Meet Alex Zanzinger | Artist & Writer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alex Zanzinger and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alex, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
How I define balance has changed over the years since I started to prioritize my own artistic practice and something that continues to evolve daily. If measured in time, the idea of needing to dedicate equal amounts to work and life outside of that, I would consider myself wholly unbalanced. I tend to oscillate from working too intensely or ignoring all that I have to do in pursuit of rest, which usually riddles me with a sense of guilt. I feel this is rooted in my internalized capitalistic beliefs where busyness and material successes amount to self-worth and productivity, placing everything outside of that with lesser value or enforcing the idea that we are undeserving of pleasure and rest outside of work, which is entirely unsustainable. What has helped bring more balance in my life is valuing both work and life with equal measure, reminding myself that balance is subjective and dependent upon one’s individual needs and opportunities. Redefining success to include taking care of myself is essential for me, which I recognize is a privilege that allows me to create more harmony with my life and work and is something I deeply appreciate. Success for me also centers around creating for the sake of the love I have for the process and trying to stray from solely placing importance on the end result of what I may receive because of it.
Regardless of how much time one is able to give to either, holding the same value towards any amount of time given to each and finding fulfillment in either, allows me to feel more balance in my practice and find appreciation for other’s different processes and their definitions of what balance means to them.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’m most excited about exploring the creation of forms integrated with my reiki practice and healing modalities, specifically building my pieces with reiki symbols and energy. I’ve recently been learning about incorporating reiki with architectural structures and wanted to pursue my own practice in ceramics and what that might look like. The idea is to imbue each object with heightened energetic vibrations, exploring the idea of the importance of objects in a space and how their existence within them is able to potentially enhance the environment they’re in. I’m also interested in experimenting with the life of flowers held by my vessels and am curious to see if the integration of reiki extends their life, helping them to thrive longer.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I love living in Los Angeles particularly because of the various connections to earth that are so close by— the beach, the desert, the mountains, Angeles forest. The importance of nature as a self-soother was definitely heightened for me during the beginning of the pandemic, especially when all isolated and indoors for large blocks of time. An ideal day for me would be to ground myself in any of these locations, spending time in and appreciating their different environments. A particular ritual I have is driving through Kanan to get to Malibu and indulging in a smoothie from Sunlife while spending the day at any of the beaches out there.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My closest friends and family are definitely the backbone to my creative pursuits, always giving me support to explore each of my creative processes and giving critique when necessary, like a sort of sounding board. It’s hard to single any one out in particular though I have to mention my sister, Tina Zanzinger, who recently helped me edit my very fresh first draft of my book and helped give my story more direction. I do have to mention my parents as well for always encouraging my artistic career throughout my life which has definitely enabled me to pursue what I love.

Website: http://www.alexzanzinger.com

Instagram: @Alex_zanzinger