, rather than just going all in on the one thing you’re better at. Besides- “a jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.” Just like you can’t build muscle and strength as effectively if you focus on just one area and not your whole body, I think your art will not grow and thrive as much if you spend all your time focusing on one thing. If you’re a painter and you’re absolutely amazing at rendering light and shadows, but your anatomy isn’t good, most people won’t notice your lights and shadows- they will focus on and point out how off your anatomy is.
Investing effort into areas of my art that were more lacking has made my art better as a whole- the progress has been noticeable not just to myself but to others as well, even those that aren’t artists.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://Instagram.com/avianoddities
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• Other: [email protected]