Family reaps benefits from second career
By Nick Hytrek Journal staff writer | Posted: Sunday, September 14, 2008
Jolene Steffen stands among many of her prints and paintings in the gallery at her rural Crofton, Neb., home. (Photo by Nick Hytrek)
CROFTON, Neb. -- Art, like farming, is a hands-on profession.
The farmer gets his or her hands dirty planting and harvesting crops, raising and nurturing livestock.
The Jeff and Jolene Steffen family of rural Crofton is no different. The Steffens get their hands dirty in the fields and barns on their farm, working hard to make a living off the land.
They also get their hands dirty creating something besides soybeans and beef. The Steffens use their talented hands to create artwork that hangs in homes and businesses throughout the region.
Jolene Steffen has sold her nature paintings and prints for several years. Husband Jeff has a talent for woodworking, and his handiwork is evident throughout the family's farm house. In the past few years, daughter Jenna got in on the act, selling plaster tiles of leaf and flower prints. Son Cole is just 11, but during a recent visit to the Steffens' home, a model rocket in the process of being assembled sat on the dining room table.
"He's got an engineering mind," Jolene Steffen said of her son.
The Steffens have the ability to use their minds to guide their hands to create things. They also have a mind for business, a knack for recognizing entrepreneurial opportunities and turning their talents into successful artistic endeavors.
Not bad for something that began as a hobby. Working as a graphics artist in Yankton, S.D., Jolene had always dabbled in painting. As New Year's Day 1991 approached, she set a resolution to start painting more often.
"My goal was one picture a week," she said. "I thought I would give my artwork away. The turning point was when someone came to see my painting and offered to buy one."
That provided the impetus for a new career, one that led the Steffens to regional art shows to market Jolene's creations. Jeff's carpentry skills quickly paid off, as he built the frames in which Jolene's paintings were displayed. But they couldn't keep up, and Jolene's painting productivity slowed.
"Soon, I was staining and varnishing all these frames," Jolene said.
They began buying finished molding, then cutting it to make the frames. But Jeff's work was just beginning. In addition to building their kitchen cabinets, a grandfather clock and doing a lot of work when the Steffens remodeled their home, he also built the mantle for the fireplace in the 20-foot-by-36-foot gallery the Steffens added to their house about six years ago.
"I've got a husband who, if I need something done, he'll figure out a way to get it done," Jolene said.
That home remodeling project also sparked Jenna's talent, one she had already displayed in 4-H projects and in art classes at Crofton High School.
"It was an idea mom kind of helped me with," Jenna said. "We were remodeling the house at the time, so we had all this plaster and paint around."
Jenna needed an idea for a 4-H project. She and Jolene decided to see what would happen if they pressed leaves and flowers into wet plaster tiles, then painted the impressions once they dried.
"The first one we made worked out really well," Jenna said.
Jenna mounted and framed the finished product, which went over big at the Knox County Fair.
"People saw it and liked it, and I had a few people even offer to buy it," Jenna said.
Jenna made a few more of the tiles while in high school, and visitors to an open house at Jolene's gallery bought them. But it wasn't until she was a Creighton University student in need of a summer job that Jenna realized the full retail potential of her artwork.
"I thought she could make these and she could sell them," her mother said.
And Jenna did, spending a couple summers displaying her work at art shows with her mom.
"It was fun working as a family," Jolene said. "There's nothing better than being at an art show and I'm selling my stuff and I look over and she's selling her stuff."
It was a family affair. Jeff showed Jenna how to make the frames. Jolene offered advice.
"The biggest reason I've been able to do this is with the support and encouragement of my parents," Jenna said.
Jenna made "a ton" of tiles the summer between her sophomore and junior years. They were a big hit. How big?
"Let's just say I don't have any debt from undergrad," Jenna said, quickly adding that she also offset her college expenses with scholarships and working as a residential assistant in her Creighton dormitory. She's now a first-year medical student at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and her art career will take a back seat to medical school.
"I'm definitely keeping my equipment," Jenna said. "But I don't foresee myself doing art much in the future."
Her materials sit in the loft of the Steffen home, just a few feet away from Jolene's easel, which Jeff built to replace the wobbly one she once used.
On the other side of the easel is a window out of which Jolene can gaze, gathering inspiration from the surrounding countryside for her next painting. The loft studio, another result of the home remodeling, is one of many examples of how her career has evolved. She now produces prints of her paintings using a computer and special printer in her basement. She has a Web site. She's done commission work.
They're all developments in a career that started from simple beginnings.
"My goal was to have a family and live on a farm," she said.
Both, much like her rise from part-time painter to full-time artist, hands-on endeavors.
Nick Hytrek can be reached at 712-293-4226 or nickhytrek@siouxcityjournal.com.
Inspiration from the land
Jolene and Jenna Steffen don't have to look far for their artistic inspirations. Their work is a reflection of the nature, the landscape, the beauty of the land around them. It incorporates materials, scenes with which almost anyone, especially those who grew up in a rural area, can identify.
It's one reason Jolene believes her work remains popular. She paints what she sees on and near her farm. A wooded, winding country road. The sun shining through the leaves of a lone tree in the middle of a pasture. Sunlight reflecting off of nearby Lewis and Clark Lake. Mist shrouding the Meridian Bridge in Yankton, S.D. The paintings depict familiar surroundings. They evoke memories.
That's why, she believes, her painting of Rattlesnake Road, a gravel road that twists through the trees near Wynot, Neb., has been so popular with people who have seen it at art shows.
"They have memories on that road and they want it. It gives people an attachment," Jolene said.
The farmer gets his or her hands dirty planting and harvesting crops, raising and nurturing livestock.
The Jeff and Jolene Steffen family of rural Crofton is no different. The Steffens get their hands dirty in the fields and barns on their farm, working hard to make a living off the land.
They also get their hands dirty creating something besides soybeans and beef. The Steffens use their talented hands to create artwork that hangs in homes and businesses throughout the region.
Jolene Steffen has sold her nature paintings and prints for several years. Husband Jeff has a talent for woodworking, and his handiwork is evident throughout the family's farm house. In the past few years, daughter Jenna got in on the act, selling plaster tiles of leaf and flower prints. Son Cole is just 11, but during a recent visit to the Steffens' home, a model rocket in the process of being assembled sat on the dining room table.
"He's got an engineering mind," Jolene Steffen said of her son.
The Steffens have the ability to use their minds to guide their hands to create things. They also have a mind for business, a knack for recognizing entrepreneurial opportunities and turning their talents into successful artistic endeavors.
Not bad for something that began as a hobby. Working as a graphics artist in Yankton, S.D., Jolene had always dabbled in painting. As New Year's Day 1991 approached, she set a resolution to start painting more often.
"My goal was one picture a week," she said. "I thought I would give my artwork away. The turning point was when someone came to see my painting and offered to buy one."
That provided the impetus for a new career, one that led the Steffens to regional art shows to market Jolene's creations. Jeff's carpentry skills quickly paid off, as he built the frames in which Jolene's paintings were displayed. But they couldn't keep up, and Jolene's painting productivity slowed.
"Soon, I was staining and varnishing all these frames," Jolene said.
They began buying finished molding, then cutting it to make the frames. But Jeff's work was just beginning. In addition to building their kitchen cabinets, a grandfather clock and doing a lot of work when the Steffens remodeled their home, he also built the mantle for the fireplace in the 20-foot-by-36-foot gallery the Steffens added to their house about six years ago.
"I've got a husband who, if I need something done, he'll figure out a way to get it done," Jolene said.
That home remodeling project also sparked Jenna's talent, one she had already displayed in 4-H projects and in art classes at Crofton High School.
"It was an idea mom kind of helped me with," Jenna said. "We were remodeling the house at the time, so we had all this plaster and paint around."
Jenna needed an idea for a 4-H project. She and Jolene decided to see what would happen if they pressed leaves and flowers into wet plaster tiles, then painted the impressions once they dried.
"The first one we made worked out really well," Jenna said.
Jenna mounted and framed the finished product, which went over big at the Knox County Fair.
"People saw it and liked it, and I had a few people even offer to buy it," Jenna said.
Jenna made a few more of the tiles while in high school, and visitors to an open house at Jolene's gallery bought them. But it wasn't until she was a Creighton University student in need of a summer job that Jenna realized the full retail potential of her artwork.
"I thought she could make these and she could sell them," her mother said.
And Jenna did, spending a couple summers displaying her work at art shows with her mom.
"It was fun working as a family," Jolene said. "There's nothing better than being at an art show and I'm selling my stuff and I look over and she's selling her stuff."
It was a family affair. Jeff showed Jenna how to make the frames. Jolene offered advice.
"The biggest reason I've been able to do this is with the support and encouragement of my parents," Jenna said.
Jenna made "a ton" of tiles the summer between her sophomore and junior years. They were a big hit. How big?
"Let's just say I don't have any debt from undergrad," Jenna said, quickly adding that she also offset her college expenses with scholarships and working as a residential assistant in her Creighton dormitory. She's now a first-year medical student at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and her art career will take a back seat to medical school.
"I'm definitely keeping my equipment," Jenna said. "But I don't foresee myself doing art much in the future."
Her materials sit in the loft of the Steffen home, just a few feet away from Jolene's easel, which Jeff built to replace the wobbly one she once used.
On the other side of the easel is a window out of which Jolene can gaze, gathering inspiration from the surrounding countryside for her next painting. The loft studio, another result of the home remodeling, is one of many examples of how her career has evolved. She now produces prints of her paintings using a computer and special printer in her basement. She has a Web site. She's done commission work.
They're all developments in a career that started from simple beginnings.
"My goal was to have a family and live on a farm," she said.
Both, much like her rise from part-time painter to full-time artist, hands-on endeavors.
Nick Hytrek can be reached at 712-293-4226 or nickhytrek@siouxcityjournal.com.
Inspiration from the land
Jolene and Jenna Steffen don't have to look far for their artistic inspirations. Their work is a reflection of the nature, the landscape, the beauty of the land around them. It incorporates materials, scenes with which almost anyone, especially those who grew up in a rural area, can identify.
It's one reason Jolene believes her work remains popular. She paints what she sees on and near her farm. A wooded, winding country road. The sun shining through the leaves of a lone tree in the middle of a pasture. Sunlight reflecting off of nearby Lewis and Clark Lake. Mist shrouding the Meridian Bridge in Yankton, S.D. The paintings depict familiar surroundings. They evoke memories.
That's why, she believes, her painting of Rattlesnake Road, a gravel road that twists through the trees near Wynot, Neb., has been so popular with people who have seen it at art shows.
"They have memories on that road and they want it. It gives people an attachment," Jolene said.
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