Musician

Joni Renee

"I have been waiting my whole life for someone to make music like this.

'If You're Gonna Call' is sexy, painful and more honest than the conversation you have with
yourself in the shower." - Kit Rumsfold, OC Weekly

Artists Village Blog: What keeps you coming back to perform at the Gypsy Den?

Joni Renee: The community is really supportive. They’re interested and they’ll ask questions, you know, “what is that song about?”, and “who did you write that for?” They’re engaged, whereas many other venues—I’ve played at other open mics all over Orange County and they’re not as supportive of the local artists. Sometimes you get the feeling that the people who attend are there just to eat food and be entertained; they’re on this receiving flow of “entertain us”. Here it’s much more “call and answer”. As an artist I get a huge response from the audience; they’re engaged, they want to be there, they’re actively listening. We make amazing connections too. I met some of my best friends at the Gypsy Den.

AVB: Not only are you a musician, but you’re also a talented songwriter. What is the intent with your music, what is your music about?

JR: As far as my intent, I’m always kind of on the fence about that. I don’t know if I’m trying to “make it” because I don’t want to be one of those people who always has to promote themselves. There are ways to do it, there are ways to play the game and ways to “get famous”. A lot of it is self-sacrificing. You have to be willing to constantly be blogging and tweeting, texting people, “come to my show, come to my show”. I hate begging people to do things. It degrades one’s art. So I’m kind of on the fence about if I’m gonna pursue that or not, but either way, the message is still the same. My music is about life and many different angles on love. I write about honesty and bravery and some of my more unique perspectives.

AVB: You’re good at promoting different kinds of events, your own events and other people’s events.

JR: Yeah, that’s fun! I would like to do that for a living. If I never make it big with my art, I would love to be an event planner.

AVB: Tell me about some of the shows you’ve put together recently. Any upcoming shows you’d like to share?

JR: We have some great ones coming up. One of the most exciting events is on the 19th of February at my gallery. It’s right next to Valentines Day, so I was thinking about making the theme “love”. I don’t want people to think I’m fluffy, so I changed it to more brutal, heart-wrenching viewpoint. I named it “Barbecue My Heart”, and we’re going to feature paintings on the theme of love as well as barbecue real (non-human) hearts. I have a ton of artists who are contributing, and they’re all contributing only one piece, which I feel is the best way because you only get one chance to make a statement. I try to pick a charity that seems appropriate so this month all donations go towards research for children’s heart disease.

The most recent show was also a gallery show and a fundraiser. It was the third Saturday of January. We raised money for human rights awareness and had a great time.

AVB: You had a solo show here in the Santora a few months back, you had your art, and you performed as well…

JR: That was really cool, it was really exciting. It turned out to be kind of a big deal, and I guess when we first started planning it I didn’t think that many people would come. I was talking to some of the gallery owners and they wanted to do a joint feature kind of thing where they all featured different paintings of mine. The problem was that in looking at my work and trying to find a central unifying theme, we got lost. My paintings don’t have one theme, they’re all over the map and I haven’t found my particular style or voice so it can appear scattered and random at times. We eventually had an idea to use that to our advantage. Instead of trying to create “The Blue Period” or something, we thought, “What if we just bring it ALL?” I do want my work to be representative of myself and I do have many different ideas, intense ideas that can seem to go off in every direction at once. We decided to showcase that exact concept and hope that people would take from it what they would. We went down to my house and took maybe 200 canvases and just hung ALL of them. So that wall was packed (at MC Gallery) and same here (at Giamour Gallery). I also created a community art project with paints, pens, markers, and crayons where everyone could contribute. Moises, my mentor, pushed me to perform my music at the event as well, which I ended up doing. It was a great success.

AVB: Can you talk a bit about the Pacific Symphony piano you painted for the Artists Village?

JR: I love it! When I first heard about the project I was like, “Meeeee! Pick me, pick me…I hope they pick me”; I was such a nerd about it. I emailed Kelly, the director, and I sent her this loooong email…“I would just LOVE to be included in this project, blah blah blah, here’s all the reasons why…” The real thrill of the project hit me when I first entered the Pacific Symphony warehouse (where the piano was painted). It had about 10,000 music stands and 10,000 copies of Beethoven sheet music. You just walk through the door and are overwhelmed by the collection of pianos. I have a vivid memory of walking through the door and seeing all of these pianos with all of these artists in front of each one. They were so “in the zone”. I love when people are “in the zone”, living out their passion and being competent. Everyone was so focused; it was truly a joy. To be honest, I felt like most of them were more qualified than me, artistically. I arrived and just kinda sidled around and said, “Well, you guys are doing great, you guys are doing a really good job…I’m just gonna have to…take my piano outside…‘cause I can’t handle so much pressure.” I didn’t want everyone looking at me! I only like to work alone. I ended up literally wheeling my huge piano OUT of the warehouse and way out into the parking lot just to get some privacy. I really love working with spray paint so I decided to use that as my medium on the piano. Spray paint is, well, not necessarily looked down upon, but it’s definitely an immature form of art by most people’s standards. I thought, “If I feel insecure and young, then I should use that to my advantage.” I wanted to harness my youthfulness and the energy of my nerves. I decided to spray paint the whole thing, and I love it. My piano isn’t my favorite of them all, but I’m still really proud about it.

AVB: I noticed all the handprints on it, is there a certain meaning to that?

JR: Basically my concept is that each hand represents all the different hands of people who contribute to the artistic process. For example, a mentor, an art teacher, a friend or a loved one, can all directly affect and inspire you. More specifically I’d say that the music I write is inspired by the highs and lows of love, and that when I write a song it’s always about someone, usually about a lover. I meditated on the meaning of that influence. I like to think about how the people I have met have directly affected my experiences and my art. The best part about those hands is that I used a really strong metallic gold. They are really BRIGHT gold, really vivid. I can’t wait to have the piano back out in the sunlight because, wow, when I see the gilded keys with rays of sun on them it takes my breath away. The shine is exactly as I intended.

AVB: You’re also a teacher, what inspires you to teach?

JR: It’s easy because English is my passion. Definitely what inspires me is the language itself. In real life I’m okay at communicating effectively, but through the written word I can really get my point across, really nail it. It’s gotten me pretty much every good opportunity I’ve ever had. I really want to afford that ability to other kids. My kids may not be the best at math (I hope I’m not projecting my own inadequacies, sometimes I worry about that), but they are damn good writers. I’m so proud of them.

AVB: The Art Walk is coming up for the month of February, do you have anything planned for that?

JR: I plan to do a full set, probably an hour of performing on my painted piano. I want to make it fanciful. I designed, sewed and painted a dress to match the piano, and I’ll be wearing that when I perform. Along with some fairy wings. We’ll have fun. I like to dress up and show everybody a good time.

Pacific Symphony’s “OC, Can You Play?” piano painted by Joni is currently on display inside the historic Santora Building from January 16th to February 7th, 2011. Special musical performance by the artist this Saturday, February 5th at 8pm during the Downtown Art Walk on the Artists Village Promenade (Second Street between Broadway & Sycamore in Santa Ana).

The Joni Renee Gallery is located at: 923 East Santa Ana Boulevard in Santa Ana. “Barbecue My Heart Gallery Exhibit and Art Party” February 19th at 6 PM during the Santiago Lofts Art Walk.