Check out Jill Zylke’s Artwork

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jill Zylke.

Jill, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
When I was coming up I had a hard time trying to decide between becoming a writer or an artist. My father was the head of an advertising agency, and one summer when I was in high school he had me work in his office, filing magazines. In my spare time I started hanging around the art department, and that was that. Art it was.

Soon afterwards he introduced me to an illustrator friend of his. This artist took me on as an apprentice, the old-fashioned way, in his design studio. I learned the ins and outs of illustration and graphic design for 5 years, until I decided that I needed more education. I then went to the American Academy of Art in Chicago and got my degree. It was a very rigorous program, with an intensive focus on anatomy, drawing, color theory, and perspective.

After graduating, I continued my classical studies at the Palette and Chisel Academy, home of many American Academy alums, and started serving on the board of directors. During this time, the Palette was advertising a plein air painting trip to Taos, New Mexico. I signed up, and there I met a group of women who became lifelong and influential mentors and friends. We began traveling and painting together, taking trips to study and paint in the footsteps of the greats—the Southwest to see through the eyes of Georgia O’Keefe; Provence to pay homage to Cezanne and Van Gogh; Tuscany to study Caravaggio, DaVinci and Michelangelo. We painted in diverse settings: the decks of a cruise ship in Alaska; rugged rocks in Permaquid, Maine; and a rural Wisconsin highway.

I’ve enjoyed membership in the Chicago Artist’s Coalition, the Plein Air Painters of Chicago, and the Edgewater Artists in Motion. My artwork has been shown in numerous solo exhibitions and group shows in venues such as Addington Gallery, Ann Nathan, ARC Gallery, Elmurst Art Museum, Eyeporium, Koehnline Museum, Mars Gallery, 33 Contemporary, Jackson Junge, and the Chicago Cultural Center. I’ve been a featured artist in the Chicago Art News and Chicago Sun-Times, and I have been interviewed on the television show “Is It Art?” and in the online publications Outdoor Painter and Reverse-R-Salon.

We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I’ve continued to paint throughout my life, and currently juggle my time between a corporate job as a graphic designer; a secondary avocation as a flamenco dancer; a newfound interest in digital photography; and my first love, painting. As Laurie Anderson advised, “I was quite happy calling myself a multi-media artist…it will give you the freedom to do various things without somebody going, ‘You’re a sculptor! Why are you making music?’ ‘No, no, I’m a multi-media artist.’ ‘Oh. Ok.’”

Lately I ‘ve been doing a lot of small postcard-sized watercolor plein air paintings, both in Chicago and while traveling. I’ve been commissioned for many house portraits. I also paint with oils in a somewhat surrealistic or narrative style; these works are more expressive and from the heart, inspired by poetry, music, or the trials of everyday existence. I hope that by painting about my specific travails, I will inadvertently touch on universal themes that viewers will connect with. And that my painting based on my trips will inspire people to travel. One of my most recent sources of inspiration is a group I belong to, Chicago Artists Interpret Shakespeare: I find Shakespeare’s plays richly visual, and they never fail to spark something in my imagination. The group’s traveling exhibitions have reached nine different galleries so far and are evolving into shows on American Literature as well.

We have had exhibitions at Concordia College, Bowling Green University, Carthage College, Elmhurst Art Museum, Beverly Art Center, Addington Gallery, Fourth Presbyterian Gallery, Water Street Studios, and the Catholic Theological Union. My artistic community keeps me busy!

How can artists connect with other artists?
There are many arts organizations in the Chicago area–through joining and volunteering you can meet so many. The Chicago Artists Coalition is one. Check the Chicago Artists Resource for info on what’s going on too.

I see lots of new meetups and groups forming all the time, urban sketchers, outdoor painters. Take a class, I’ve met countless folks in classes. Submit your work to group shows and network at openings. Part of art is communicating your vision to the world. There are like-minded companions everywhere!

I’m a big believer in Creativity for Everyone. It’s not all about fame, fortune, sales, and galleries. Anyone with a creative urge should indulge in whatever discipline one finds inspirational.

Painting has saved my life in my lowest moments, and camaraderie with fellow artists has filled my life with meaning and community. Success is what you put into it and get out of it personally, aside from external validations. Having exhibits in openings where everybody shows up, or just creating pieces for oneself: each of these can constitute success as an artist.

Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I will have 10 pieces in a show coming up at the Bridgeport Art Center: “CHICAGO:INsideOUT,” from September 21st – October 19th 2018. To see even more of my work, go to my website, www.jillzylke.com. For my designs, illustration and photography, see http://www.coroflot.com/jillzylke. People can support my work by becoming my art patrons and help me to become a fulltime creative person! They can support my work by buying up my inventory so that I have space to store some new paintings!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jillzylke.com
• Phone: 773-989-7109
• Email: jillzylke@gmail.com
• Other: http://www.coroflot.com/jillzylke

Image Credit:
Personal Photo by Barbara Herring. All other images by Jill Zylke

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