Today we’d like to introduce you to Gena Destri Keffer.
Hi Gena Destri, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
As a 13 years old growing up in Olathe, KS, I was continuously being exposed to art through my parents and lit up when making it. I was thankfully encouraged to pursue growing my skills, and that year, I got my first taste of success when I sold Kinko prints of a drawing I did of Leonardo DiCaprio (remember Romeo and Juliet?) out of my 9th grade locker. I was hooked on the idea of being a “real artist” one day.
I took a few art lessons near Kansas City and ended up going to art school at Oklahoma Baptist University. My experience there was amazing. Upon graduating, I came to Austin for the “art and outdoors” with a friend from college, and quickly met a boy and started a family. It was full of joy and shock and me being my headstrong, courageous, spiritual self.
I’ve slowly moved further and further south, and today, I live and work near Buda, feeding into the surrounding art community through teaching art classes and creating in my enclosed patio home art studio or in any natural environment I can haul my supplies into. The Buda community has honestly been one of the biggest catalysts for my art business picking up some steam. In 2019, Inspired Minds Art Center (in Buda, TX) hosted an Art Brawl: 8 artists had 20 minutes to paint a large painting. When the audience voted, I won! I was thrilled. My prize was a solo show at the new art center which ushered in more growth both financially and in my confidence. More recently, I participated in the 2nd Buda Plein Air Festival and won both Best in Show and 3rd place with my paintings. I am so honored to be a part of a community that seems to love my art!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Motherhood honestly has been one of the biggest struggles and simultaneously the greatest joy to bring into my life. I have two wonderful children (10 and 13) and the balancing act of pursuing a baby business as an artist 13 years ago while having babies fell flat. I begrudgingly dropped my art business until just recently and tried to focus on creating whole children. I know many are able to do both successfully, however I was not. I wish I had the courage back then to say wholeheartedly “I’ll be back soon” to my art and kick the artist-mother guilt to the curb. I think it would have saved me so much struggle to make a conscious choice of which I was pursuing.
Fast forward numerous years and my life has changed exponentially, especially in the past year, as I know many others in today’s world have experienced too. Within the year, I have chosen some changes and been made to accept others that have deconstructed a lot of identities and life patterns I had attached myself to. My mom passed away unexpectedly, and one month later, I moved into a place on my own for the 1st time in 13 years.
Once the world stopped with the pandemic, I really took the time to work on myself. How was I keeping myself stagnant? Why wasn’t I achieving my dream of making art to share with the world? How could I be happy? I began working with a therapist, coaches and virtual art groups and through them, uncovered SO MUCH mindset work and debilitating beliefs that I needed to address and change. This catapulted me into a new phase of finding my purpose. What made me want to get out of bed in the morning? What’s my spark that would help me to want to wake up everyday and put my feet on the ground? Art was always the answer.
I started scheduling “creative play” time a few days per week where I fulfilled my need to create without the pressure of it being anything in particular. Showing up for myself like this has already healed so much and built a mindset around creating that I have been craving ever since I graduated from art school. Slowly, and somehow quickly at the same time, my art business is growing and I am making art to share with the world.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am beginning to classify myself as a semi-abstract expressionist landscape painter. My pieces are color-oriented and intuitive, celebrating nature, humanity, womanhood and growth. Usually, I work from life, outdoors, or photographs to start with, then finish up from memory to ensure loose, fun and unpredictable surprises which I feel sets me apart from other landscape artists. Perfecting the image is not a goal of mine, creating something interesting is. I love texture, but I also love seamless blending, creating a mix of great technical display and “creating for the sake of creating” in my collections. I am deeply connected to faith and nature, and I try to honor them in my pieces by recalling the energy I experience in places which inspire me while creating. Most of my artwork is completed in acrylic, watercolor and oils with possible additions of drawing materials.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
My art collectors! Without financial support, I would be miles behind where I am now. Also, Inspired Minds Art Center and the community of Buda, TX for opening up to the local artists and calling us all together. All of the artists in my life who continue to show up for each other and create more opportunities for us all with community over competition, and who held me through the past year and told me not to wipe my tears away. The Art Mums coaching group and the Artist Mother Virtual Critique groups. Without those collective communities of women all trying to better themselves in view of the rest of us, it would have been so much harder.
Pricing:
- Fine art prints via my website starting at $15
- 11″x14″ custom paintings starting at $225
- 16″x20″ custom paintings starting at $350
Contact Info:
- Website: www.GenaDestri.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gena.destri/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GenaDestri
