“Independence Day”
Today is my third anniversary since I quit my corporate job to throw myself into my art career. It's been more than a year since my business turned its first…
Geometry, Community, and Identity: What do you see?
I had the honor of presenting at TEDx Madison at the end of 2016. My talk is officially online, and I'm excited to finally be able to share it. The talk…
Two worlds in tandem: moving from the past to the present
February 8, 2017, would have been my dad's 66th birthday. He has been gone for nearly 8 years. I have been thinking a lot lately about things that come in…
The Gettysburg Address. Still relevant today.
What does it mean to be In Unison?
It is two days after Martin Luther King Day and two days before the 45th Presidential Inauguration. We began the week by honoring the memory of a man who emerged…
With fellow artist Gabriela Riveros and some of our students from Escuela Verde who worked on the mural.
Our Stories Share the Same Roots: A Community Mural Project
It's been a really good summer, in many ways. Full of laughter and play. Weekend trips. Camping. Outdoor excursions and inside jokes. Crackling fires. Summer pies. At the same time,…
What God Looks Like
My mother once told me the story of a cartoon she saw in a newspaper some years ago, which explained God. In the cartoon, God is a faceless, featureless oval on a table. People come…
Still from Artist Talk at ALL
Our Relationship with Power: Why It Matters & What We Can Learn
Did you miss my show at Arts + Literature Laboratory? Here's a recap of why I chose to focus on power and a video of the story I told at the reception.…
Lessons of departure: the heart and mind of a rural town in a tourists’ economy
Lanesboro Arts Center is beautiful. The space is bright, open, welcoming, and full of activity. They regularly host artists and writers to use the space as a getaway to focus on projects,…
The love affair of art & politics-and the culture they create
The chase. The game. Love it or hate it, love it and hate it. Choose to play, choose not to play. There's no getting away from it. Our existence depends on…
That's a big question.
How to comfort your mother and still be true to yourself
My mom, like most parents, worries about my happiness and wellbeing, which means she spends a lot of time thinking about me being unhappy and unwell. Funny how that works, right?…
"The Light Within Us We Do Not Use," 20 x 30 in drawing, by Jenie Gao
The myth of the starving artist–and what it can teach us about job security
"What do you do?" This is the number one small talk question we ask people, on par with discussing the weather. It's a question we either don't care about at…
"A Circulatory System," Ink and Watercolor Drawing, 10 x 14 inches, by Jenie Gao
How to Catch a Counterfeit (or how to focus on what matters)
Back when I started working in manufacturing, I had a boss who would ask our team: "How do you catch a counterfeit?" The answer? "Study the real." There are infinite…
The competition for our attention. The fight for our love.
Comparison is a blessing and a curse, depending on how we use it. Comparisons help us understand context. They give us familiarity, which is vital for connection. The same things can be…
What a year of “underemployment” looks like
It's taken me waaaay too long to finally put this information together, but since a lot of people have asked, here's what one year of "underemployment" looks like since I…
The challenge of staying bold without being ignorant
It was 1991. I was three years old. My dad was in Seattle and my mom would be alone with me that winter. The road was covered with ice on…
Trigger Finger, Ink Drawing by Jenie Gao
How do we define true human progress?
August 29th was the one-year anniversary of me leaving my corporate job. I left to pursue my artwork. On a deeper level, I left to make myself better and more…
To my friend who lost her daughter and what you taught me about love
Sunday, July 12th, was a picturesque, idyllic day. It started with a promising fourth (?) date. We made breakfast in the morning, then walked around Madison's Art Fair on the Square. Then…
Painting study.
To the man who attacked me, here’s how my week went
Painting studies, pain aux raisins, and reading under the trees and a summer breeze. On Monday, a man with a knife attacked me in my neighborhood. On Tuesday, I talked…
False starts
Yesterday evening, towards the end of my run, a homeless woman stopped me to help jumpstart her car. My jumper cables were bad, so I went and got new ones.…
What Feral Dogs Can Teach Us About Humanity
Stray dogs overrun the cities and towns of South America. Their presence is so normal that when I asked a local about them, he answered my question with a question,…