We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jennifer Soriano a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jennifer , we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
Honestly this is such a deeply personal question and I had to reflect on how I wanted to answer. One always wonders if your experience might change the experience of another in a positive way. Perhaps it does in that it creates a sense of solidarity, knowing others have lived within a similar framework and have resolved to bring a positive from a negative. I grew up within a physically and sexually violent home. As you might imagine, this pointed experience has had a lasting impact on my worldview. I don’t know what makes some people simply survive and others thrive after trauma, but I knew I hated the phrase “Survivor of Abuse.” I wanted to thrive not simply survive. This singular thought often drives me to push through what seems impossible at times, or try something I might otherwise be afraid to try. Throughout the years the philosophy of “Thrive not simply Survive” has powered me in supporting other people who have come out on the other side of abuse and are wondering, “what’s next?” The resilience born out of overcoming trauma and chasing healing experiences, pushes my work to be better, both in its context and challenging myself to be a better artist and a human being.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I have two great loves in my professional life, my teaching and my illustration work. For me art has always been about being a means of communication. I have been teaching Junior High and High School studio art for 24 years and I still get such a thrill helping someone else discover how art can open up a new means of communicating for them. When words are hard and become difficult, art is that universal language that can speak for us.
A particular student comes to mind who was going through a rough period in their life. One day I received a call from their parents who were worried their child wasn’t drawing pictures of beautiful flowers and lovely scenes in their sketchbook, but would leave the sketches for their parents to find. They were troubled that their child would not communicate with them. And I said but they are communicating to you, they have opened their sketchbook for you to look at and given you a starting point to communicate. It was a beautiful moment when I received feedback from the parents who began to use their child’s drawings to open the lines of communication.
In my own artistic life, my experience continues to allow me to choose projects that challenge me personally and have meaning. Sometimes they are light hearted simply because they bring joy to myself and others. I worked on a series of ink chicken illustrations that delighted people and am planning on pursuing a children’s book sometime next year with these delightful illustrations. Sometimes the work is something odd but intriguing.Recently I partnered with another maker who creates fiberglass forms of sea turtle shells used as a tool in martial arts. The turtle shells, called Tenbe, are used as a traditional Okinawa shield and are paired with a short spear called a Rochin. Its been a fun artistic challenge for me to custom paint the 3D surface.
Others projects have been related to topics and causes that have deep personal meaning for me. A recent commission of Nellie Griswold Francis for the Ramsey County History Center’s exhibition Persistence: Continuing the Struggle for Suffrage and Equality, 1848-2020 in St. Paul now resides in their permananet collection.
This past year I created sketches of Sojourner Truth and was a Finalist for Taking Steps: Recognizing 19th Century African and Indigenous American Abolitionists, Entrepreneurs and Family, ” a commission for Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts. I was honored to be in the finalists pool where I never expected to be. My sketch remain in the National Portrait gallery archives which gave me the resolve that if I could get to that level of excellence, I could challenge myself further.
I spent time alot of this year as well working with a group of strong women who had experienced various levels of abuse, out of their stories came a self portrait about how freeing yourself to speak is one of the most empowering experience. Currently I am working with an author on finishing illustrations for a book that will be published early next year.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Humility. Curiosity. Communication. Those are the immediate three that come to mind. Humility is important, there is always someone better than you. Look at that as an opportunity to learn from that person. Be a good student, learning never stops. The moment you think you know everything is the moment you stop learning. Curiosity fuels desire, which in turn fuels your desire to learn and to understand other people better, I specialize in portrait work, and curiosity about whats important to people and their stories is essential to capturing more than the likeness of another person. Communication. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and be vulnerable to other people. Communication is work at times, people are messy, they have emotions and fears, so spending the time to foster good communication is so valuable to reaching common ground and understanding.
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
Time. I have a lot of obligations, people and projects vying for my time. So managing that aspect is the most challenging. A good friend of mine gave me some advice, he said, “Protect your Peace.” For me, I need time to play with ideas in order to be creative. If I am constantly bombarded, I find it hard to think creatively and problem solve, so I know I need to protect that space and create pockets of time for my brain to relax and play with ideas. One of things I do every week is to create some quiet space, for me that usually means having my hiking backpack ready in my car at all times so I can take off into the woods for a some quiet walks. I make a point to get time alone each week, sometimes it’s hiking or mushroom hunting, sometimes it’s carrying my camera and finding something interesting I want to photograph. I quiet my phone and notifications so that peace stays protected. I think whatever your quiet space is, it’s important to have moments of peace that you carve out purposefully and have regularly, the body and the brain needs time to refresh.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sorianofinearts/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WakeTheNightOwl
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzm6M9922xfhHfpdmyO2d7g
- Other: https://exhibition-persistence.rchs.com/exhibition/organizing-for-change/
https://kiihn.com/2021/08/30/jennifer-ann-sorianos-cast-the-first-stone/
Image Credits
*turtle shell (tinbe) and spear (rochin) photo credit Jerry Holt all other photos were taken by me, the artist, Jennifer Soriano
