Danielle Krysa, otherwise known as the Jealous Curator, is a pretty amazing woman. She avidly supports and showcases cutting-edge contemporary artists all over the world most notably through her blog, which is headlined by her enticing and revealing catch phrase: “Damn, I wish I’d thought of that.” Krysa is a visual artist herself and now an author of two hard copy books.
How she became the Jealous Curator is a fun story. When asked how it began, she revealed that five and a half years ago she found she was writing into a vacuum, because she was “jealous of artists around her” and it was “breaking” her. Through her writing and sharing of artists’ work, she has not only supported thousands of artists, she has also shared the understanding that we are all the same inside as artists. We are all scared to be true to ourselves in some way, and the route to overcoming these challenges is through openness and community.
Much as her blog is appreciated and shared, so are her books, and they can be found all over (most notably at Barnes and Noble, Chapters and Amazon). Her first book, Creative Block, shares advice and projects from 50 artists. Her most recent, Collage, released September 16, “is visual inspiration for art lovers and an appreciation of the transformation of old into new”. I wasn’t even aware she created artwork until happening upon some pieces I liked in her home and asking her who the artist is. In her work, she uses vintage images and transforms them through collage and painting into contemporary art.
When Chronicle Books approached her to work with them and asked her what she wants to write about, she replied, “success”. Success is a scary word for most artists. Krysa continued that she wants to share the “self doubt, inner-criticism, and outer-criticism” that all artists are faced with and that are critical components to achieving success. She inspires those who read her words and the words of the artists who collaborate with her in the books to be the creative person they need to be, for themselves. Krysa’s writing is contagious. In the time she has been writing books and expanding her blog, she has garnered over 100,000 followers on Facebook alone. And after the last book came out, well, as Krysa put it: “then Oprah called.”
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