Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeanette Lilliane.
Jeanette, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My story is as much about art as it is not about art.
I’ve always been the creative type, someone who loves to look at art and make art. I got accepted to (and dropped out of) one of the top art schools in the country, but persevered and got a college level fine art education anyway. After that, I landed a demanding job in a completely unrelated field, and ended up working in that industry for years. When I was finally ready to leave, the rest of my life was reaching a similar crossroads, one where no matter how things were then or had been in the past, things tomorrow would be totally unrecognizable.
Powerless against these changes in my life, I weathered through some chaotic, tumultuous, and frankly, quite miserable years. Eventually, I felt better positioned to pursue my own creative projects, and to begin developing as an artist.
I pushed myself to create work, and looked for opportunities to show or sell it. I researched grants, wrote project proposals, sought out other artists and connected with San Diego’s creative community. I started volunteering to paint murals, teach classes, and remove graffiti from painted utility boxes. I forged alliances with local businesses and sold my work at events and street fairs. Years passed, but I’ve kept at it.
As an artist, I still have a lot of growing to do. I’m not even certain where these creative pursuits will take me. But I feel more authentic, real, and whole than I ever have before — and that’s why I persist.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It certainly hasn’t been easy. I’ve had galleries that sold my work refuse to pay my commission for months, or return my unsold artwork damaged. All of my public artwork (murals, utility boxes) have been vandalized, either defaced multiple times or destroyed completely. I don’t even sign my public art anymore to disincentivize people from defacing it. Dealing with that kind of hate towards me personally and my work on a regular basis was a pretty bitter pill to swallow for a while, but I’ve made peace with it. At the end of the day, my artwork is living rent-free in somebody’s head, love it or hate it.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Most of my work is centered around my interests or things that have significance to me. I’m fascinated with nature — plants, animals, and fungi, all of which are themes you’ll see in my work. Observing nature can reveal what’s special or unique about a place, so I like to explore San Diego and observe what plants, animals, and fungi make it unique and why. My Canyon Cyanotype Charts are a good example of this, as well as my zine Hawk Stalk (Volumes I & II) — which, in case you’re wondering, is a zine I created about the best places in the county to observe hawks and other birds of prey.
Another aspect to my work that I think sets me apart from others is my fascination with esoteric knowledge.
More recently, I have been finding ways to contribute creatively to some of the activism/social justice efforts I feel passionately about, like fighting surveillance, unethical tech, and changing bad tech policy. I have a new zine coming out soon called “Ever Vigilant: Surveillance in San Diego” which I’m thrilled to release. It’s been in the works for a while now and I have been very lucky to have several wonderful collaborators I met through San Diego Tech Workers Coalition offering their expertise and insight. I also helped out some colleagues at San Diego Privacy to create infographics about Prop 24 so that voters could be more informed (link: https://www.jaylilliane.com/designprint#/prop-24/).
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
There are honestly more than I can name. Anyone who puts up with me really does deserve credit for it, so here are a few projects/businesses/orgs that I encourage you to support as they have absolutely supported me:
Verbatim Books
Burn All Books
Teros Gallery
Little Dame
La Loupe Vintage
Normal Heights Urban Arts Group
Adams Ave. Business Association
Standard Fantastic Productions
Love City Heights Mural Project
Normal Heights United Methodist Church
Divine Punk / Art of Rebecca Noelle
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jaylilliane.com/
