Meet Jody Zellen

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jody Zellen. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jody, we are so happy that our community is going to have a chance to learn more about you, your story and hopefully even take in some of the lessons you’ve learned along the way. Let’s start with self-care – what do you do for self-care and has it had any impact on your effectiveness?
I trained for and then ran my first marathon around 10 years ago when I was 52. I had always run, but not more than 3 or 4 miles. Since then, I have run 14 marathons, have worked hard to improve my speed, and have actually gotten faster and faster. In fact, I was invited to start with the elite women in the 2020 and 2022 L.A. marathons. Running relaxes me. I get a long of good thinking done on long runs, problem solve and have for the most part been able to achieve every running goal I have set (except breaking 3:10. My best time to date is 3:10:38, but I am determined to run sub 3:10 !). Knowing I can set a goal and then work to achieve it has filtered into everything else I do.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am a visual artist and an arts writer and graphic and web designer. I also maintain an art listing site called Whats on Los Angeles, a project I started with my partner Brian C. Moss in 2013 and have maintained since then as a labor of love and a service to the arts community. Every venue in L.A. has its own page and we list weekly openings and closings in addition to maps that organize the galleries by area. I write a pick of the week, which is a review of an exhibition I recommend that people go see. To date I have reviewed more that 150 exhibitions!

I am very proud of my public art projects: It is extremely satisfying to see others regard my bike rack (installed in 2014) on the corner of Ocean Park and 3rd Street in Santa Monica, or the glass facade at the West Valley Police Station in Reseda (2015) or my quirky line drawings on K-rails on Main Street in Santa Monica (2021), as well as my installation “The Unemployed” at the Los Angeles International Airport (2019). One of my intentions in making art has been to reach non-art audiences. In that respect, the goals I have set myself and the audiences and communities I hope to connect with are both part of the art world as well as non-art audiences— people out and about who happen upon my projects and hopefully stop to look and come away inspired and wanting to know more.

I maintain a daily drawing practice and post a daily image to Instagram @photonews5. This is a project I started in 2019 and slightly change each year.

In 1997, I began to make art for the internet and have continued to create projects for the web since then. During the pandemic I focused on net art creating “Avenue S,” a new pathway on my ongoing site “Ghost City.” “Avenue S” is over 500 pages and each one filled with photographs I take walking around my neighborhood, as well as quirky animations featuring a silhouetted figure that ambles through an abstracted urban space.

You can see it here:
http://ghostcity.com/visualchaos2020/AvenueS_grid.html

I make a lot of animations. Some are part of “Avenue S” but are also gathered here:
http://jodyzellen.com/allanimations/index.html

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 think keeping up with and having an interest in new technologies is a quality and area of knowledge that really helped me and allowed me to find work as an artist as well as a designer.

My ongoing desire to help and support others — by writing about other artist’s works, by creating What’s on Los Angeles, opening a gallery, etc.

My advice, do what you love and never give up.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
I am always open and looking for collaborators. I have always imagined my animations set to music or having some kind of sound component and would LOVE to collaborate with a musician or sound artists and work together to develop a new piece together.

I can envision my work on stage as a background or setting for performance or dance and so if there are any dancers or performance artists out there, please be in touch.

I am always looking for programmers and coders to work with. I have some HTML coding abilities but have ideas for Augmented Reality projects and iOS Apps that I need help with. I would welcome the opportunity to discuss ideas and collaborate with those whose technical skills are more expansive than mine. In particular, I have an iOS app called “NewsWheel” that is one of my favorite projects but because I could not update the app for the Apple, it is no longer available and I long to redo that code so it works again (www.newswheel.info).

Contact Info:

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