Dallas-based painter and digital artist said she has been an artist all of her life. She found her style of Abstract-Pop Art over a decade ago. During the pandemic, she started painting seriously again and had a gallery show in downtown Dallas. At the show, two men approached her and said her paintings would be great as NFTs. She spent the next few months getting educated about blockchain, Web3, and NFTs. She minted her first piece in September 2021.
I wanted to know why the name Speaker Jill, not just Jill. She told me that she got into public speaking after she became a breast cancer and domestic abuse survivor. That she spoke about issues that mattered to her and other women.
She is inspired to create her art through pop culture. She says she will see something or be told about something, and she gets “triggered into creating”.
This made me want to know about her newest minted NFT, It’s Tequila Time. She said she was having dinner with friends at a Mexican restaurant. She had a margarita, and then her friend ordered shots of Don Julio, and that was the trigger for the piece. She paints the pieces first, then digitizes, edits them, and turns them into NFTs.
She doesn’t think the creator/collector economy is sustainable long-term. She does collect, but only a small portion of her earnings are returned to the ecosystem.
Most NFT artists have a network of friends, supporters, and collectors. Jill said the NFT community reminds her of being in Art School. The same type of camaraderie and support exists, and she is grateful for it.
If she could change 1 thing in the NFT ecosystem it would be for women to be treated more equally. She acknowledged that there are a lot of very respectful and thoughtful men in the space, but there needs to be more of that and less of the demeaning bro culture.
Her favorite artist of all time is Andy Warhol.
She has many favorite NFT artists, but she is excited about @Cayden_and_Nico.
Her favorite color is orange.
I asked her to finish this sentence; I would never create….portraits.
She is currently working on an 18-piece collection that was inspired by Banksy She will release the physical paintings in a gallery show and will mint the NFTs at the same time. The series has a theme, which is to have a voice and speak out about things. Social issues, a cause she represents, something she protests against, something she supports. There are will be a few collaborations with photographers, which she is very excited about.
The message she wants people to get from her work is to connect with her art. She uses nostalgic imagery and wants those “ to nudge the viewer into a feeling, and maybe trigger a memory”.
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