Last year Jennifer McBrien was voted the Art Teacher of the year. Not a small feat for someone in a public school system that has whittled down art offerings and budgets to make getting stuff done tougher and tougher for educators. Jen joined us for our holiday dinner party and we see her and husband several times a year.

On a recent visit to their art studio, my eye was drawn to mini tapestry, drawn freehand on Jen’s sewing machine. This is the art that she makes when not in front of a classroom. After wine, conversation, and several visitors coming through the open studio tour hubby and I had to buy this piece—as a Christmas present to ourselves.

Dedication and Development

As an artist, Jen is completely responsible for her production, self-promotion, event scheduling and planning. It really is a full time job—in addition to full-time teaching. As we talked I was surprised by the dedication and self- control that it takes for one to be ones own production staff. What I love is seeing her development through the years. She creates birdy-birds, from the cartoonish abstractions to advanced ornithological accurate sewing machine drawings.

The piece we purchased took something like 7 hours(over days) to create—from idea, to sketches, to inception, to finishing. It’s amazing. But Jen also takes evenings and weekends to produce wares and art for craft shows, fares and juried online exhibitions

Shameless Self Promotion

Jen’s blog is regularly shared on social media, her Etsy Store is another stream of content that appears in my facebook feed. She applies and for and attends sales events around the country and enters online juried exhibits on a regular basis. Since we’ve met I’ve visited Jens booth at the east coast’s largest arts festival every year. Hubby and I have purchased four of her unique and beautiful pieces so far.


We’re still looking for the perfect home to hang our Christmas present

Friday, July 23rd was a particularly hot night; not just because of the 100+ degree temperatures. The Baltimore Symphony Opera brought the heat when conductor, Maryn Alsop, featured a local musician alongside her world-class orchestra.

The Musician: Shodekeh Dominic Talifero
The Instrument: His voice

I first met the beat boxer about ten years ago when he performed on one of the West-facing stages at the SoWeBohemian Arts and Music Festival. Of course, a decade ago he had an unfulfilling day job to pay the bills while he hustled to get face time on the stages across the region.

Today, Shodekeh works for himself. In the years between our first meeting and this most recent performance at the Meyerhoff , Shodekeh toiled tirelessly to push his music into ever growing arenas. His regular gig—of the last four years—is as the accompanying percussionist to a renowned ballet studio. He’s been on stage with KRS-1, numerous hip-hop elite, classical and world beat musicians, and emerging performance artists. He’s been interviewed on NPR and lends his voice—speaking and percussion—to promote the arts wherever he goes.

Check out part of the performance, https://vimeo.com/18653408

 At the Friday night concert, my jaw dropped when I heard the newest addition to his repertoire. Shodekeh does an uncanny rendition of a didgeridoo. The technique put me in mind of the throat singers of the Caucasus Mountains, but my ear was convinced that it was a five-foot long wooden pipe being blown into by an aboriginal Australian. I was literally gape-mouthed throughout the concert. Shodekeh has something that all would-be entrepreneurs need, confidence. This unwavering confidence in himself and his talents led him to get free of the nine-to-five shackles.

Another tool in his bag-of-tricks is his inexhaustible energy. Anyone who chooses to work for themselves knows that it means trading in the eight-hour daily routine for a 24/7, perpetual process of self promotion. It’s exhausting and rewarding. We recently had drinks at Tapas Teatro in Mt. Vernon. Shodekeh, not content to take a break, told me of his plan to take his classical-meets-contemporary performance to audiences nationwide. It’s an enormous undertaking. He knows that he can do it.

Frankly, so do I.

• Passion for the organization’s mission wanes.
• The persistent feeling of being underappreciated weighs on you.
• The commute—no matter how short—gets longer every day.
• The work is unfulfilling.
• At least 20 % of your work week is spent planning your escape route (i.e. looking for jobs, updating your resume, reading up on how to ship anthrax thru the mail, etc.)
• Stress builds from Sunday night to Monday morning, and continues until Friday at 1pm .