An Artistic Life

A guest post by Starting Arts photographer Renee Jankowski

I have always had a love of art and a desire to fill myself up with as much knowledge as possible. I have traveled across the globe in search of all things beautiful. I saved up my money several times and took myself to Europe to just study the art on the walls, to soak up all of the color and beauty that the artists before me had left behind. I studied with Martin Vaugel, a monumental sculptor, to study figure sculpting in France for a month and just loved every minute there. I have studied dance, painting, sculpting and now my passion is the visual art of photography. I hope to take all that I have been exposed to and do something with it in the photographic art form. I guess you could say I am a Renaissance woman! I am a life long student of the arts.

I have always worked in the arts in some capacity. I spent time in Los Angeles working for Warner Bros., Sony Pictures, Culver Studios, The Academy Awards, sitcoms and commercials.All of those experiences were great, but my most memorable job experience was working as a scenic artist on the tv show “Babylon Five.” It was a show that my mom and I loved to watch. There is nothing quite as exciting as getting the opportunity to work on one of your favorite shows! I would call my mom at lunch and tell her which character was sitting next to me…”Yep, I have the best job in the world! I am eating lunch with the aliens!”

At that time in my life, I also had the privilege of working at Walt Disney Imagineering for two years on one of the theme park rides: Sinbad Tokyo. That was the most amazing experience I have had in my career. Getting the chance to work next to incredibly talented artist of all genres; Designers, sculptors, painters and fabricators. I also had a peek into some of the most cutting edge technologies at that time… very top secret stuff and we were sworn to secrecy. What I really loved about working there was the opportunity to take free art classes and get lab experience (of course I went to every free thing I could get my hands on!). I took life drawing classes next to some of the top illustrators at Walt Disney and I have always cherished the time I spent there.

When I moved to San Jose to be with my husband, I wondered if I would be able do creative work here. Then, I started working at American Musical Theatre and fell in love with theatre! I had never really been exposed to the theatre. While working at AMT, I became pregnant for the first time and was so thrilled to be exposed to such love and support. I brought my babies to work with me and I just feel so privileged to have been able to keep my girls close to me for the first year. Having the best boss in the world helps! Thank you John Draginoff! Every time I see Amy with her child it brings back found memories for me.

Now that I am a mother, my approach to the arts is different only in the amount of time I dedicate to the arts. I am trying to be a good mother to my girls and still live a creative life. Sometimes I bring them along and, whether or not they decide to be artists, I hope that it will open their eyes to the beautiful world around them. ” You do not have to live in a castle to live like a Queen” and I hope they see that.

I know am a very lucky person to have had such wonderful opportunities and I am just getting started on the second half! I leaped before I was ready and I have always said yes to projects that scared me, you can’t wait for a “perfect time” to start something. The arts bring joy to so many and being an artist is a gift I hope not to waste.