Bridging Science and Art: Jenna deBoisblanc's Journey in Creative Technology
S7:E69

Bridging Science and Art: Jenna deBoisblanc's Journey in Creative Technology

00;00;10;12 - 00;00;23;25
Rob Lee
Walk him to the truth in his heart. I am your host, Rob Lee. And today I'm in conversation with a net artist, a new media artist and a teacher based in New Orleans. Please welcome Jenna deBoisblanc Welcome to the podcast.

00;00;24;09 - 00;00;26;13
Jenna deBoisblanc
Thank you so much. Happy to be here.

00;00;26;24 - 00;00;43;04
Rob Lee
Happy to have you on. It's like I like to get to the more unique artists. And I've never talked to a net artist or new media artist. I feel like this is an honor for me and is, you know, uncovering new playing for my knowledge base. But if you will.

00;00;43;18 - 00;00;50;18
Jenna deBoisblanc
Please know, I was just going to say, you know, I'm setting me up for setting the bar high. I'm okay with it. I'm ready to go.

00;00;50;24 - 00;00;55;16
Rob Lee
That's what we do here. All we do is set the bar high. You know, sometimes people jump over it. Sometimes people crash.

00;00;55;25 - 00;00;59;04
Jenna deBoisblanc
Musically. Oh, great. Okay, cool.

00;00;59;09 - 00;01;19;01
Rob Lee
But good vibe. Good vibes coming soon. So if you will, could you give us like you're the intro story? Like, what's the story like? How you got started in an arts career? Because I've read some interesting things. I read, you know, there might be some science background in there. And so tell me more about like the story, how we get to where we're at like right now.

00;01;19;26 - 00;01;54;13
Jenna deBoisblanc
Totally. So I think in school I was really obsessed. I think probably from growing up in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, I kind of became obsessed with climate change and the impacts of disasters on coastal cities like New Orleans. And that sort of drove me to major in physics because I wanted to do something with renewable energy. And part of the physics curriculum, the there was this class that I took that used Arduino.

00;01;54;14 - 00;02;24;21
Jenna deBoisblanc
Arduino is are like Programable electronics. You can control LEDs, you can control motors and sensors. And if you know a little bit of code, the world is your oyster. And there's just so many creative possibilities. And I think over time that's I think I've gravitated towards like I've always felt like I'm sort of a logical and mathematically minded person, but that creative expression is really what feeds my soul.

00;02;24;21 - 00;02;46;14
Jenna deBoisblanc
And so I really been excited to live with this intersection of art and technology that brings together my love of math and science and engineering with my desire to really explore new modes of expression. And so that's kind of how I landed, where I am now. I make work right now. I just make work that lives on the Internet.

00;02;46;14 - 00;03;04;15
Jenna deBoisblanc
That's what the net artist implies. But I've made work with all sorts of different kinds of technologies and new media. So yeah, that's kind of the short blurb, I guess. The not so short blurb. I had no idea, you know, doing a rambling blurb.

00;03;05;02 - 00;03;22;29
Rob Lee
No, no, no. And I saw I think it was one installation that saw like baby videos from cause I was doing a deep dove. I felt a little stalker and I was like, I don't like this. I'm going to I'm going to tap out a little bit. But yeah, I mean, it's, it's very interesting. I'm looking at our doing right now because I do a little coding.

00;03;22;29 - 00;03;27;24
Rob Lee
So you said, you know, you know a little code where we draw it. Look, it's going to draw a man.

00;03;28;05 - 00;03;46;04
Jenna deBoisblanc
Oh, you cannot like if you are a nerd and you like a little bit of coding, you're going to love or tweet. I don't know who doesn't love our tweets. They're so fun. Is that what I'm looking at right now? Yes. Like like making LEDs. Go be bop, bop, bop and little robots and stuff. I mean, who knows?

00;03;46;04 - 00;03;47;12
Jenna deBoisblanc
Love making little robots.

00;03;47;22 - 00;04;13;26
Rob Lee
I mean, I'm just going to sort of walking around impressing people. So. Oh, yes. And Coco Code just to show some stuff right there. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So and so let's talk about like the like so, so the net or any art because I think it's, you know, anything that you've worked, any projects you've worked on, is there any like like pretty much class or lesson that you learned from that physics background?

00;04;13;26 - 00;04;26;11
Rob Lee
And then, you know, obviously having the master's degree in like digital art that you kind of like rest on, like is there any time where one serves the other and you apply that to your work? Tell me tell me about that.

00;04;26;15 - 00;04;57;20
Jenna deBoisblanc
Yeah, I think that's a good question. I think that I strive so often to be an artist before an engineer. But I think the important question that drive my work are conceptual and I try to arrive at something that is visual and then use sort of my background in tech to sort of bring that idea into the world.

00;04;57;20 - 00;05;19;19
Jenna deBoisblanc
So to foreground that experience of like being in a digital art MFA, where you're thinking about like FedEx and you're thinking about formal elements and but my toolbox, I mean, I can't I've never taking taken a drawing class or a painting class. And like, if you tell me to draw something, you're going to get stick figures all day.

00;05;20;05 - 00;05;48;23
Jenna deBoisblanc
But my equivalent paintbrush is like if you tell me to create like a set of geometric forms with code, I'm just going to bring it out. And so that's sort of like my equivalent, my medium is using code, but I think my, the origin of my ideas is something that's very much grounded in like my artistic practice. At least that's what I strive to do sometimes.

00;05;48;23 - 00;06;00;12
Jenna deBoisblanc
Like some new shiny technology tool will come out and I'm like, Ooh, what can I make with this? And in that case, like, the new sensor will be driving the idea instead of the other way around.

00;06;01;27 - 00;06;21;16
Rob Lee
That's legitimately that. No, it does. It does. And I think I was hearing some of lately and the the the I guess software I guess programing world when you have a new thing, it's like, oh, you know, like I use school all the time, right? And in the day job, they're like, Oh yeah, we have this new great.

00;06;21;16 - 00;06;41;25
Rob Lee
No, does it have a sequel under it or it's like, you know, it's like, I need to learn something that I can make my my job easier, make my process easier through through what I'm doing. And I think during the beginning of COVID, I tried to find a way to incorporate like, ah, in like my process and like finding questions or getting people's bios.

00;06;41;25 - 00;06;48;04
Rob Lee
Like I just need something to like grab different documents off line and just give it to me versus me searching.

00;06;48;14 - 00;06;49;01
Jenna deBoisblanc
Yeah.

00;06;49;08 - 00;06;53;28
Rob Lee
It's like, how can I use machine learning here? And it's like, I don't have the time to get into machine learning.

00;06;54;05 - 00;07;04;17
Jenna deBoisblanc
Machine learning is kind of crazy. Yeah, there have been times where I'm like, Oh, but there's so much cool, interesting art you can make as machine learning. And it's just. It's such a big nut to crack. I don't even know where to begin.

00;07;04;24 - 00;07;09;05
Rob Lee
And I feel like the nut is walnut. It's not really good unless it's part of a chocolate chip cookie.

00;07;10;18 - 00;07;32;28
Jenna deBoisblanc
Okay. You know, we say that, but actually there's a new library that came out before. It's called Ml5, J.S. But it's designed for artists, and it's designed for artists to use machine learning to create work. So it might actually be a macadamia nut. It might be it might be something tasty that goes in a cookie, you know? Okay.

00;07;33;11 - 00;07;35;07
Jenna deBoisblanc
It might not. Yeah.

00;07;35;19 - 00;07;35;25
Rob Lee
I'm a.

00;07;35;25 - 00;07;49;23
Jenna deBoisblanc
Catch. You got it. My cashew cashews are pretty solid. Yeah, sure, I. I like the cons. I feel like that's a Southern thing, you know? Do you say pecan or pecan pecan? Oh, no, that's terrible.

00;07;50;03 - 00;08;26;06
Rob Lee
I look, I am a fake southerner. Firstly, no, not really. Not at all. Not at all. Not at all. I gave myself an alias when I eventually become a New Orleans based deejay. We'll talk about that later. So could you point to a in example or two of like life experiences that have like shaped your creative sensibilities? Because I think, like I always look back at high school when this was proto podcaster being that jerk speaking in the third person at that with the friggin click.

00;08;26;06 - 00;08;42;03
Rob Lee
So note to self I need to do this interview click. Okay, here's the interview. And that was my first, you know, iteration of trying to do a podcast or at least doing like storytelling or facilitating storytelling. So is there like in a life experience that kind of shape your creative sensibility?

00;08;42;28 - 00;09;06;25
Jenna deBoisblanc
Oh, totally. I think I was really nervous about claiming the title of artist for a really long time, because I had never I never had taken an art class like I had never really tried to make anything until New Orleans has this like, festival every year called Luna that ends in 2015. So, oh, my gosh, it's like seven years ago.

00;09;06;25 - 00;09;26;10
Jenna deBoisblanc
That's crazy. They had an open call and I just was like, You know what? I'm just going to push myself to like, I didn't, I didn't. I just really had no idea. I didn't really have much of a prototype or anything, but I submitted my idea and it got accepted and that was the first time I produce work.

00;09;26;26 - 00;09;59;00
Jenna deBoisblanc
Is this installation called The Cave, which is probably on my website, but that that was the first time I made something when I was like, I am proud of what I made. And like, this is like the joy that comes from producing something that you're proud of, which I'm sure you know, is just like such a high. And it was like, okay, this is a confidence I need to like at least not necessarily claim the title of artist yet, but to just like flex that muscle and like start making work and see if there's something that comes out that's exciting.

00;09;59;00 - 00;10;06;07
Jenna deBoisblanc
And so that was kind of like that feels like the first time when I made real work, which is exciting.

00;10;06;18 - 00;10;24;06
Rob Lee
That was that was the name that was escaping me because I know that was one of the sites that I looked at. I'm on this a g, a New Orleans site, and I see all of these and it's part of an interview, see all of these these different images. I was like, this is a this is like a colorful inside of a colorful disco ball or something.

00;10;24;06 - 00;10;27;01
Rob Lee
This is real to TV. I love it.

00;10;27;01 - 00;11;00;28
Jenna deBoisblanc
So, yeah, it was so I used, I projected, I bought, I got this shipping or this moving container like a storage pod and I projected on the back of the wall this visual like digital cave. And then people could tweet pictures to the insulated ocean and it would take your picture. So let's say you tweeted a picture of your face and then it would render that picture in sort of some artistic style using machine learning algorithms, and then it would embed that image in the cave.

00;11;01;12 - 00;11;24;26
Jenna deBoisblanc
So the idea, if I haven't lost you yet, is exploring this moment in time when computers are starting to make art. It's sort of like the cave painting equivalent moment for artificial intelligence. And that was, I think what I love so much about this project is it was like I thought it was visually impactful, was like it was just kind of cool for a light festival.

00;11;24;26 - 00;11;39;07
Jenna deBoisblanc
It was. And there was some interactivity. It was like a very serious programing feat. And I thought it was there was like a conceptual nugget in there. So it kind of was like I felt like I ticked a lot of boxes and I got I got really excited about this project.

00;11;39;07 - 00;11;57;06
Rob Lee
But yes, you did manage. And now I'm looking at this one image. Now I'm like, I do see images in there and know that's that's really cool. And I'm thinking of nefarious things that I can do with this kind of idea, just me just stroking my own ego and just different images of me over the years.

00;11;57;16 - 00;12;26;03
Jenna deBoisblanc
It's Oh, my gosh. Well, it was terrible because, you know, when you have a public event that's anonymous, it's like, oh, god, there's something racist or terrible that somebody is going to take you to this installation. And of course, I mean, there was a face of Donald Trump, which is as bad as it got. But I was like, I really I didn't build any like systems around like how to handle if people abuse the tool, which really sucks, people suck or suck.

00;12;26;16 - 00;12;28;10
Rob Lee
Well, I mean, you're not wrong.

00;12;29;16 - 00;12;29;21
Jenna deBoisblanc
No.

00;12;30;02 - 00;12;44;00
Rob Lee
But but I think that's that's the thing. And having like, parameters and things because when I think of a message board of like, how can I like, where can I flag that? Then people find creative ways just to be, you know, shitty, for lack of a better term.

00;12;44;11 - 00;12;45;10
Jenna deBoisblanc
And yeah.

00;12;45;17 - 00;12;55;25
Rob Lee
It's like, all right, I can't like, they're going to it. I can't think ahead of the racist because I'm not racist. I don't know how. I can't think for them back.

00;12;57;11 - 00;12;58;03
Jenna deBoisblanc
Oh.

00;12;58;21 - 00;13;06;28
Rob Lee
So, so tell me about like right now, like, what is your like, your biggest source of inspiration at this at this moment?

00;13;07;25 - 00;13;40;00
Jenna deBoisblanc
And so right now I am finished my MFA in digital art last year and I built this little like virtual art gallery and to showcase my work. And right now I, I have like kind of turned it into an app that I'm using to host shows. The second show is going to take place on September 1st, but right now I'm like, I want to create opportunities for other artists to showcase their work online.

00;13;40;01 - 00;14;06;23
Jenna deBoisblanc
That's kind of I feel like I've taken a little step back from thinking about my own work and thinking about how I can create this platform that creates a community around that artist. Because I think maybe Nfts are like, but to be honest, I should know more about entities, and I do, but like, maybe that's how digital artists like make their sell their work, I don't know.

00;14;06;23 - 00;14;44;05
Jenna deBoisblanc
But like from my perspective, a lot of the work that I make, like it's not something you can easily exhibit in the real world, like because it lives online and so like creating more opportunities and space is to have virtual shows is kind of like what I'm excited about right now, but I haven't like I haven't the cost is like I've spent a lot of time thinking about other people's work which like, but it's not like it's so it's validating and it's exciting and I'm going, I'm looking forward to popping back in, but it's been yeah, I'm excited about it.

00;14;44;09 - 00;14;47;24
Jenna deBoisblanc
Called Public Access Memories Gallery.

00;14;48;18 - 00;14;49;01
Rob Lee
I like it.

00;14;49;11 - 00;14;50;25
Jenna deBoisblanc
That was a little shameless plug in.

00;14;50;25 - 00;15;25;23
Rob Lee
I don't know. We had those later as well, so feel free to dove back in. And I have had a conversation with a recent grad, L.A. based, and I think a name is Gina Perdue's CO and she was talking about like just going through a program of being a curator and being in more of a digital curator. So it was definitely more and more attention on that because there's this notion of how we consume art has changed and folks that are already in a lease have a backing in a space digitally.

00;15;25;23 - 00;15;43;21
Rob Lee
So that's, that's where it's at, you know, because yeah, people aren't, I think going in the same numbers and I don't really have anything verifiable. I don't need data sitting right in front of me. But in the conversations I've had with different folks who were in museums, they were like, Yeah, people are not showing up. Yeah, there's no waiting list anymore.

00;15;44;09 - 00;15;51;04
Jenna deBoisblanc
Yeah, yeah. That's yeah, that's interesting.

00;15;51;04 - 00;16;03;24
Rob Lee
So I've read that your clients include or you of your clients and included like some actually some pretty big names. See, I don't hear see. Massive floating aquarium. So hello. Hello.

00;16;04;04 - 00;16;05;29
Jenna deBoisblanc
Aquarium. Let's go.

00;16;07;05 - 00;16;20;26
Rob Lee
I don't know. I feel like there's Marlins there. I don't know what are what are some of the considerations that you're you're making in terms of choosing projects and choosing like like I guess clients are going to work with.

00;16;22;11 - 00;16;43;02
Jenna deBoisblanc
You know, I wish I could say, like, oh my goodness, I think every artist will say that, oh my goodness, I only work with clients that are like aligned with my artistic vision and my morals and my leg, blah, blah. And it comes out of this. So me, the money, I like that.

00;16;43;02 - 00;16;43;26
Rob Lee
The honest answer.

00;16;45;22 - 00;17;07;04
Jenna deBoisblanc
I, I've been lucky that I'm just like the clients. I mean, the ones that I listed are obviously the most high profile and they've just plopped in my lap from like random directions. And, you know, obviously there's a certain amount of like, I want to work with people that help to promote my work in ways that I'm excited about.

00;17;07;04 - 00;17;29;08
Jenna deBoisblanc
But at the end of the day, I think I would love to be able to make money off of my work and monetize my work in a way that supports myself. I haven't figured out how to do that, so if there's an opportunity that comes along, I'm generally going to hop on. But I wish I had a more like compelling, exciting, interesting answer.

00;17;29;08 - 00;17;34;26
Jenna deBoisblanc
Like, I think we work with artists that believe in giving me blah, blah, blah, blah.

00;17;35;16 - 00;17;57;27
Rob Lee
I try to work with like clients who believe in the same God that I believe in. And that's from, you know, from CONAN the Barbarian. I am a nerd. I am so sorry. That was so nerdy. I pray to chrome all the time for the lamentation of the women and the bah bah bah bah bah bah. I don't know, just baby oil.

00;17;57;27 - 00;18;16;20
Rob Lee
I did. I realize I missed the question and I and I wanted to because I think I always get weird about asking. So tell me about your process. That's always a weird question to me, but I want to frame it in a little different way. So when taking on a project, I think you kind of lines up with asking about some of the clients for taking on a project.

00;18;17;05 - 00;18;24;15
Rob Lee
What is the first thing that you do? What's something that's like in the middle and what's something that's like, it's not finished until I get to this point.

00;18;25;12 - 00;18;52;00
Jenna deBoisblanc
Yeah. So I think probably like working for a client is generally a different process than my own. Generally, when I'm working for a client, there's sort of like a prescription. There's just like a specific idea about what they want to manifest, and it's more of helping to bring their vision to life. But I would say for my own artistic practice, it almost always begins with me going on a walk with a notebook.

00;18;52;07 - 00;19;14;26
Jenna deBoisblanc
And I think since I work with technology most of the time I'm thinking about the ways that technology impacts our life. Like how does the experience of using Google Maps all the time affect our understanding of place in our understanding of home? And like, I can't remember the last time I got lost. Like, what have we lost in the process of getting lost?

00;19;14;26 - 00;19;36;25
Jenna deBoisblanc
Those types of questions that really try to dig deep on like the ways that technology has informed and is changing the world. And I think when I land on a question that feels meaty, that's like part one, it's just like I have to have some conceptual something to like bite into. And then part two is I make a Pinterest board and I just go to town on Pinterest.

00;19;36;25 - 00;20;07;13
Jenna deBoisblanc
Just like that. That's great. And it'll be random things like a picture of, I don't know, a door handle that was interesting or like some artist's work that I really like. Inspiration comes from all different directions, but it's always visual and I'll do a little sketching. So it's like once if it's like I move from idea to like a set of visuals and I want to work with and then start to flesh out some ideas.

00;20;07;13 - 00;20;29;03
Jenna deBoisblanc
I think the last part of the process is trying like once I have something that I feel good about is just how can I push it even further to add some like subtle create even more complexity then like maybe is initially they're like, how can I finesse it into a place that just takes it takes makes it a little more polished.

00;20;29;03 - 00;20;37;15
Jenna deBoisblanc
So, but yeah, I have a notebook full of so many bad ideas. 9890 9.9% bad ideas.

00;20;37;15 - 00;20;57;05
Rob Lee
Same. I always keep something writing oriented. They actually gave me a new question to ask you on the rapid fire portion of this, so we'll be getting to that momentarily. But I wanted to at least ask you this, because it seems like even even when I'm like off center, I'm still organized. So bravo to not to put myself in the back digitally, I guess.

00;20;57;05 - 00;20;57;15
Rob Lee
I don't know.

00;20;58;28 - 00;20;59;01
Jenna deBoisblanc
If.

00;20;59;09 - 00;21;18;12
Rob Lee
I've read that often as the audience. Like we see what we see, we might miss certain things, what have you, that that are being communicated in someone's work. But sometimes I think it's about doing more with less. Like some, you know, like I always think about like an artist that it's like I'm only going to use one color or the, the Dr. Seuss thing.

00;21;18;12 - 00;21;37;08
Rob Lee
I'm going to use this many words in the Cat in the Hat or what have you. So within your work, where do you choose to kind of omit things? Do you omit things or delete things? And digitally? So, you know, where do you like choose to like I could put this in there or I can just leave this out.

00;21;37;08 - 00;21;48;18
Rob Lee
This is, you know, one of these little pieces that I'm adding to it. This is what's baked in. This is what's underlying what this work is supposed to show and communicate.

00;21;48;18 - 00;22;15;21
Jenna deBoisblanc
I think, you know, interesting I think this is an interesting question. So much of my work I would characterize is like a little bit tongue in cheek, like especially Netscape's work. Like there's literally a picture like one of the pieces in the body work is a picture of a Caribbean beach desktop wallpaper with like a hurricane folder, just like bouncing around the screen.

00;22;15;21 - 00;22;45;21
Jenna deBoisblanc
And then all the files are swirling around like there's no question, like what that's about. Like, it's pretty obvious and like, to some extent, like, I feel like maybe I'm just a playful person in my work. I want to be a little bit playful and kind of like stupid and silly. And so in a lot of instances, like, I don't think there's like there's not a question like, what is Jenna trying to get on me on this one?

00;22;45;21 - 00;23;11;00
Jenna deBoisblanc
Oh, that being said, I mean, there's certainly like I have a full spectrum of work. There are times when I made like one of my favorite compositions is called Jungle Jim's and it's I there's this video of this cordoned off playground during COVID that I just thought was such a good symbol of the whole of all of quarantine.

00;23;11;15 - 00;23;45;01
Jenna deBoisblanc
And I interweave some of these visual elements, like the Windows 98 screensaver that you remember, the pipes that would run all over the screen. So I had I got the code for that and I and and I interleave that into this composition with the, with the playground in the background. And it's just there's so many symbols in my mind that link this pipe cleaner because it kind of looks like it creates these forms that look like jungle gyms that are like similar to the video in the background.

00;23;45;01 - 00;24;11;25
Jenna deBoisblanc
And they sort of cut up all of the space on the screen. There's I can like I can riff for like 10 minutes about why like some of these elements visually and conceptually are linked. But I think it's my own little rabbit hole that sometimes people can latch on to, but they don't always. And so I kind of think in my mind the trick of leaving things out is to just like, is to riff on a rabbit hole without thinking too hard about it.

00;24;11;25 - 00;24;29;02
Jenna deBoisblanc
Because if you think too hard about it, I think it becomes obvious to the two people that are consuming it, like what you're riffing on, but to just like don't like a free association of ideas that like take you down this like visual journey. I don't know if that makes sense, but it does.

00;24;29;13 - 00;24;29;29
Rob Lee
I think it does.

00;24;30;02 - 00;24;49;27
Jenna deBoisblanc
Yeah. Yeah. So sometimes I'm like, You know what? I'm just going to make a picture of Yosemite on fire and you're just going to laugh at it because that's what you're supposed to do. And sometimes I'm just going to obscure all meaning from you. And when I decide to do what is actually a good question, I probably should think more about that.

00;24;50;20 - 00;25;02;21
Rob Lee
Thank you. Thank you. That's a great answer. I like it where as we rewind down here, I got some rapid fire questions for you. I hope you're ready for them. Everyone gets the rapid fire questions.

00;25;03;08 - 00;25;03;21
Jenna deBoisblanc
Okay.

00;25;04;14 - 00;25;16;07
Rob Lee
So then to keep in mind is don't overthink it. Don't go down that rabbit hole that that tunnel is were a dream project. I just wanna start off with a dream project.

00;25;17;00 - 00;25;46;15
Jenna deBoisblanc
Dream project? I can tell you the Dream Gallery I would like to exhibit in which is the art forms in New York. Dream Project honestly would probably be a physical installation that is immersive that you step into and involves projection, an interactive city. And honestly, if I knew what that dream project was, I would be making it right now is the problem.

00;25;47;05 - 00;25;57;27
Jenna deBoisblanc
I feel like I'm a little in a little bit of a creative rut, which is probably why I'm focusing on other people's work at the moment rather than my own. But when I land on that dream project, I'm going to send you an email.

00;25;58;07 - 00;26;00;11
Rob Lee
Okay? I'm going to be looking for it.

00;26;00;11 - 00;26;00;24
Jenna deBoisblanc
Okay.

00;26;01;04 - 00;26;22;12
Rob Lee
Yeah. My mean, had to take a trip down at Angela's. I can't say like, oh, yeah, I should not say it like that. That's not a terrible. I've heard this actually. Real quick, before I get to the next question, the one time that me and one of my buddies went down there again, always for my birthday, we went down to see a Pelicans game and just kind of hang out and we kept just saying smoke sausage to each other.

00;26;22;12 - 00;26;26;09
Rob Lee
And I know that people were like, the uber drivers hate these guys.

00;26;27;07 - 00;26;28;06
Jenna deBoisblanc
Oh, my God.

00;26;28;09 - 00;26;32;26
Rob Lee
We had a lot of fun. They had a lot of fun. What is your what's your favorite drink?

00;26;34;18 - 00;26;44;27
Jenna deBoisblanc
My, I well, I just drank a lot of negronis this summer, but if I go to a bar, I'm probably going to order a gin gimlet. I drink a lot of gin.

00;26;46;00 - 00;26;47;15
Rob Lee
That's legit.

00;26;47;15 - 00;26;48;20
Jenna deBoisblanc
And I don't know, is it?

00;26;48;20 - 00;27;06;21
Rob Lee
Maybe that's legit. Am I discovered because I got into vermouth recently and sweet vermouth and I like really like strong like cold brew and apparently that is a drink that goes together is like a coffee negroni. So I guess I'm just like raising myself.

00;27;06;23 - 00;27;08;02
Jenna deBoisblanc
I need to try this out.

00;27;08;03 - 00;27;23;04
Rob Lee
Even breaking my stuff down. What are whatever. Now, these are going to get progressively weirder, by the way. Okay. Name three things next to your bed. They're always like next to you amid.

00;27;23;04 - 00;27;49;17
Jenna deBoisblanc
All right. Is this a PG 13 show? I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I can tell you right now I have a coaster of it has a crawfish on it, a crawfish sitting in a lawn chair. I feel pretty happy about that. That's really fun. Yeah, it's special. Oh, what's over that? I have a sewing kit. You know, I really.

00;27;50;11 - 00;28;15;03
Jenna deBoisblanc
I feel like next summer, I'm just going to sew. I've never sewed, really. But that's just feels like what I'm going to do. I'm going to get into textiles. Okay, that's a stupid answer. So third answer is my cat. I love my cat. He's such a soft baby. He wants to join this interview. Probably. That's okay. Those are lame answers.

00;28;15;04 - 00;28;15;21
Jenna deBoisblanc
Moving on.

00;28;15;25 - 00;28;39;13
Rob Lee
No, they're fine. And that actually kind of answers. One of my one of my questions. No. Actually touches on one of my questions. So what's something that is I, I read the Austin Kleon book and the steal from silicon artist and he was talking about that digital art analog loop. So, you know, a lot of your stuff is technologically based and all of that.

00;28;39;25 - 00;28;53;07
Rob Lee
So tell me about any thing that's always going to be analog. That is like regardless of what I do, like some people like I need to have a notepad, I can type it in my phone, I got to have pen and paper. So what if something is always analog for you?

00;28;53;26 - 00;29;25;24
Jenna deBoisblanc
That's a good question. Definitely. There's I feel like there's just something innate about the connection between your brain and your hands. Like I just and I will say that it's actually I do do most of my work with Google Docs, even just because it's so easy to copy, paste and whatever. But there's beyond I'll just never lose that desire to like, yeah, I want to have a notepad and just and scribble and analog.

00;29;25;25 - 00;29;33;15
Jenna deBoisblanc
You know, I honestly I don't really watch television or a movie. I know it's crazy.

00;29;33;15 - 00;29;37;01
Rob Lee
It's like none of my questions are gone now.

00;29;37;01 - 00;29;58;28
Jenna deBoisblanc
You can still try me on the questions, but I like I don't have a lot of free time, so when I do, I want to spend it making work. And so I don't consume media in that way. So in some, in a lot of ways, I feel like, well, I was going to say I kind of live more in an analog world, even though all my work is pretty technological.

00;29;58;28 - 00;30;12;25
Jenna deBoisblanc
But but that's not even true because I'm working on my computer. Yeah, I'm going to have to go with the notebook. It's, I think, indispensable as an artist. You just got to connect with the physical world through your hands.

00;30;13;09 - 00;30;14;27
Rob Lee
Use your digits as they say.

00;30;15;03 - 00;30;16;10
Jenna deBoisblanc
Yeah, yeah.

00;30;16;25 - 00;30;33;17
Rob Lee
Yeah. Because I made it a point this week is usually I'll be in Google Drive and like that's where your questions are currently. And, and I had some questions that I wrote down. I was like, Let me just take these, okay. That feels more professional, more polished now. I was like, Nah, nah, let's just see what we get.

00;30;33;25 - 00;30;52;14
Rob Lee
Let's just try it out. And sometimes for me, because I kind of just get into it and even like I feel like the interview is going bad or interview is going left, I'm like, There's enough of me doing this enough hours in the ring, as it were, that I'm going to be able to flip it. So let me add some degree of difficulty.

00;30;52;14 - 00;31;10;13
Rob Lee
So I can keep myself honest and I just coast so having something like that and like, I mean, look at my notes. Oh, that's a stupid question. Or not even no scratching or deleting. It's like maybe there was a different thought that was in this question that if I'm deleting as I'm typing, then I'm losing something in there.

00;31;11;01 - 00;31;15;13
Jenna deBoisblanc
Hmm. That's interesting. That's really interesting.

00;31;15;16 - 00;31;16;16
Rob Lee
This is the last question.

00;31;17;15 - 00;31;17;29
Jenna deBoisblanc
Okay?

00;31;18;05 - 00;31;24;20
Rob Lee
Everything has gotten us to this point. What is something? What is something without fail that always makes you laugh?

00;31;25;09 - 00;31;54;21
Jenna deBoisblanc
Oh, okay. This movie is so stupid. Don't judge me. I promises the movie Galaxy Quest. Oh, my God. With Tim Allen anywhere I. It's i it's one of like, two. It's like the only movie I can watch over and over again and still think it's funny. It's it's really dumb. I don't know that I need people to know that, but, you know, if it happens, it happens.

00;31;55;01 - 00;32;20;15
Rob Lee
I mean, it's this and this podcast now and this is a this is a document of history answering the hard questions. So so I want to thank you for for being on this podcast and indulging my rapid fire questions and silly thing. So with that, I want to invite and encourage you to download sound for shameless plugs, inviting encourage you to tell the fine folks where to check you out.

00;32;20;16 - 00;32;23;14
Rob Lee
Check out your work and just, you know, the floor is yours.

00;32;23;27 - 00;32;36;26
Jenna deBoisblanc
That's super sweet of you. Probably the easiest way to find me is at my website, which is jdb0ij. It looks like data buoy dot com process to make that easier. So that's what.

00;32;36;26 - 00;32;37;06
Rob Lee
I wrote.

00;32;37;06 - 00;32;37;18
Jenna deBoisblanc
Actually.

00;32;39;05 - 00;32;43;01
Rob Lee
As I get a bit of your data boy, like which rappers this.

00;32;43;21 - 00;33;04;27
Jenna deBoisblanc
Yeah I, you know I made all of my handles like when I was like 14 and I didn't think too hard about that. And now it's too hard to change all of them. So it's just like, that's where we are. So that's what we get. That's funny. Oh, God, it's so funny to think about your handles when you were a teenager.

00;33;04;27 - 00;33;25;23
Jenna deBoisblanc
I don't know if you're approximately the same age as me, but there's some just really bad ones back in the day. But that's another story. Also, I'm really excited about the gallery space right now and would love to plug that. That is public access memories dot com and that's a virtual gallery space. We're going to be hosting shows a couple of times here.

00;33;25;23 - 00;33;35;05
Jenna deBoisblanc
So it has been a pleasure to get to know you, Rob, and to be a part of your podcast. I'm excited to check out more of your episodes.

00;33;35;22 - 00;33;40;24
Rob Lee
Well, thank you. This has been this is country. So yeah, we'll wrap there.

00;33;41;19 - 00;33;42;25
Jenna deBoisblanc
Cool. Okay.

00;33;43;04 - 00;33;58;09
Rob Lee
So for Jenna deBoisblanc I'm Rob Lee saying there's art in and around your city you just got to look for it. One.

Creators and Guests

Rob Lee
Host
Rob Lee
The Truth In This Art is an interview series featuring artists, entrepreneurs and tastemakers in & around Baltimore.
Jenna deBoisblanc
Guest
Jenna deBoisblanc
a New Orleans native, a creative coder, and a teacher