Podcast: A chat with artist Tom Owen

Transcript

Today I'm super excited to be talking to my friend, an artist, Tom Owen. I first met Tom in 2017 when he came to my very first gallery location, which was in Vallejo, California on Georgia street. It was a beautiful space. Unfortunately, I had to leave because of all the movie production going on. Um, he was selected to be in a group show. I was doing called guilty pleasures, which was a fantastic and fun show. And I met a lot of really good artists.. He was also a founding member of an art fair collective, uh, that I created where artists would join band together. And we would have a booth and I would represent their work at our fairs. So he did a lot of art fairs with me over the years, Tom and his husband live in a gorgeous Victorian in Northern Kentucky, across the Ohio river from Cincinnati. He's an avid art collector. His home is filled with an incredible collection of contemporary art, including a stunning work by another one of my. Gina Tuzzi Tom's work has evolved over the time that I've known him moving from colorful organic shapes that float on the canvas to more brightly colored minimalistic, geometric shapes and forms that fill the entire space. And substrate his work is inspired by landscape, primarily highly abstracted and distilled down to minimalist forms, his subtle texture and layering mirror, his own psychological experiences of the subject. Sometimes giving a glimpse into past experiences of his childhood, to political realities of current day. And we all know what those are. Tom's media has evolved as well. Moving from acrylic to flash a highly pigmented water-based. Which he applies using squeegees and scraping large forms onto his cradled wood panels within these forms are a subtle interplay of color, inviting the viewer to look closer. And the hand of the artist is visible as opposed to many minimalistic works where the artist's hand is not present at all. It's one of the things that makes his latest series so interesting to me because it really stands out and it's boldness, simplicity and, and how different it is from a lot of minimalistic works. You see a lot of minimalistic works are so cold and Tom's, you know, Tom's work has this very subtle interplay of color and really sort of draws you in. You can see Tom's work on my website, Jen Tough gallery, and you can also check out. Uh, work on artsy through the gallery, and you can also look at his stuff on his Instagram feed and his website and links of course, will be available in the show notes. So thanks so much for joining me and I look forward to this conversation and I'll see you guys next week. So, hi Tom Owen, how are you doing?

Tom Owen:3:02

Jen? I'm doing great. Thanks for this opportunity. I'm looking forward to speaking with you.

Jen Tough:3:06

Yeah. So we met a few years ago. You were in one of my group shows, as I recall. Do you

Tom Owen:3:15

remember the name of it? I do guilty pleasures,

Jen Tough:3:18

right. And yeah, so that's how we met. And that was what probably 2017. Yes. And the dark Trump days is I recall, I think we were all sort of like shell shocked. Right. But I got to meet you and your husband. And you guys so nice. And you actually purchased a piece, you purchased the Gina, piece. Was that, that time or was that another

Tom Owen:3:44

time? Absolutely. At that time, because Gina had the solo going on in that smaller backroom. And so we were so taken by her work, but we, we did purchase one of,

Jen Tough:3:56

yeah, that's Gina Tuzzi you guys. She's one of my other artists, so, so that's how Tom and I met now, Tom, you are in, are you in Covington, Kentucky

Tom Owen:4:05

or.

Jen Tough:4:07

Okay. You have to get that correct, but that's still super close to Cincinnati.

Tom Owen:4:11

It is. It is right across the Ohio river. In fact, from my house, I can see downtown Cincinnati. I can see the skyline and I can see some of the neighborhoods up on the Hills. Right.

Jen Tough:4:22

So I have to ask you this. I actually just asked my husband this, this morning on our walk. Do you know, what's round on both sides and hide than. 'cause, you know, I'm an Ohio girl, right? So I have to ask everybody who has some connection to Ohio. And so my husband who was born and raised in Napa, he had such a hard life. You know, he's like the only reason I know this is because I'm married to you. So anyway, I had to give you the little test

Tom Owen:4:48

I was born and raised in.

Jen Tough:4:50

Um,

Tom Owen:4:53

I grew up in Fairfield, which is about 20 miles, 25 miles Northwest of downtown Cincinnati.

Jen Tough:5:01

Okay. So it's still kind of, it's still kind of south. Is that kind of close to Athens?

Tom Owen:5:07

No other way. Athens is east. Fairfield is west. I mean, it really. From my home where I grew up, it was literally 20 minutes into downtown Cincinnati.

Jen Tough:5:18

Okay. Yeah. So you basically grew up in Cincinnati, which is cool. It's a cool town.

Tom Owen:5:23

It's so princess, it is, it's very European. It feels very European. When you're here, we have a great symphony and art museum and lots of, lots of opportunities here. So it's a great, it's a good. Yeah.

Jen Tough:5:37

A lot of people, you know, put Kentucky and Ohio, you know, like sort of like, sort of dismiss them, but there's a lot of stuff going on, you know, Cleveland to like, everyone's heard of, you know, but they have such, you know, just like Cincinnati, they have such an amazing art scene because there's a lot of old money there. So like people used to put money in symphonies and ballets and art museums and that conservatory, oh my God, Cincinnati. Beautiful.

Tom Owen:6:04

It is, it is. And you know, and the, and the, the contemporary arts center is an amazing institution that we are so lucky to have in Cincinnati. So,

Jen Tough:6:15

yeah. So tell me about, you just retired from your corporate gig. Right? Tell me about that. So you were sort of like slogging away in the studio, all sort of in your spare time. Tell me about like the last 10 years of your life.

Tom Owen:6:33

Wow. The last 10 years of my life. So I, I will say, you know, I did paint. I had been paid all my life and you know, I, for me, it was a great. Way for me to balance my world quite honestly, because working in corporate America, I was, I worked for an insurance company for 21 years. I led their learning and development function for the entire enterprise. And we have offices had office, not me anymore, but the company has offices in Western, in every state of the union and Canada and in Mexico. I was responsible for my team was training all of the folks in all of those different offices, well, over 8,000 employees. And so, you know, I would paint on the weekends. I would paint in the evenings because it really truly is my passion. And it's what I've always done from the time I was a small kid. And, you know, I say in my little bio that I, I, you know, took over a part of the garage when I was in high school. Literally. It's true. Put my father out and created a studio in our garage so that I could paint during high school. And I've always been a painter. And it's something that I've, I looked forward to doing. Once I retired from the corporate world, you know, and the corporate world gave me an opportunity, relate to, to survive and to live and to, and to have money, to experiment with my art and to grow as an artist. So. You know, I don't regret any of that. It was, it was tough sometimes because I would, I'd be painting until 10 o'clock every night or 11 o'clock in the evening. And then all day on Saturday, all day on Sunday, uh, especially in the last five to 10 years, because that's really where my heart and passion were.

Jen Tough:8:12

Yeah. Did you find it hard to go from, you know, working during the day and then coming home and painting, like making that sort of psychological switch? Did you just get used to it? Like how did you.

Tom Owen:8:26

That's a great question. You know, there's, there's a wonderful quote from Nicholas Wilton who said that frequency is more important than duration. And when I didn't feel like going to the studio, I would remember that quote because even if I spent a half hour. Or just an hour in the evening, then at least I was doing something in, in my art. And, but it took me a while to get there because I felt like, oh gosh, I only have this limited time. And I put all kinds of pressure on myself to like, sort of separate those two worlds into like, be totally focused on our while I was here in my studio. And then. But over time. I think for me, you know, I was able to, to, you know, gosh, if I needed to respond to a commission request, I could do that on my lunch hour while I was at work. It was not a big deal. And I was fortunate enough to have a flexible boss who and core values at the company about work-life balance. So that if I needed to take a day or an afternoon to go visit a gallery or to do a studio visit, I had that flexibility. And so it was a really. To me, especially in the last 10 years I'm working in that company. So, you know, it in terms of like, could I switch it on and off? No. Cause I was always thinking about my work and my art rather than not my work at the company. Yeah. It was hard sometimes evenings sometimes I just wouldn't feel like it. And you know, and so I didn't beat myself up. I chose not to do art that night or knowing that, Hey, I've got all day Saturday that I can work on extra. So, um, I was so excited to retire though and move and move my studio out of my house. I took, I, we live in an old Victorian home, as you know, and I have the third floor here as my studio. And so to move out of that and to have a much bigger space into a studio space that has a sink and all those other kinds of amenities. People just sort of take for granted has been a real, I think, a real boon to my art making and the quality of the work that I'm doing today versus what I was doing even just a year ago. Yeah.

Jen Tough:10:30

Yes. Because your work really has evolved really rapidly. It has.

Tom Owen:10:35

And I'm having a great time.

Jen Tough:10:37

Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, now explain to everyone what your, what your process is right now. I'm sure they're probably looking at some pictures of some of your work, but talk about, you know, cause you've switched, you, you know, kind of paint your process. Everything is different from what you were doing before.

Tom Owen:10:55

Yeah. You know, it's funny. I, I was, somebody asked me about this the other day and I was like, I can't remember, like when, like what turned me on to using flash, which is a high, the most highly pigmented paint you can buy and it's dead flat and I love using it. It dries its water base it dries quickly and you can mix it. You can thin it, you know? There's all kinds of different ways to use this paint. It was originally developed in the 1950s for sign painters and then it's permanent and all those kinds of wonderful features. But I love how flat it is. Number one, and the fact that I can manipulate it with a variety of tools. So I very seldom use brushes anymore. Do a lot of brushwork, but now I use, I'm looking around here cause I use, um, can use squeegees. I use scrapers, I use an edge of a ruler I use in like, I have this large sheet, that's large sheet of plexiglass that I'll use to pull the paint. The the panel, you know, and I used flash on both canvas and Jessa panels and you get two very different looks and experiences. So if you think about the painting first draft, the orange and white one, Jen it's, it's done on canvas. And then if you look at some of the others, you know, it's, it's really done on. These cradled panels, which I buy from ampersand, they're super smooth, they're beautifully finished. So it allows me to pull the paint and get lots of variation and layers and textures and visual effects that I really enjoy. And I don't control a lot of it, you know, and I love, I love responding to what's happening as I'm painting versus sort of plotting it all out. Okay. That's now orange and not blue and, or, you know, or that, that ran over here. And that's good. So, so it's, it's great. And you can just lay her on it and I don't, does that answer the question?

Jen Tough:12:49

Yeah, totally. And I, you know, I love how you did this switch because I mean, I'm always, as you know, I'm always harping on artists that, you know, I want them to do something different and because there's so many abstract expressionists, nonrepresentational painters, you know, who use a brush and they, you know, and they might combine media. But you've really, you know, and you were kind of separate, you know, you were kind of experimenting with that and using that in the beginning when we first met, and then you made this pretty radical departure to a much more minimal, you know, minimalist sort of approach using the flash with the, you know, in the squeegee. And I love it. I love, I love all of it. I mean, especially because it's different and it shows your growth as an artist. Yeah, I think you kind of wore, you kind of were tight, like war out of what you were doing before. Like you were ready to like, sort of take that next step. I love that.

Tom Owen:13:39

Absolutely. Right. And I, you know, and I, again, I think I was reading an article somewhere that talked about flash and I thought, I don't even know what this is. I gotta find out about this. And there are a couple of manufacturers of it here in the states. I use actually Frank and bourgeois from Paris. I know it has a very fancy, but there are some distributors have it here in the states, but it is, I think the highest quality. Flash that you combined. It is. So it feels, this is going to sound weird, but it's very similar to guash, but, but it feels almost velvety when it's dry. There's a real it's it's so it's so soft and I love that about it. People are like, can I touch it? I'm like, sure, go ahead. It's fine. They're like, Ooh, it's so interesting. So yeah,

Jen Tough:14:28

it's the same sort of visual qualities of in caustic in a way. Yeah,

Tom Owen:14:34

it does. You know, I used to work in encaustic many years ago and I, and I love it. And it's different in that. I mean, within Costa gab, it ends up being flat. I always would Polish my encaustics up, so they have a sheen to them and then they would eventually cloud over again. But, um, it's, it's much thinner and it's not as, I don't know, it's really, really super smooth. So with encaustic, you always had some feeling of texture. I think this is.

Jen Tough:15:02

Yeah. So I can totally see that fitting into your aesthetic style for sure. When I started seeing all this new work, I was so excited and I was like, it was sort of like when I started seeing it, I was, you know, the first time I was like, oh, he's found his niche. He's found his he's found his way. Like, yeah. I, and you know, when I, you had sent me pictures of when you installed Gina twosies painting, cause you know, the painting you bought is one of my favorite ones that she ever did. And I saw your house and I was like, oh my God. I mean, okay, you guys, so Tom has one of the most awesome. Art collections ever like just you guys have such a just amazing house. There's no, it's so creative and colorful and it's not stuffy. And next time I'm in the Midwest. I'm going to be stopping by. We're going to have a cocktail.

Tom Owen:15:56

You are always welcome here. I'll tell ya. But, you know, I think it's important to live with art. I mean, I, we collect the art of the artists that we love and I love being surrounded by that work. It inspires me every day.

Jen Tough:16:09

Yeah. And the colors, I mean, everything's everything that you guys have is so. Brightly colored. And, but not like, you know, yucky past destiny kind of thing. Right. It's garish. Yeah. It's strong and it's oh, I just love it. And so Tom's house is why, when was it built? Like

Tom Owen:16:27

1894.

Jen Tough:16:31

Love. Absolutely love. So in New Mexico, there's like none of those kinds of places here. Right? Like it would probably be like, they'd last, you know, like what, like a few years, you know, you just, everything is just so destroyed here by this. Sun's interesting. But yeah, it's definitely one thing I miss about the Midwest is all the Victoria.

Tom Owen:16:55

And we live in a great little neighborhood. It's very walkable and we walked to lots of restaurants and bars. And when we can do that, so his

Jen Tough:17:04

Kentucky, like the along the river, like along the Ohio river, is that mostly where like in the bigger towns, is that where it's like more liberal. Because it's hard to Kentucky without thinking of, you know, who that's true.

Tom Owen:17:19

That's a great question. So, you know, right across the Ohio river, there are, you know, really sort of there's Kentucky Newport. Bellevue are some of the small little river towns. And in fact, a lot of river captains lived here before the turn of the century. I'll be turning before the turn of the 20th century. And that's where. Large Victorian homes sort of, or initially built, but it's this sort of strip right along the river, that is truly a much more progressive. And whenever there's an election and you look at the returns, it's always this particular county public counties right here, along the river that always come in blue. And then there's one or two sort of in central Kentucky near the Capitol or near university of Kentucky and Louisville that come in blue. Everything else is not blue.

Jen Tough:18:07

I know, I know people on the west coast, they think like, oh my God, Kentucky, like, you know, they get a little, like, you know, they get that sort of look, you know, like this and they don't understand. I mean, when I first moved to Los Angeles in 93 or 92, um, you know, people, they knew I was from Ohio. So they said, oh, did you grow up in a farm? It's like that actually, my dad was a physicist, not a farm, so yeah, there's a lot of misunderstanding, but I think, you know, the internet definitely has helped with, with that like sort of people understand a little bit more. About that. So let's talk more about like your, did you go to school for art or any kind of creative thing or were you more in business or what was,

Tom Owen:18:52

that's a great question. So, you know, I did win two scholarships out of high school to one to the art academy and one to a smaller commercial arts school. And I, I opted not to pursue either of those because you know, when you're 18, you know, truly what's best for you. Right. And so I, I made some other decisions and I, I did not go to school for art. So I'm, you know, I'm mostly self-taught I take them workshops and seminars and things like that along the way. But, you know, I studied. Theology and English literature. So, so my undergrad is in English literature and with a minor in philosophy and theology. And then I taught high school for a number of years before I got into business. And so I was actually a religion teacher in two different Catholic high schools on the Ohio in Ohio. And yeah. And so, and then, you know, I did that for, gosh, I'm going to say 12 years, 13 years maybe. And you know, one of the things I always used to tell my students is you need to try new things. You need to reach, you need to grow, you need to learn. I taught mostly seniors. And so it was easy. To sort of share that message with high school seniors, right. And to take risks and, uh, but to be safe and all those kinds of things. And I knew I had been through the one high school for almost 10 years and I thought, you know, I was department chair. I was super involved in lots of different things. I knew every parent there was, I thought, boy, do I want to do this one? I'm 55. And when I'm 65, No, I don't. And so, so I sort of took a step back and said, okay, what skills do I have that are transferable? So I really started looking out in business to see, Hey, can I transition some of my, my teaching skills into a more lucrative way of life? And so ultimately I started working for a pharmaceutical research company, a Canadian company, as a trainer in their Cincinnati clinical research. And so I got a couple of promotions and we're with them for five years before I then joined the world of insurance.

Jen Tough:21:06

Wow. Art academy of Cincinnati, this discussion. So we could have been like maybe in the same founded. I know I went there for like a minute. I think I was smoking too much. And then I, then I went to Colorado to be a ski bum. So this, okay, so this was 85.

Tom Owen:21:28

So I'm, I'm a little older than you. So this would have been at, this would have been in 78. Okay.

Jen Tough:21:34

So not that far off,

Tom Owen:21:36

not that far off, right? Yeah. But

Jen Tough:21:39

you, you, you know, you did the right thing because there was no money. Like, you know, now, right? Like you, unless you have a trustful

Tom Owen:21:48

that's right. Well, you know, I, I read an article. This has been probably maybe a couple of years ago now that talked about the economics of art and going to art school and that sort of thing. And. And I'm going to get this percentage wrong, but how to every art school sort of graduate, they were saying that, you know, it's less than 3% that actually can make a living and make a living doing the kind of art that they want to do and love to do. And everybody else ends up doing something else. And I thought, okay, so maybe I didn't make the right choice, you know, because I've been able to. To practice my art and do painting and create while I've had these other jobs. You know, it's not hasn't, like I said before, it hasn't always been easy, but it's been, it's been a good experience. I've never regretted.

Jen Tough:22:39

You have so much experience like business experience, which a lot of artists don't, you know, if they haven't taken that path and half of art is business, it really is right. Like marketing communication, promoting yourself, you know, I mean, you've got the writing skills, you've got the business skills. I mean, that's huge.

Tom Owen:23:00

I do, you know, I do feel like that that's been a real, um, bonus for me to have had that experience. You know, I it's like I have, when I get a request for a commission, you know, I know how to talk to those folks. I know how to, you know, go into their home and look at it and, and have a conversation about what do they want to achieve and why are they going? You know, all of those things that I had to do as a business person, you know, so it's, it's worked out really well. And the,

Jen Tough:23:29

I think the business side, your business side has really allowed you to explore new things like, you know, joining the collectives, like you were part of my collective, you know, just exploring, just really putting yourself out there instead of just sort of sitting back and waiting to be discovered, which is, you know, something that art school perpetuate. Oh, you just have to make amazing art and that's all you have to do. And somebody will find you just going to find you magically and then like everything's solved all your problems or, you know, it's, it's, you know, you were very proactive and very, very business-oriented with your, with your career. And I think that's extremely positive, you know?

Tom Owen:24:13

Well, I, you know, Jen answered that's it wasn't easy because you know, like any artists. You know, you put your heart and soul and to the work that you create and then to put it out there and have somebody judge it and say, oh no, that's not right for my gallery, or that's not right for the show or whatever, but I think where business helped me. Okay. That's one person's opinion. There are other opinions out. And, you know, there, there will be somebody that likes and appreciates what I'm doing and I just need to find the right person or the right group of people. And Hey, thank you for your time. And I move on. I never want to burn a bridge and something I learned in business. You know, the other thing I think that's helped me is to understand that most galleries, business people, and that, you know what, they don't have a lot of time to waste. They're looking to make money for. Themselves, but also for, you know, providing art for their clients. And that has always helped me when I approach a gallery or when I'm interacting with somebody like you or another gallery owner. And because I know, I know you're running a business and I get that that's okay. This is not, I know. Sorry. Y'all. It's like, you know, I, I try not to be high maintenance because I know there are high maintenance artists sometimes not at all. So I try to have things on time and the way somebody wants them. But yeah,

Jen Tough:25:51

no, you're great. Okay. So speaking of Greg, tell me about your.

Tom Owen:25:57

So they're actually not up here right now because we live next door to a little park and there were children playing in the park and Fanny, who is a Dandie Dinmont terrier decided she had to come. Nonstop on it's playing on the park. I'm sucking not while we're doing this podcast. So she is four years old. And if you don't know what a dandy Dan Monterio looks like, do a quick search because they are the funniest looking dog. In the world and we love the faster she has personality plus. And, but she's, she's very long body, but a big poofy head. So I wish she were here now and I pick her up so you can see her. And then, and then we have Mavis and Mavis is a gosh she's button out 12 or 13 Norridge terror. So if you, if you ever saw the movie best in show, and you think about the little dog Winky that wins, that wins the dog show, that's a Norwich terrier and Mavis had. Personality plus, and an attitude to go with it. She's very much her own woman. And we'll tell you when she wants something, how she wants something. And then if you don't meet her expectations, she let you know that too. So they're both sweet dogs and we're very lucky to have them. They get along. Fanny tolerance, Mavis Mavis. I should say tolerance fanning. Cause Fannie just wants to play

Jen Tough:27:23

she's younger. So she's all about that. But two of the greatest dog names ever Fannie and

Tom Owen:27:29

Mavis Mavis, and before we had Fannie, we had blanche. Blanche was a less Highland white terrier. We rescued from, she was a, she was used as a breeder in a puppy mill. And so we saved her from. Horrible life. And so she was a great dog. She was probably the best that we've ever had. Sweet as can be. So,

Jen Tough:27:53

so tell me about your goals for art. What do you, what do you, I know that's kind of a big question. Just tell me about like, where you kind of want to go and what. You know, is it multiple galleries across the country? Are you trying to get more galleries? Are you trying to like, what, just, just talk about that a little bit.

Tom Owen:28:11

Like what you use that yeah. You know, that's a, that's a really good question. And as a business person, I would have annual goals and objectives and set this for my team. I know. And it's funny because I we're getting ready to go on vacation. And I, and I said to me, all my husband and I said, you know, I want to take some time while I'm lying on the beach. And shut down what I want to achieve in 2021 in my art practice, I'm all about goals. So I ha you know, I don't, I don't have them completely formulated because what I find is I need space to do that, to really sort of think about where, where do I want to head? You know, I've got, I I'd love to have more, more work in galleries. I'd love to sell more. It's funny. I enjoy commissions. I know some artists really don't. They struggle with that a little bit. And I get that. I'm not afraid to walk away from a commission. I've done it a handful of times. You know, I sort of have a process that I use with clients. And if we can't come to an agreement, then I I'd say, you know what? I am not the artist for you. Here's a list of other people that you might want to connect with, but I can't produce what you're asking me to produce because I don't do reproductions and I'm not. Not be true to myself and my vision. So, and th those two things don't meet. And I I'm, it's funny, those people that I've said, Hey, okay, you know what? Let's part ways they still follow me on Instagram. They still, you know, send me Christmas cards, all of those kinds of things, because we left that relationship in a good way,

Jen Tough:29:48

because I probably would have gone south rapidly.

Tom Owen:29:51

Yeah, right. So anyway, in terms of goals, I, you know, I would like to, I'd like to be in a few more galleries. I want to be really selective about that. You know, I have, you know, where I find that my work is really well or on the coast, west coast and east coast. I think, you know, probably I've had some success in Florida and in California, you know, I'd like to sort of break into the Charleston region a little bit. I think there's some opportunity for me there. Yeah. Like I said, my plan is to take, you know, sometime over the next several weeks. Flush out those goals. And here's the thing about goal-setting chat as I never do more than three big ones, because the reality is if you do more than three, you're never going to get them achieved because you're too pulled in lots of different directions. If all I want to do this and what it is, I want to do this workshop and know, teach this and. Then you're not spending your time on your practice. And so, um, I try to limit it to three to four sort of big goals for me. What do I want to, you know, whether it's, Hey, you know what, I want to expand my studio. That could be a goal. You know, I want to break into this particular market. So how am I going to target different galleries? That sort of thing, you know, I'm, I'm not, I know, I keep thinking, I got to find a better system. I know, I know it's, I mean, I have, I use my computer a lot and I have lots of files, but, you know, Excel was never or access. I never had to use those tools. And so I don't think I'm very skilled at it and I ended up getting frustrated. And so I just go back to creating the table and word. I mean, I have all my own creative spreadsheets and things like that, but it's oh, absolutely. Yeah, I was going

Jen Tough:31:41

to say, Hey, wait a minute. You're like the business organized person. I can

Tom Owen:31:47

remember all

Jen Tough:31:48

this stuff. A lot of artists. Do you know what I mean? Like, I think, especially when you're talking about goals, you know, they they're like, oh yeah, well, I'd kind of like this. And it's like, well then how do you, what steps are you going to take to get that? What's your process? And I think that it's, it's really easy to, you know, to sort of overlook that. And I think, you know, I know with Excel for me, I was like, there's no effing way. I'm going to learn Excel because then someone's going to ask me to do. And, you know, and I, there was no way. So I think there's a real aversion to that, but you know, those tools are helpful when it comes to like approaching galleries

Tom Owen:32:22

and absolutely. And I will tell you, okay, I'm going to get all businessy now. So. I used to teach a program to executives called the four disciplines of execution. And it's actually some work done by cubby to do some of this work. And Larry Bossidy did some of this work. And how do you execute? You know, these wildly important goals. And, and I still use those, those tools and those processes in my, in my practice today. And so, you know, it's about having a scorecard it's about, and once you get it sort of, you know, it's about, okay, but set along the three most important goals and what steps you're going to take, and what's your vision to get there. And so on. How are you writing that down and how are you keeping score and those kinds of things. And. And it feels like it feels like some work at the beginning, but then once you get it, oh my God. Then

Jen Tough:33:20

you can't live without

Tom Owen:33:21

it. You can't live without it. So I'm a huge, I'm a huge fan of the four disciplines of execution. Yeah.

Jen Tough:33:31

Well, I think your business sense has really, really helped in, you know, it really advancing your career really rapidly because. You know, I mean, just three or four years ago, I don't think, you know, you were with a gallery and now you've got like three, right?

Tom Owen:33:47

Yeah. So I, you know, well, you know, I, so ABC fine art in Cincinnati has been showing my work for gosh since, well, probably for the last eight to 10 years. Very, I mean, not a lot. And, and, you know, I've been very fortunate to have been with them and then there've been some smaller galleries along the way that have had, you know, I've been with them for a year or a couple of years, and then, you know, owners change and they change their focus and things like that. And, you know, and then there's a COVID thing. Right. So, yeah. So I'm with, well, Jen Tuft gallery and there is, you know, art design consultants on with pallet home and paint and Richmond, Virginia. And there was the Greenwich house gallery here in Cincinnati, but they've since closed. So yeah, but you know, so yeah, I've, you know, I've had a really, I've been really fortunate to have that kind of gallery experience and working with gallery owners galleries, and also. You know, meeting and working with other artists who show in those galleries. I think one of the most important things, if somebody is trying to get into a gallery is, you know, go where your work is similar because that's what the, that's what the gallery wants to show at that it has to be identical, but like, if you're a realistic landscape, Don't don't try to get into a gallery. That's focused solely on abstraction. I mean, it doesn't work. And

Jen Tough:35:17

then just try to get to know the owner and just try to, you know, just, you have to, it's all about connecting

Tom Owen:35:25

with people. Well, you know, Jen, you talk about what I learned in business. It comes down to relationships and I really think that that's true.

Jen Tough:35:35

So. It totally because, you know, I mean, I love your work, but if I didn't, if I hadn't known you before, I don't think I would've, you know, I mean, you have to have that relationship to know like, Hey, is this going to work? Do I want to work with this person? Do I want to? Yeah. And that's where the database comes in handy because then, you know, 50 galleries may be on the list that you're hitting up, keep track of, you know, if they didn't respond, if you're going to put, you know, take them off the list, whatever, like, you know, I don't know any other way to do it, but,

Tom Owen:36:08

well, you know, it's funny. I it's funny you say that because I just suppose it yesterday, today sent out my holiday. Happy holidays, MailChimp, but so. The I sent out this holiday greeting and I include not only people who've purchased work, but who have shown an interest in my work, even if they've never purchased anything. People who asked, you know, I've done commissions for as well as a number of galleries with whom I've had contact over the years. And, you know, just today I had two of them. So went out this morning. I had two of them respond saying, oh my gosh, it's great to hear from you. I love this piece. And your email, hope you do them well, you know what? I'm going to go back and take a look at your website again. Oh, that's awesome. So, you know, and that points to the importance of having an updated website too. Right. So yeah, which I could do better at

Jen Tough:37:00

no, I think your website's really good. I think, I think you are. You're just, you know, you're, you're knocking it out of the park. So tell me where you're finding your creativity these days. Whereas where are you drawing inspiration from?

Tom Owen:37:17

Yeah, that's, you know, that's a hard question, but I will tell you I'm super well, so I'm inspired by. I was an English major, so, and I still read and I still read poetry and I still love literature. So I read, I read poetry. I'm inspired by that. You know, I'm inspired by sort of my, the landscapes around me. And so I really, I tried try to look at straggly. My world. And that's where, that's where a lot of my work comes from today. When I think about some of the pieces that are, you know, that I'm doing today, it's really inspired by sort of some of the lines and the shapes that I see around me that I, I I'd love to travel. And that always, gosh, fills me up with lots of. How have ideas. I come back with hundreds of photographs on my iPhone, and oftentimes it might be just color combinations or, you know, here's an odd shape where these two colors came together. And, you know, I couldn't tell you if it was a sign of a house in a doorway or whatever the case may be, because I'm really inspired by, by the. Especially using flash because you can do all kinds of crazy wild things with color with flash. So does that answer the question? That's it's literature, it's the world around me? I don't know. I know some people are inspired by music that doesn't always get me going, but

Jen Tough:38:41

where are you guys going next? Cause you were just on Regis in Mexico

Tom Owen:38:44

city. We were in Mexico city and it was wonderful. It was just a wonderful experience. And so we are this week, we are headed to Anguilla and we just got all of our. Yeah, again, another COVID tests, which were all negative, which is great. And then it's crazy. Cause you had to fly into St. Martin and then you have to take a boat from St. Martin over to Anguilla. And so we have to be, you have to be tested when we land and St. Martin and then again, and Anguilla. So lots of, lots of COVID tests to come in the next few days. But so in this vacation is really what we kind of call our, do nothing vacation because we, we we'll go and we'll read and we'll relax. We'll work on my goals. We'll have some nice dinner. Um, and that's sort of just recharge and Anguilla is there. It's not very tourist state. There are, there are no chains there, most people rent, condos or homes. And so anyway, so that's coming up and then in the spring we are right now, fingers crossed. We are headed to Paris for four days. And then from Paris to Morocco for 10 days, and then back to Paris for three days after that,

Jen Tough:39:55

the stuff you're going to, the pictures are going to take in Morocco. I can't even

Tom Owen:39:58

imagine. I'm so excited. I know, I know

Jen Tough:40:02

that's on my bucket list. I've been to. I've never been to Morocco. That's definitely on my bucket list.

Tom Owen:40:10

So we're hoping, we're hoping we also have, we also have, uh, a trip that we planned for grease in there, but the next year, but we'll see. Cause Neil retires and April of this year. Yeah. This coming year. So going

Jen Tough:40:26

to be like never at home,

Tom Owen:40:28

right. I'll be in the studio or we'll be traveling one of those two.

Jen Tough:40:32

It sounds so wonderful. I'm so happy that everything's like really working out for you and, you know, it's just so good to see, you know, Well, thank

Tom Owen:40:42

you for

Jen Tough:40:44

your work's beautiful. And like, if you guys don't know Tom's work, you can go to my website or you can go to Tom's webs. What is your website?

Tom Owen:40:51

My website is Tom Owen. Fine. art.com.

Jen Tough:40:55

Okay. Tom Owen, fine art. And then what are you on Instagram?

Tom Owen:40:59

I am Tom Owen underscore artist.

Jen Tough:41:02

Awesome. Okay. And there's no ass on L oh, and it's not really in this.

Tom Owen:41:09

Thank you.

Jen Tough:41:10

All right. So Tom, it was so good to see you. We're on zoom right now, so we can see each other and thank you for spending some time with me. Oh,

Tom Owen:41:20

you're so welcome. I've enjoyed this. It's been great to catch up with the chat. So let's stay in touch.

Jen Tough:41:25

Okay, great. Tell me, I said hi and me

Tom Owen:41:29

and

Jen Tough:41:30

daddy, Emmy. That's right. Okay. Thank you. All right. Thanks Tom.

Tom Owen:41:36

You're welcome. We'll talk soon.

Jen Tough:41:38

Thank you so much for listening and supporting this podcast. Your support means everything. If you'd like to learn more about the artists lions community. Send me a question or learn about other events or projects coming up, please visit my website@wwwdotjentough.gallery. See you next time.