Tough on Art

Jen talks with Austin based artist Laura Klopfenstein, discussing what it's like to work full time in the science world, be a mom, and create her strange and beautiful pieces (often that contain teeth!). Laura creates collages and paintings that are intricate and curious, often reflecting her science-based life. Her work can be subtly political and often humorous, with subjects about climate change, American over consumption a...

Today Jen Tough dives into the most common mistakes artists make and gives a variety of simple solutions and helpful advice on how to avoid them.

The top mistakes are:
1. Out of date website
2. Confusing online name identification
3. Not networking enough
4. Not entering enough juried shows
5. Not having a spreadsheet to keep track of gallery approaches
6. Not having a simple annual marketing plan<...

Today my guest is Gina Tuzzi, one of my favorite artists (and humans). Gina lives in Blue Lake, California and teaches art at Humboldt State University. Gina was born and raised in Santa Cruz, California, has an MFA from Mills College in Oakland, and a BA from Humboldt State University.

Gina's paintings are both magical and energetic: her bright saturated palette with complex detailed and dream-like imagery explore a...

In this episode, Jen Tough answers questions from artists about how to get art galleries. Unscripted and off the cuff!

Sign up for Jen's April 24th live workshop (via Zoom), "The Tough Method for Getting Galleries". You'll have a chance to ask questions relevant to you and your situation, get email scripts, a spreadsheet template, a printable workbook, and more!
Go to JenTough.com to sign up today!...

On today’s show, I’ll be speaking to Marie Cameron. Marie Iis a realist painter and mixed media assemblage artist living and working in Los Gatos, California. Her work ranges from large scale realist paintings with images from the natural world, some creating a repetitive kaleidoscopic image, others that involve quiet contemplation such as birds perched on dainty teacups. During the pandemic, Marie created and launched her “Rainbow...

Laurie Blessen lives in San Francisco and focuses on minimalist, color-field monotypes. Her works are bright and bold, with rectangular or square fields bumping against each other while intermingling with more delicate textures and pattern. Reminiscent of aerial views of landscapes and fields, Laurie says she creates with intuition leading the way. 

She says the “magic happens” when a 1500 pound steel roller presses her designs onto...

Unscripted and "off the cuff Tough" for episode 9 of Gallerist Q&A!

Questions include:
Making prints, and does it devalue work
Pricing on websites
How to get a gallery
Best online places to sell
Are online shows worth it?
And more!

Submit your own question here and it may be answered on the podcast!
https://airtable.com/shrCGnbW4gHtctcKa

Become a member of one of ...

Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Ellen Dieter’s interest in art began at an early age. After graduating high school, she began traveling in between studies at the Cleveland Institute of Art and the Cooper School of Art. llen settled in Paris, France for over a decade and studied part time at L’Ecole des Art Appliqué.

Over the years, Ellen has worked as a seamstress/designer in a leather shop, a fashion model in the US and abroad,...

Today Jen does another artist interview with Bay Area artist Liz Steketee. We discuss moving to California from the midwest, how her photography has evolved over time, motherhood, exhaustion and how to keep going with your work, how mothers who are artists tend to get less attention in the art world simply because they are mothers, and why one of her favorite sayings is "plant the bulbs now".

About Liz:
Liz ...

All artists know the importance of showing their artwork. But what about showing themselves? Ask most artists, and you'll get.... "ugh".

Today Jen talks with therapist and artist Dr. Dee Tivenan, EdD, MFT about the anxiety of showing up online, showing ourselves, selfie culture, and how it can cause, well.... dread. Dee presents easy to follow tips and tricks to help alleviate this dread and anxiety, soften...

Bay Area artist Karl X Hauser joins Jen for a conversation about his long career in art. Karl creates narrative drawings and sculptures that are quirky, playful but also a little dark. His characters spring from his imagination, and seem to be up to childlike antics, but always with a slightly sinister edge. 

Working in materials such as cast metals, kiln formed glass, wire and nails, and keeping them in a raw unpolished state, Karl...

Miriam Hitchcock is a California based artist, mother and teacher, who has had a fascinating and prestigious career that has taken her from San Francisco, to Yale to Italy and back again. We dig into the "boys club" that was present in the east coast art scene when she was there, living in Italy, the east coast vs. west coast critiques, the "camp" of abstraction, motherhood, and more.

Miriam primarily m...

Artist Tom Owen joins gallerist Jen Tough for a fun and casual conversation about his life and work. Tom is part of the roster of Jen Tough Gallery. Tom and Jen met five years ago when he responded to a call for entry for a show called Guilty Pleasures. Tom is an art collector and painter living in northern Kentucky, across the Ohio River from Cincinnati.

We nerd-out on spreadsheets and their power to connect artists and ...

Take away some great tips from two seasoned artists who are also married and run a thriving art business. It's a casual conversation (pre-pandemic) with artists Diane Williams and Chuck Potter, who are some of the hardest working artists we know. They both maintain prolific painting practices, work full time, are addicted to art collecting, and also run a thriving art workshop business.

We discuss the power of community for art...

One of the most common questions artists have is about achieving gallery representation. In this episode, I present three ways to improve your chances of representation: research, connection and understanding the actual mechanics of selling art and how a gallery operates. I also cover the importance of maintaining a database to track your approaches, the best way to maintain a positive relationship with your gallery, and more.

How many times a day do artists think this to themselves? This thought happens on the micro (with each new change to a piece of work) as well as on the macro (a whole career). 

In this shorty episode, Jen talks unscripted about how to take more risks with art marketing (and maybe not hate it quite as much) if we throw the "this may not work" fear into the trashcan. Maybe there are some nuggets in here. And maybe ...

"Different is better than better".

Author and all around deep thinking marketer and branding expert Sally Hogshead coined this term. She argues that "different is better than better" because better is transient. But what does “different is better than better” mean for artists? In this episode, art dealer Jen Tough discusses what being different means as far as your art and art marketing, how to push yo...

Today I talk with Writer and artist Maya Stein, who just published a new book The Poser: 38 Portraits Reimagined. In it she documents how she transcended the pandemic isolation by re-creating contemporary portraits as part of the “museum at home” movement.

For more information and photos of this project, please go to our website, Tough on Art .com

JEN TOUGH GALLERY 2.0
Jen Tough Gallery is rebuilding! Follow ...