We’re looking forward to introducing you to Gena Kearn. Check out our conversation below.
Hi Gena, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: Have any recent moments made you laugh or feel proud?
I have been taking on more DIY projects at home than I thought I ever would, and that has included learning to use a variety of power tools. Most recently, I learned to use a circular saw in the process of building a compost bin. I usually have my dad along side to help and guide me, but this project, I tackled on my own, which was a bit intimidating but also empowering. The bin turned out well, which makes me proud, but in the midst of working on it, I also had a great moment to laugh with a friend when I sent her a selfie holding that circular saw in triumph and silliness. We both had a good laugh and she has since shared that it’s one of her favorite photos of me.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am an art educator, a colored pencil artist, and a glass artist. My days are spent sharing my love of art with students in grades 7-12 at Concordia Jr/Sr High School in Concordia, KS. My evenings and weekends are spent working on my own personal art, which has recently broadened into two media.
Primarily, I would call myself a Celtic Floral colored pencil artist. I create hyper-realistic paintings of flowers backed by elegant and intricate hand-drawn Celtic Crosses, all made entirely of colored pencil. This work allows me the opportunity to connect three sources of inspiration that have endured and influenced my life for decades: my faith, my love of flowers and my Irish heritage. What a joy it has been to find a way to incorporate all three into a body of artwork.
Recently, my experience in teaching stained glass to my high school students has become a new avenue in my personal art career as I have been fortunate to receive the opportunity to create some large commissions for a few wonderful clients. The latest is an 840 piece, two foot by six foot sidelight window with a design made of Scottish thistles and Celtic patterns. What a joy it is to have the work I love to make in colored pencil finding a new outlet in stained glass, another medium that I thoroughly enjoy!
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What relationship most shaped how you see yourself?
Aside from my mother’s unwavering love and support, my maternal grandmother, Maxine McConaughey, probably played the largest role in shaping who I am today. As I child, I loved the opportunity to visit her home in Ulysses, KS where I had to admire all of the beautiful paintings she created. My grandma was a mostly self-taught oil painter. She loved to paint landscapes, portraits of cowboys and Native Americans, animals, and (my favorite) flowers. I always found myself inspired by her work and desiring to be an artist like her one day. While I work in different media than she did, I love that in my own way, I have the opportunity to carry on her legacy.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
In many ways, I am still working to find the right avenue and audience for my art. While there have been successes along the way, it has also been filled with many struggles and events that I saw as failures – moments where I felt like giving up. Those moments have caused me to question my purpose and the direction of my life, but they also taught me to lean into my faith and into the arms of God. Those moments of struggle and hardship taught me to trust in God’s plan for my life more fully and more deeply, to trust that if there is a delay, there is a reason for it and that the right doors will open at the right time. I think (at least in part) as a result of beginning to learn those lessons and beginning to trust more, the momentum is starting to shift and exciting opportunities are presenting themselves.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
I think that my closest friends would tell you that my faith and my family top my priority list. Along with that, they would likely tell you that creating high-quality work with integrity, treating people with kindness, honesty and authenticity really matter to me. They would also likely tell you that I have super high standards for myself and that I should probably ease up a bit.
Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
I hope that when I’m gone people will talk of the moments where crossing paths with me brightened their day or made them feel better. I hope that they will speak of the times they saw the light of Christ in my life, and the ways that the art I created brought that light, hope and peace into their lives and homes. I hope they can tell stories of how their lives are better, even in the smallest of ways, because they knew me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.genakearn.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/genakearnart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GenaKearnArt
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@genakearnart
Image Credits
Gena Kearn
