Meet Jensine Eckwall | Illustrator, Artist, & Illustration Professor

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

Hi Jensine, is there a quote or affirmation that’s meaningful to you?
I’ve heard this sentiment attributed to a couple different musicians, but it’s essentially like “if I sit down to work, and The Muse doesn’t show up, at least I did.” The idea is about learning and innovating through doing, and the value of a regular work practice even in the seeming absence of inspiration.

What should our readers know about your business?
I’ve been a freelance illustrator since 2013. Freelance illustration is a field that’s both small in that print publication is consolidating and decreasing in relevance, but large in that there are so many new and varied spaces that commissioned visual art can fit into. I was very lucky to have support from teachers and others in the illustration space when I first started out, namely the Society of Illustrators, the director of which, Anelle Miller, I came to know after winning. a scholarship. It’s challenging to build, piecemeal and from different clients who might hire you only once, a mirror of a full-time career. Every freelancer builds the pieces that make up their business life differently. I’m also incredibly grateful to my strong network of friends in illustration, comics, and animation, to also act as my colleagues, while our businesses all remain separate. Over the years, we have all mentored and learned from each other, recommended each other for jobs, collaborated, and built a very special form of trust as people, artists, and business owners. It. hasn’t been easy to translate my passion for ideas and images into a livelihood. I’ve learned and gained a lot from part-time jobs in museums and in production art, as well as reconnecting with my education through grad school for illustration. I enjoy teaching as the other arm of my career, as it feeds back very naturally into my own illustration practice and ongoing self-education, and because of how i get to closely observe so many perspectives that are different from my own, and exchange experience and ideas. In my conversations about art, in my teaching, in my business dealings, I can’t help but be true to myself, so anyone who works with me is getting my genuine interest and investment in their project. To me, that means a lot and is the most unique thing I can offer to collaborators, alongside my artwork.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Oh, great question! I live in Ridgewood, a neighborhood in Queens, NY next to Bushwick. We would take the train to get breakfast at Gertie in Willamsburg, Mud in the East Village, or stay local and get Italian pastries at Sofia Gourmet on Fresh Pond Ave. We’d get dinner at Mao Mao (Thai street food) or Roberta’s (fancy pizza) in Bushwick. Locally, we’d get German comfort food at Gottscheer Hall. We’d get natural wine at Marco’s and ciders at Brooklyn Cider House, both in Bushwick. We’d shop for books at Topos in Ridgewood or comics at Desert Island, or go into the city to see a museum exhibit at The Whitney, the MoMA, or the Morgan Library or go out to Long Island City for MoMA PS1. Maybe see a film at the IFC Center, Village East Cinema, The Quad, Syndicated, or Spectacle. At night, we’d go see a DIY noise music performance locally or go dancing at Basement, H0l0, or Nowadays, all in or near Ridgewood.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Just recently I was part of a historic moment in labor, specifically arts and education labor. The union I’m part of as part-time faculty at Parsons, the New School for design, mounted the longest-running adjunct faculty strike in history, in order to get a fair labor contract from the school. During that time, I got to see and meet so many other faculty members, writers, and artists that I’d never been in contact with before, from so many other disciplines. Seeing all these disparate academics and artists band together to secure pay and healthcare for the most vulnerable employees of the school was incredibly inspiring. Seeing the union’s bargaining committee negotiate and work so hard for our interests was truly a masterclass in what it takes to let artists and teachers work, doing their best for their peers and students. The strike just ended last night and the gravity of it hasn’t truly sunk in, but I feel as if I owe my colleagues a great debt of gratitude and will take these lessons into my future as an artist, teacher, and businessperson.

Website: https://jensineeckwall.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whoisjensine/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/whoisjensine

Image Credits
Bio photo credit Nikki Scioscia, all other images credit Jensine Eckwall