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Featured Guest:
Zena Frey Artist zenafrey.com @zenafreyart Published August 31, 2025 In this episode of Wisdom for Wannabes, host Jackie Morreale interviews artist Zena Frey, who shares her artistic journey from Montreal to New York City. Zena discusses her passion for art, the influence of her family, and the importance of authenticity in her work. She also talks about her recent e-commerce launch, her inspirations, and the significance of community in the art world. Zena emphasizes the importance of following one's heart in art and life, encouraging others to embrace their creative journeys. Listen to/watch the full podcast recording, or read the transcript below: |
Full Interview with Artist Zena Frey:
"It's a wonderful thing that you could start over and create a new life [in art]."
- Zena Frey (Wisdom for Wannabes episode 20, 21:01)
Great quotes from the interview with Zena Frey:
(More great quotes throughout the transcript in pink below.)
- "Don't paint for your audience."
- "Just do it. Take the plunge."
- "The journey is the best."
(More great quotes throughout the transcript in pink below.)
Zena Frey
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Key Takeaways:
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Interview Transcript:
Jackie Morreale (00:00): Hello and welcome to Wisdom for Wannabes, a new podcast series that seeks to discover wise words. I'm the host, Jackie Morreale, and it is my pleasure to introduce a very special guest today, artist, Zena Frey. Welcome, Zena!
Zena Frey is an artist and illustrator born in Montreal, Canada. She was raised by fashion and refined by the city that never sleeps. After launching a career in New York's home decor world, where her eye for detail earned her accolades, she began channeling that same reverence into her artwork. Today, Zena splits her time between the rhythm of New York City and the stillness of the Palm Desert, creating illustrations that echo the grace of centuries old fashion and the silent poetry of global sculpture. Each piece is housed in a vintage frame sourced from historic collections across New York City to California and Europe, turning her work into timeless artifacts of beauty, memory, and story. Art collectors can follow Zena Frey at Zena Frey Art on Instagram or explore her work at her recently launched website, zenafry.com.
Zena, I want to be better at art and painting and expression like you. I look forward to learning more about you as an artist and your artistic journey today. Let's start off the interview with some background questions. So can you please tell us your full name, where you're from and where you live and work now?
Zena Frey (01:23): Thank you. So nice to be here. Sure. My full name is Zena Frey, or Zena Buchwald Frey, which was my maiden name, and I'm from Montreal. I moved to New York to go to college and study fashion illustration at age 20. I'd done two years of college in Montreal. I moved to New York because it was a place to be to study fashion, right?
Jackie Morreale (01:58): What do you do and what is your passion?
Zena Frey (02:01): I'm a painter and my passion is many forms of art. I used to love to dance. My parents were very encouraging of me to do my art, to study dance, to express myself through painting. I can remember as young as six, seven years old where they put me into classes and just said, go do your thing. They were extremely encouraging.
Jackie Morreale (02:32): Your parents have always been encouraging of you as an artist and painting and dance.
Zena Frey (02:35): Yeah, they did, which isn't really a practical profession for many people, but you can make it, especially in the commercial world, if you decide to take that route, which I ended up having to do to raise a family.
Of course you could make money in art.
Everything you see purchased in a store requires packaging or a logo... all required an artist to create that. Art is part of our life whether we're aware of it or not.
Jackie Morreale (03:04): Absolutely, I agree wholeheartedly, and I love that what I'm hearing is that what you do, painting and art, is your passion. That is the holy grail that what you do, and your passion are the same thing. I'm so happy for you and you're so talented. So obviously that was the only choice that your parents had to support and how to support a family and everything that you've done, and all the accolades.
So how long have you been an artist?
Zena Frey (03:31): I'd say since I was a young child, I was an artist. I don't think I recognized it, but looking back now at this stage of my life, yeah, I've been an artist my whole life, yes. Because when it is, yeah, when it's in your heart and it's something that you need to do to express yourself, you just keep doing it.
Jackie Morreale (03:43): Your whole life. Absolutely. That's just your purpose.
What is your favorite part about being an artist?
Zena Frey (03:57): I think it really gives me a sense of peace because I'm with myself and it's sort of meditative. I don't really focus, now that I'm doing it full time. Although I was, again in the commercial world for about 30 years, I was an art director, and I was an artist in art departments as well.
My favorite part is you have an idea in your head, and you could picture it as you're laying down or resting. This really is inspiring to me, or you have this spark of an idea, and then you sit down, and you let it just organically happen. And You see the proof of it on paper or on canvas or in anything that you build with your hands is a very satisfying journey.
Jackie Morreale (04:46): What I'm hearing is when you have some sort of a task, whether it's in an art department or a painting idea that you have, when you have something and you're just thinking about it all the time, you're lying there in bed and you're creating it and then you can physically put it on paper or on canvas or on a shirt or whatever. It's a very satisfying feeling to be a creator. I'm learning so much from you, Zena Frey. I can't wait to find out more about you and your process.
Let's continue with some quickfire questions to learn more about you. What is your favorite city?
Zena Frey (05:12): I would say immediately London, but honestly, my favorite city is the last city I've been to. I get so into it and I'm excited about a new city. I say, This is my favorite city.
Jackie Morreale (05:34): The people? Is it about the clothes? Is it about the art scene or the food, everything?
Zena Frey (05:39): Everything. All of the above.
Jackie Morreale (05:44): What is your favorite book?
Zena Frey (05:47): If I had to think about a book that really impacted me, I read it about 20 years ago, was She's Come Undone, by Wally Lamb. That was a good book. I liked it.
Jackie Morreale (05:58): Add that to my list I have not read that book, She's Come Undone. Are there any art books that inspire your technique or any artists that you really appreciate their work?
Zena Frey (06:09): Well, I have my favorite. My favorite, favorite artist is Toulouse-Lautrec. I just love his work and I love French posters. He depicts the nightlife in Paris or in the bistros. How he draws, part of it is finished and part of it is loose, and the paper speaks. Especially when he uses the brown paper, it adds warmth to the painting. I love that it's not all entirely covered.
Jackie Morreale (06:37): Toulouse-Lautrec is known for his French style and posters and many portraits and iconic fashion style women, right?
Zena Frey (06:46): Yeah. His style evokes a lot of emotion in me. I find it very raw. I love it.
Jackie Morreale (06:55): Do you speak French? I know you're from Montreal. Do you speak French, Zena? Do you find that the French culture or French-Canadian culture has inspired any of your work or your preference for this artist?
Zena Frey (06:57): A little bit. For Toulouse-Lautrec? My mother loved him. She bought a book for me on his art when I was young, before I went to college, I was a teenager. Montreal, at least when I grew up, is an extremely stylish city. Have you been to Montreal?
Jackie Morreale (07:23): I have. It's beautiful. I don't speak French. I wish I did. It's, to me, very European and beautiful.
Zena Frey (07:33): Very European and my mother owned a shop on St. Catherine Street, which is the main drag in Montreal. I was very influenced by her taste level and the fashion she carried. I used to work in her store. I remember coming into her store one day and saying, Mom, I'm going to FIT, and that was a decision.
Jackie Morreale (07:51): That was it. It was in your blood, right? That was it. Love it. I had no idea that your mom had a shop on the main drag in Montreal selling women's fashion.
Zena Frey (07:54): Totally. Yes.
Jackie Morreale (08:04): Let's get back to the quickfire questions. Favorite muse?
Zena Frey (08:07): Probably would have to be my mother. She passed a few years ago, but that's another reason why I love painting so much. My mother started painting in her 60s. She never painted before, but she had that amazing flair for fashion. You think I'm prolific? As far as quantity of what I do? She created more between the years of that one decade, hundreds of paintings, hundreds, and never painted before. She was phenomenal. She had it in her and maybe that's why she encouraged me, because she didn't have those opportunities when she was younger.
Jackie Morreale (08:45): She just had it in her and needed to let it out.
Zena Frey (08:54): This is her way of maybe reliving some of her own passions through me. Her whole style was incredible. I think I see that it's coming through in my work. She's with me is basically what I was trying to say.
She's with me. Remember when you interviewed Stephen Gonsalves and he said, when he walks through the city or when he's painting, he thinks about his father. Another Canadian, right? Oh, yeah, he's amazing.
Jackie Morreale (09:13): Yes! Another Canadian and super talented artist just like you. The connection is amazing that you just brought up Stephen Gonsalves and his dad. Wow.
Zena Frey (09:30): Yeah. And when I listened to your podcast about Steven, I was like, that's me.
Jackie Morreale (09:35): I think that relationships are so important with artists. There are highs and there's lows and maybe there's dark places. But if you have somebody who's supporting you with that kind of fire, to make sure that you get your ideas on paper, I think that's a beautiful thing, especially if it's someone who's related to you. What was your mom's name?
Zena Frey (09:44): For sure. Toby.
Jackie Morreale (10:00): Have you ever sketched Toby? I'm just curious.
Zena Frey (10:03): I have! When I left the company I was working for, I think she was one of my first paintings, but my style has evolved. I would have to say I have to give it another try. I'm a bit more particular now. It's refining as I go.
Jackie Morreale (10:22): I would be curious to take the one from a couple of years ago or 20 years ago and then compare it to your style now. It's so beautiful. We'll have to see what becomes. But I think Toby would be a beautiful portrait from you. I know it would be. What is your favorite place to create?
Zena Frey (10:26): I think anywhere where I see nature. If I'm in my studio, I lift my blinds up and I have a beautiful view with all the gorgeous trees that are blooming now and the flowers. I like looking at nature and when I'm in California, I'm looking at mountains. Can't beat that.
(Continued below)
Zena Frey is an artist and illustrator born in Montreal, Canada. She was raised by fashion and refined by the city that never sleeps. After launching a career in New York's home decor world, where her eye for detail earned her accolades, she began channeling that same reverence into her artwork. Today, Zena splits her time between the rhythm of New York City and the stillness of the Palm Desert, creating illustrations that echo the grace of centuries old fashion and the silent poetry of global sculpture. Each piece is housed in a vintage frame sourced from historic collections across New York City to California and Europe, turning her work into timeless artifacts of beauty, memory, and story. Art collectors can follow Zena Frey at Zena Frey Art on Instagram or explore her work at her recently launched website, zenafry.com.
Zena, I want to be better at art and painting and expression like you. I look forward to learning more about you as an artist and your artistic journey today. Let's start off the interview with some background questions. So can you please tell us your full name, where you're from and where you live and work now?
Zena Frey (01:23): Thank you. So nice to be here. Sure. My full name is Zena Frey, or Zena Buchwald Frey, which was my maiden name, and I'm from Montreal. I moved to New York to go to college and study fashion illustration at age 20. I'd done two years of college in Montreal. I moved to New York because it was a place to be to study fashion, right?
Jackie Morreale (01:58): What do you do and what is your passion?
Zena Frey (02:01): I'm a painter and my passion is many forms of art. I used to love to dance. My parents were very encouraging of me to do my art, to study dance, to express myself through painting. I can remember as young as six, seven years old where they put me into classes and just said, go do your thing. They were extremely encouraging.
Jackie Morreale (02:32): Your parents have always been encouraging of you as an artist and painting and dance.
Zena Frey (02:35): Yeah, they did, which isn't really a practical profession for many people, but you can make it, especially in the commercial world, if you decide to take that route, which I ended up having to do to raise a family.
Of course you could make money in art.
Everything you see purchased in a store requires packaging or a logo... all required an artist to create that. Art is part of our life whether we're aware of it or not.
Jackie Morreale (03:04): Absolutely, I agree wholeheartedly, and I love that what I'm hearing is that what you do, painting and art, is your passion. That is the holy grail that what you do, and your passion are the same thing. I'm so happy for you and you're so talented. So obviously that was the only choice that your parents had to support and how to support a family and everything that you've done, and all the accolades.
So how long have you been an artist?
Zena Frey (03:31): I'd say since I was a young child, I was an artist. I don't think I recognized it, but looking back now at this stage of my life, yeah, I've been an artist my whole life, yes. Because when it is, yeah, when it's in your heart and it's something that you need to do to express yourself, you just keep doing it.
Jackie Morreale (03:43): Your whole life. Absolutely. That's just your purpose.
What is your favorite part about being an artist?
Zena Frey (03:57): I think it really gives me a sense of peace because I'm with myself and it's sort of meditative. I don't really focus, now that I'm doing it full time. Although I was, again in the commercial world for about 30 years, I was an art director, and I was an artist in art departments as well.
My favorite part is you have an idea in your head, and you could picture it as you're laying down or resting. This really is inspiring to me, or you have this spark of an idea, and then you sit down, and you let it just organically happen. And You see the proof of it on paper or on canvas or in anything that you build with your hands is a very satisfying journey.
Jackie Morreale (04:46): What I'm hearing is when you have some sort of a task, whether it's in an art department or a painting idea that you have, when you have something and you're just thinking about it all the time, you're lying there in bed and you're creating it and then you can physically put it on paper or on canvas or on a shirt or whatever. It's a very satisfying feeling to be a creator. I'm learning so much from you, Zena Frey. I can't wait to find out more about you and your process.
Let's continue with some quickfire questions to learn more about you. What is your favorite city?
Zena Frey (05:12): I would say immediately London, but honestly, my favorite city is the last city I've been to. I get so into it and I'm excited about a new city. I say, This is my favorite city.
Jackie Morreale (05:34): The people? Is it about the clothes? Is it about the art scene or the food, everything?
Zena Frey (05:39): Everything. All of the above.
Jackie Morreale (05:44): What is your favorite book?
Zena Frey (05:47): If I had to think about a book that really impacted me, I read it about 20 years ago, was She's Come Undone, by Wally Lamb. That was a good book. I liked it.
Jackie Morreale (05:58): Add that to my list I have not read that book, She's Come Undone. Are there any art books that inspire your technique or any artists that you really appreciate their work?
Zena Frey (06:09): Well, I have my favorite. My favorite, favorite artist is Toulouse-Lautrec. I just love his work and I love French posters. He depicts the nightlife in Paris or in the bistros. How he draws, part of it is finished and part of it is loose, and the paper speaks. Especially when he uses the brown paper, it adds warmth to the painting. I love that it's not all entirely covered.
Jackie Morreale (06:37): Toulouse-Lautrec is known for his French style and posters and many portraits and iconic fashion style women, right?
Zena Frey (06:46): Yeah. His style evokes a lot of emotion in me. I find it very raw. I love it.
Jackie Morreale (06:55): Do you speak French? I know you're from Montreal. Do you speak French, Zena? Do you find that the French culture or French-Canadian culture has inspired any of your work or your preference for this artist?
Zena Frey (06:57): A little bit. For Toulouse-Lautrec? My mother loved him. She bought a book for me on his art when I was young, before I went to college, I was a teenager. Montreal, at least when I grew up, is an extremely stylish city. Have you been to Montreal?
Jackie Morreale (07:23): I have. It's beautiful. I don't speak French. I wish I did. It's, to me, very European and beautiful.
Zena Frey (07:33): Very European and my mother owned a shop on St. Catherine Street, which is the main drag in Montreal. I was very influenced by her taste level and the fashion she carried. I used to work in her store. I remember coming into her store one day and saying, Mom, I'm going to FIT, and that was a decision.
Jackie Morreale (07:51): That was it. It was in your blood, right? That was it. Love it. I had no idea that your mom had a shop on the main drag in Montreal selling women's fashion.
Zena Frey (07:54): Totally. Yes.
Jackie Morreale (08:04): Let's get back to the quickfire questions. Favorite muse?
Zena Frey (08:07): Probably would have to be my mother. She passed a few years ago, but that's another reason why I love painting so much. My mother started painting in her 60s. She never painted before, but she had that amazing flair for fashion. You think I'm prolific? As far as quantity of what I do? She created more between the years of that one decade, hundreds of paintings, hundreds, and never painted before. She was phenomenal. She had it in her and maybe that's why she encouraged me, because she didn't have those opportunities when she was younger.
Jackie Morreale (08:45): She just had it in her and needed to let it out.
Zena Frey (08:54): This is her way of maybe reliving some of her own passions through me. Her whole style was incredible. I think I see that it's coming through in my work. She's with me is basically what I was trying to say.
She's with me. Remember when you interviewed Stephen Gonsalves and he said, when he walks through the city or when he's painting, he thinks about his father. Another Canadian, right? Oh, yeah, he's amazing.
Jackie Morreale (09:13): Yes! Another Canadian and super talented artist just like you. The connection is amazing that you just brought up Stephen Gonsalves and his dad. Wow.
Zena Frey (09:30): Yeah. And when I listened to your podcast about Steven, I was like, that's me.
Jackie Morreale (09:35): I think that relationships are so important with artists. There are highs and there's lows and maybe there's dark places. But if you have somebody who's supporting you with that kind of fire, to make sure that you get your ideas on paper, I think that's a beautiful thing, especially if it's someone who's related to you. What was your mom's name?
Zena Frey (09:44): For sure. Toby.
Jackie Morreale (10:00): Have you ever sketched Toby? I'm just curious.
Zena Frey (10:03): I have! When I left the company I was working for, I think she was one of my first paintings, but my style has evolved. I would have to say I have to give it another try. I'm a bit more particular now. It's refining as I go.
Jackie Morreale (10:22): I would be curious to take the one from a couple of years ago or 20 years ago and then compare it to your style now. It's so beautiful. We'll have to see what becomes. But I think Toby would be a beautiful portrait from you. I know it would be. What is your favorite place to create?
Zena Frey (10:26): I think anywhere where I see nature. If I'm in my studio, I lift my blinds up and I have a beautiful view with all the gorgeous trees that are blooming now and the flowers. I like looking at nature and when I'm in California, I'm looking at mountains. Can't beat that.
(Continued below)
Original Artwork by Zena Frey:
Copyright Zena Frey.
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Copyright Zena Frey.
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(Continued)
Jackie Morreale (10:58): Love it. I know that you are an artist who does people, well, portraits so beautifully. Do you ever paint or sketch what you see outside, landscapes?
Zena Frey (11:10): No, people. I did study fashion illustration. I think that's probably why.
Jackie Morreale (11:16): People are so interesting and so hard to draw and you capture every mood and every emotion and every fleck of excitement or subtle thing on their face. It's beautiful. Anyway, we talked about your favorite place to create, right? Your favorite places, your studio and close to nature so that you can feel all the good feels of that.
Your favorite artist we talked about was Toulouse-Lautrec...
Zena Frey (11:42): I actually painted two paintings that put a little Klimt in them. I love his style. I love the layers of the gold and the jewels and the depth to his paintings are beautiful.
Jackie Morreale (11:56): Very dreamlike, beautiful faces and portraits.
Zena Frey (12:00): Yes. There's an exhibit. It was in New York City of just Klimt's work and it was very immersive. It was all over the walls, the floor, you were completely immersed in his art.
Jackie Morreale (12:11): Must have gone and felt like, this is what heaven is, right? Just be surrounded by this beautiful dreamlike portraiture. It must have been amazing. How often do you go to galleries in New York for inspiration?
Zena Frey (12:14): I try to go a few times a month to feel inspired and just, to revel in all the amazing things that people do.
Jackie Morreale (12:32): What is your favorite period of time or style in art history?
Zena Frey (12:37): It's post-impressionism, Matisse, Lautrec, all those artists worked in Paris. I love that time. I love all the characters you see.
Jackie Morreale (12:48): I think it shows in your work. Who is your favorite modern designer? It could be for home textiles or fashion if you have one.
Zena Frey (12:55): I would say it's Nate Berkus. I love that he merges vintage framing, vintage pieces along with his more modern and clean way of decorating. It just works. He's very talented.
Jackie Morreale (13:17): I think he's very talented too. He's been in interviews and quite personable too and had a line at Target and a show.
Zena Frey (13:23): Yes. That may be another reason why I like him because he is so likable.
Jackie Morreale (13:29): I see all those things coming for www.zenafrey.com and all your lines of portraiture. It's there and it's coming so I'm excited for you. Let's talk more about your website launch.
You just launched this new ecommerce website www.zenafrey.com. It's a place where art enthusiasts can purchase your original artwork in these frames that you've selected, these vintage frames. You have fashion illustrations and more, all designed by you. How did this come about that you felt that we needed a website to house all this beautiful original artwork for you and get them directly to your art collectors?
Zena Frey (13:55): I did originally have just Instagram when I started to do this. Thank you.
Jackie Morreale (14:15): Yes, it’s amazing and it has a huge following and the art enthusiasm is there. I love seeing your process and I love seeing your hand sketch and all the different beautiful works that you have. You're so prolific. It's amazing. How did this amazing Instagram following become www.zenafrey.com?
Zena Frey (14:25): Well, it was simply, the public asked for it.
I just finished my second season of doing art shows in California in Palm Desert. People would ask me at my booth. They purchase something, they go, I'm leaving California. How do I buy more of your art? Do you have a website? I'd always say, no, I don't have a website, but I'll see you next year. I came home after my last trip and I said, that's it. I have to launch a website.
I felt like it solidifies who you are. It just gives you more of a presence as an artist if you have a website. If they bought a couple of pieces of mine and down the road they wanted to buy a gift for someone because my prices are very attainable, they're not expensive, because I again, I just love what I'm doing, so the money is definitely secondary.
For me, to have somebody buy a piece of mine that's affordable and hang it in their home, and hanging an original piece, is the gift that I get. It's not the $60 or $100 or $200 that I get out of the painting. I really do feel that way. I'm making someone happy.
Jackie Morreale (15:45): I have seen your work up on the wall at my mother's home and she has the two fashion illustration pieces and beautiful vintage gray frames and they just make the room. They really bring this sense of style that it didn't have before those two pieces. I think you really are giving your gift to the world in this way. Whether it's for your own home or for a gift, it's a personal thing. All your pieces, you're really pouring your talent and your vision and your style into them. I love to see it on the website. I love to see it live.
I love that the website is bringing this beauty to the world. Thank you for taking the time to create it. That's beautiful. And also to take the time to record yourself while you're sketching and share it. Because that really is kind of insider personal information. Everybody has their own process on how they do things. But seeing you paint and sketch with pastels or charcoal, it really makes the pieces come to life and understand the hand creation vision process that you go through to create.
We just talked about why you launched now. What was the inspiration and why show how you make the secret sauce? How did that all come to be that you decided to show some of the making of videos?
Zena Frey (17:12): I think that's very exciting for someone to see the process. It's also a study of myself. How did I approach this? Because once it's done, it's done. In school, many, many years ago, they taught us, the fashion industry moves so fast. If you're an illustrator in the fashion industry, you have to capture when a model walks down the runway within three, four minutes. That's how they trained us in school. The model's up on the podium, get her in three, and they'd have a timer on, the bell would go off, you have got to rip the page off, start anew. I was so conditioned, now, of course, I moved into the world of computers and doing graphic art for 30 years, and all of that went to bed, rested, and now that I have this time, it's just reawakening that style again. I got an opportunity and I'm so blessed for it, grateful that I can do this now. I went back to my old way of learning how to draw. The teachers were a very strong influence on me.
Jackie Morreale (18:05): You went to FIT in New York City? I took a couple of illustration courses at FIT back in the day, their style is their own. It's so interesting how you've taken this fashion training and vision and transformed it into something that is fine art and beautiful.
Zena Frey (18:33): Exactly. What I do in my studio is do a few days of painting, and then I say, okay, I have got to stop.
I have to loosen up my hands and not think too much. Should I shade it this way, should I shade it that way, back, and just go into more spontaneous drawing, because that's my root. That's who I am.
That was how I studied and I loved it. I've had a lot of fond memories of that time in my life. It's part of your ritual for the week. I always go back once or twice a week to do the pastel art sketches. It’s uninhibited. Whatever happens, happens.
Jackie Morreale (19:08): It's like an adventure on paper, right? You just take your tools and you're just trained to do this, and you just do it.
Zena Frey (19:20): Yeah, and I have to say after six sketches, I'm sweating. I'm hot. It's a workout.
Jackie Morreale (19:28): I love talking to you, Zena, you're so in tune with yourself. You're doing your life's purpose. It's so inspiring. It's amazing.
Zena Frey (19:37): I am. Thank you. Well, I think a lot of people who were in the commercial world, lose a bit of yourself slowly. If you stay at one company for 20 years, you start doing really what the owners want, what the customers want, what the buyers want, and you lose some of yourself. This is again a very special time for me where I could come back to me.
Jackie Morreale (20:03): Yes, and people love it. I'm so impressed to see you're authentically doing yourself and everything that you do day by day, week by week. You have this presence in New York, this presence in Montreal, on the West Coast, in La Quinta, California, and in Europe. Now you have this website that can spread this beauty throughout the world!
Zena Frey (20:13): Week by week, it's a ritual. It is a labor of love, really. It's a love letter to my mother and to the people who like my work, because it's first a love letter to myself. Yeah. Always remember that.
Jackie Morreale (20:37): To yourself. So inspiring. I feel something. Thank you.
Zena Frey (20:43): What I do want to say, since we're on this subject: I'm turning 66 in September (thank you!) and I left my job, I'd say I was almost 65. Ageism was an issue in the commercial world. I felt it, I experienced it, and it's real. I'm sure actresses find it, and other careers where people experience it. I can imagine it's across the board.
My message is to women, and men, but I think my work speaks mostly to women. I'm making tons of friends through my work with other artists who do have their own style. There is no ageism here.
It's a wonderful thing that you could start over and create a new life [in art].
There's a little bit of grieving when you walk away from a career that you knew and you did. You say goodbye to it, and there's like a slight mourning period, but then there's a rebirth. I love is making connections with these women and encouraging them. I was a cheerleader at work for the younger people that came into my department, the younger artists, and I feel like that's my mission here too. You could do it.
Jackie Morreale (22:03): That is amazing. How do you feel now a year later, after that period of rebirth? Do you feel like a different person?
Zena Frey (22:11): I do. I feel like there's a spring in my step. I have redefined myself. I feel younger.
Jackie Morreale (22:16): You've completely redefined yourself. You look amazing, your work's amazing. Everybody loves it. It's literally off the shelves and you're connecting with people in a different way. Just by being yourself. I love that message.
As a creative person, as a woman, I agree. I think ageism is rampant and we're always on the cusp of newness and, especially with technology, trying to keep up with what the newest thing is. But when you have talent and work and drive like you do, it's exactly it. Why not? You have this vision, you have something to share and it's beautiful.
(Continued below)
Jackie Morreale (10:58): Love it. I know that you are an artist who does people, well, portraits so beautifully. Do you ever paint or sketch what you see outside, landscapes?
Zena Frey (11:10): No, people. I did study fashion illustration. I think that's probably why.
Jackie Morreale (11:16): People are so interesting and so hard to draw and you capture every mood and every emotion and every fleck of excitement or subtle thing on their face. It's beautiful. Anyway, we talked about your favorite place to create, right? Your favorite places, your studio and close to nature so that you can feel all the good feels of that.
Your favorite artist we talked about was Toulouse-Lautrec...
Zena Frey (11:42): I actually painted two paintings that put a little Klimt in them. I love his style. I love the layers of the gold and the jewels and the depth to his paintings are beautiful.
Jackie Morreale (11:56): Very dreamlike, beautiful faces and portraits.
Zena Frey (12:00): Yes. There's an exhibit. It was in New York City of just Klimt's work and it was very immersive. It was all over the walls, the floor, you were completely immersed in his art.
Jackie Morreale (12:11): Must have gone and felt like, this is what heaven is, right? Just be surrounded by this beautiful dreamlike portraiture. It must have been amazing. How often do you go to galleries in New York for inspiration?
Zena Frey (12:14): I try to go a few times a month to feel inspired and just, to revel in all the amazing things that people do.
Jackie Morreale (12:32): What is your favorite period of time or style in art history?
Zena Frey (12:37): It's post-impressionism, Matisse, Lautrec, all those artists worked in Paris. I love that time. I love all the characters you see.
Jackie Morreale (12:48): I think it shows in your work. Who is your favorite modern designer? It could be for home textiles or fashion if you have one.
Zena Frey (12:55): I would say it's Nate Berkus. I love that he merges vintage framing, vintage pieces along with his more modern and clean way of decorating. It just works. He's very talented.
Jackie Morreale (13:17): I think he's very talented too. He's been in interviews and quite personable too and had a line at Target and a show.
Zena Frey (13:23): Yes. That may be another reason why I like him because he is so likable.
Jackie Morreale (13:29): I see all those things coming for www.zenafrey.com and all your lines of portraiture. It's there and it's coming so I'm excited for you. Let's talk more about your website launch.
You just launched this new ecommerce website www.zenafrey.com. It's a place where art enthusiasts can purchase your original artwork in these frames that you've selected, these vintage frames. You have fashion illustrations and more, all designed by you. How did this come about that you felt that we needed a website to house all this beautiful original artwork for you and get them directly to your art collectors?
Zena Frey (13:55): I did originally have just Instagram when I started to do this. Thank you.
Jackie Morreale (14:15): Yes, it’s amazing and it has a huge following and the art enthusiasm is there. I love seeing your process and I love seeing your hand sketch and all the different beautiful works that you have. You're so prolific. It's amazing. How did this amazing Instagram following become www.zenafrey.com?
Zena Frey (14:25): Well, it was simply, the public asked for it.
I just finished my second season of doing art shows in California in Palm Desert. People would ask me at my booth. They purchase something, they go, I'm leaving California. How do I buy more of your art? Do you have a website? I'd always say, no, I don't have a website, but I'll see you next year. I came home after my last trip and I said, that's it. I have to launch a website.
I felt like it solidifies who you are. It just gives you more of a presence as an artist if you have a website. If they bought a couple of pieces of mine and down the road they wanted to buy a gift for someone because my prices are very attainable, they're not expensive, because I again, I just love what I'm doing, so the money is definitely secondary.
For me, to have somebody buy a piece of mine that's affordable and hang it in their home, and hanging an original piece, is the gift that I get. It's not the $60 or $100 or $200 that I get out of the painting. I really do feel that way. I'm making someone happy.
Jackie Morreale (15:45): I have seen your work up on the wall at my mother's home and she has the two fashion illustration pieces and beautiful vintage gray frames and they just make the room. They really bring this sense of style that it didn't have before those two pieces. I think you really are giving your gift to the world in this way. Whether it's for your own home or for a gift, it's a personal thing. All your pieces, you're really pouring your talent and your vision and your style into them. I love to see it on the website. I love to see it live.
I love that the website is bringing this beauty to the world. Thank you for taking the time to create it. That's beautiful. And also to take the time to record yourself while you're sketching and share it. Because that really is kind of insider personal information. Everybody has their own process on how they do things. But seeing you paint and sketch with pastels or charcoal, it really makes the pieces come to life and understand the hand creation vision process that you go through to create.
We just talked about why you launched now. What was the inspiration and why show how you make the secret sauce? How did that all come to be that you decided to show some of the making of videos?
Zena Frey (17:12): I think that's very exciting for someone to see the process. It's also a study of myself. How did I approach this? Because once it's done, it's done. In school, many, many years ago, they taught us, the fashion industry moves so fast. If you're an illustrator in the fashion industry, you have to capture when a model walks down the runway within three, four minutes. That's how they trained us in school. The model's up on the podium, get her in three, and they'd have a timer on, the bell would go off, you have got to rip the page off, start anew. I was so conditioned, now, of course, I moved into the world of computers and doing graphic art for 30 years, and all of that went to bed, rested, and now that I have this time, it's just reawakening that style again. I got an opportunity and I'm so blessed for it, grateful that I can do this now. I went back to my old way of learning how to draw. The teachers were a very strong influence on me.
Jackie Morreale (18:05): You went to FIT in New York City? I took a couple of illustration courses at FIT back in the day, their style is their own. It's so interesting how you've taken this fashion training and vision and transformed it into something that is fine art and beautiful.
Zena Frey (18:33): Exactly. What I do in my studio is do a few days of painting, and then I say, okay, I have got to stop.
I have to loosen up my hands and not think too much. Should I shade it this way, should I shade it that way, back, and just go into more spontaneous drawing, because that's my root. That's who I am.
That was how I studied and I loved it. I've had a lot of fond memories of that time in my life. It's part of your ritual for the week. I always go back once or twice a week to do the pastel art sketches. It’s uninhibited. Whatever happens, happens.
Jackie Morreale (19:08): It's like an adventure on paper, right? You just take your tools and you're just trained to do this, and you just do it.
Zena Frey (19:20): Yeah, and I have to say after six sketches, I'm sweating. I'm hot. It's a workout.
Jackie Morreale (19:28): I love talking to you, Zena, you're so in tune with yourself. You're doing your life's purpose. It's so inspiring. It's amazing.
Zena Frey (19:37): I am. Thank you. Well, I think a lot of people who were in the commercial world, lose a bit of yourself slowly. If you stay at one company for 20 years, you start doing really what the owners want, what the customers want, what the buyers want, and you lose some of yourself. This is again a very special time for me where I could come back to me.
Jackie Morreale (20:03): Yes, and people love it. I'm so impressed to see you're authentically doing yourself and everything that you do day by day, week by week. You have this presence in New York, this presence in Montreal, on the West Coast, in La Quinta, California, and in Europe. Now you have this website that can spread this beauty throughout the world!
Zena Frey (20:13): Week by week, it's a ritual. It is a labor of love, really. It's a love letter to my mother and to the people who like my work, because it's first a love letter to myself. Yeah. Always remember that.
Jackie Morreale (20:37): To yourself. So inspiring. I feel something. Thank you.
Zena Frey (20:43): What I do want to say, since we're on this subject: I'm turning 66 in September (thank you!) and I left my job, I'd say I was almost 65. Ageism was an issue in the commercial world. I felt it, I experienced it, and it's real. I'm sure actresses find it, and other careers where people experience it. I can imagine it's across the board.
My message is to women, and men, but I think my work speaks mostly to women. I'm making tons of friends through my work with other artists who do have their own style. There is no ageism here.
It's a wonderful thing that you could start over and create a new life [in art].
There's a little bit of grieving when you walk away from a career that you knew and you did. You say goodbye to it, and there's like a slight mourning period, but then there's a rebirth. I love is making connections with these women and encouraging them. I was a cheerleader at work for the younger people that came into my department, the younger artists, and I feel like that's my mission here too. You could do it.
Jackie Morreale (22:03): That is amazing. How do you feel now a year later, after that period of rebirth? Do you feel like a different person?
Zena Frey (22:11): I do. I feel like there's a spring in my step. I have redefined myself. I feel younger.
Jackie Morreale (22:16): You've completely redefined yourself. You look amazing, your work's amazing. Everybody loves it. It's literally off the shelves and you're connecting with people in a different way. Just by being yourself. I love that message.
As a creative person, as a woman, I agree. I think ageism is rampant and we're always on the cusp of newness and, especially with technology, trying to keep up with what the newest thing is. But when you have talent and work and drive like you do, it's exactly it. Why not? You have this vision, you have something to share and it's beautiful.
(Continued below)
Original Artwork by Zena Frey:
Copyright Zena Frey.
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Copyright Zena Frey.
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(Continued)
Zena Frey (22:51): You can do art into your 90s. Why not? I mean look at Mick Jagger, he's still swinging it on stage. Why can't I?
Jackie Morreale (23:03): Exactly. I completely agree. With any sort of art field, if you're good, you're good. Beauty is universal, right?
Fashion week is your birth month. I'm just picturing you with a sketch pad and your charcoal at every single runway show. You need to be in the front row and capturing this.
Zena Frey (23:15): Well, I need to be invited, unfortunately.
Jackie Morreale (23:27): I'm putting out the call. I don't know what runway shows this needs to be, Zena Frey needs to be there to create this art. Since you need to be in nature and feel the energies, I wonder what your work would look like if you were sitting front row at a Marc Jacobs or whatever show would be inspiring to you.
Zena Frey (23:33): Thank you. I think it would be pretty exciting!
Jackie Morreale (23:49): Let's manifest it. I'm putting it out there. You need to go. You need to be at fashion week for the spring collections.
Speaking of upcoming fashion week, are there any places or live events, coming up soon where art collectors can see your work in person and purchase work? What's kind of on your events calendar for the rest of the year?
Zena Frey (24:06): The rest of the year I'm focusing on creating paintings, sketches, my charcoal sketches and paintings. I keep developing new techniques, new ways of doing my art and in December I leave to go to California to do my first show. I have nine shows lined up.
Jackie Morreale (24:13): So this is through the winter months that you're there in Southern California, in the desert? Good for you.
Zena Frey (24:31): Yes. So I'm booked till May. I'm booked up.
Jackie Morreale (24:37): What is it like being there, and interacting with people who love your work?
Zena Frey (24:40): I'm making friends. It's very gratifying to see somebody so happy buying a piece. It's the best feeling. But I'm also meeting such interesting people from all walks of life. I love being with other artists. We're a row of 100 different artists who all have their own form of expression. It's like you're in a community of love.
Jackie Morreale (25:05): Everybody's there for the same purpose and it's to share their vision, and express themselves. Beautiful.
I know that right now you're in production mode where you're getting all your beautiful stuff on canvases and on paper so that you're ready for these nine shows in California. We've talked about this before, how everything is lined up for a reason, right? And how having that experience at FIT where you're taught you have three minutes to sketch something and you have this process or you and you're in the commercial world where you know your buyer, you know your customer, you know you have a certain timeline. It's gratifying to me to hear your process and how that training that you had now you're applying to your own thing and really, able to create so many beautiful pieces and keep the energy going.
I would love to hear more about your process for making art.
Zena Frey (25:57): Don't paint for your audience. Of course, it's in your mind because you know you have a show and you want people to like your art but you have to express yourself from here.
I think that as long as you're true to yourself and really enjoying what you do, not worrying so much about the outcome. After all, you could always throw out your canvas and just start over.
Don't be judgmental. Be organic and love what you're doing. You can't go wrong. You can't go wrong.
Jackie Morreale (26:34): Let's talk more about your painting style. How would you describe your aesthetic as an artist?
Zena Frey (26:40): Even when I just started FIT, I was always drawn to vintage. I would only wear things from thrift shops. I collected the old wired glasses and I'd wear them. I was always very drawn to a vintage aesthetic, even though I had no idea that down the road, that is actually what would come out of me, but it did.
The colors of the '40s and the '50s. I love the fashion from that era. I love women in big mysterious hats. Most of my women are wearing hats or glasses.
That's something I've always been drawn to. My mother had a collection in her shop that had that kind of aesthetic in her store. It just spoke to me, so I think it's just something from childhood.
Jackie Morreale (27:26): You're from urban Montreal. You had this family business that was the premier shop, the boutique to go to for style. And here you are as this tastemaker in New York City going thrifting for vintage and finding all these beautiful accessories that are one of a kind and really setting trends.
Zena Frey (27:29): Yes. I often purchase the frame first and then the frame tells me what to paint. A lot of artists work on a canvas and then they look to frame it. I love painting on canvases alone, but I also like painting for a particular frame. It's part of my vision.
Jackie Morreale (27:54): All of your frames are vintage. So you're finding these frames, they have history to them. You're not piecing the frames together new and distressing them.
Zena Frey (28:05): No. Interestingly enough in my career, I designed photo frames and the packaging for the photo frames. But they were made in China and often, not saying the name, I would take off the packaging that's on the frame and the whole frame fell apart. I have such appreciation for a frame that holds the test of time; that's well made and it's still here and well crafted and a little worn, not perfect. Love it.
Jackie Morreale (28:47): So this is not only just about the art, the sketching, the painting, this is also about the taste making, finding these unique vintage pieces that will go. Yes. So it's still about the style. It's about the home decor and finding things that make your heart sing. Where do you source these beautiful vintage pieces?
Zena Frey (28:59): They're so expensive in New York. There's some beautiful antique markets in California and I frequent them almost daily. I'm on a treasure hunt. I carve out two hours of my day, get in the car and I go. And San Francisco, too.
Jackie Morreale (29:26): Wow. So when you're there, you are not only selling your pieces, interacting with other artists and customers, you are actively seeking your next collection and all these frames that house your beautiful work?
Zena Frey (29:39): Yes. It's a good life.
Jackie Morreale (29:44): So you go full of artwork and you come back full of frames ready for the next year?
Zena Frey (29:52): If I showed you my studio, you would scream. It's loaded.
Jackie Morreale (29:57): But that's the beauty of it, right? It's inspiration everywhere you look.
Zena Frey (30:05): Yes, and I cover the back of all my frames, so I love framing as well, and I cover the back with all handmade paper. Every piece gets covered, not with craft paper, but handmade paper.
Jackie Morreale (30:09): Beautiful. So if we think about the actual product that somebody would be ordering from www.zenafrey.com, it's something that has a beautiful original handmade piece in it. It's a vintage frame that you've sourced, that's lasted this time and has history to it. Then it's framed and backed with handmade paper. It's just such a quality, beautiful piece. wow. To receive something like that for yourself or to give as a gift is such a special, amazing thing. I'm sure your customers are lifetime loyal customers.
Zena Frey (30:48): Well, it’s just at the beginning, right? Because I just launched it this year, so hopefully it'll grow and you can continue, which will allow me to continue to keep doing what I do.
Jackie Morreale (30:55): Exactly. I see really big things! I'm excited and I'm happy to get you right at the beginning, a year in on this and the recent launch. It's very, very big things.
So we talked about your schooling for fashion illustration. We talked about your aesthetics. Did you study under any mentors or get inspired by any other artists along the way that you might want to shout out?
Zena Frey (31:28): Well, I could say that my first semester at FIT, I'll never forget this teacher. Sometimes it just takes one teacher, you just never forget their words. She was my first semester teacher, and she taught layout design and fashion illustration. Her name was Mrs. Ishikawa.
She really motivated me and she was a very funny lady, very nice and I remember standing nervous at the easel because some of the students in my class had done fashion illustration since high school. They were in School of Art and Design, which was a high school and then went up to FIT. I was a novice, right? And she said, Look at Buchwald. She needs two 18” x 24” sketch pads. Look at her. Her energy. She can't draw it all on one pad. She needs two of them.
She took a real liking to me and my style because she wanted everyone to feel free and energetic. I was just so excited to be there. She lit a fire in me. I would say she was a mentor, and my mother was my mentor, too.
Jackie Morreale (32:36): Amazing to make that connection. She lit a fire! The energy and when you talk about sketching, you can't be confined to just one sketch pad, need two. I love that. That's so unique and amazing. And you're doing it for you.
Zena Frey (32:43): It's very liberating.
Jackie Morreale (33:00): You are the archetype of someone who goes to FIT as a really talented artist, who's really into style and someone who's had this tremendous career of 30 years in commercial home textiles, home decor, and now is able to do it for yourself with that same dynamic energy. I really think that the students at FIT, doing what you did all those years ago would really be inspired by your story and your work.
(Continued below)
Zena Frey (22:51): You can do art into your 90s. Why not? I mean look at Mick Jagger, he's still swinging it on stage. Why can't I?
Jackie Morreale (23:03): Exactly. I completely agree. With any sort of art field, if you're good, you're good. Beauty is universal, right?
Fashion week is your birth month. I'm just picturing you with a sketch pad and your charcoal at every single runway show. You need to be in the front row and capturing this.
Zena Frey (23:15): Well, I need to be invited, unfortunately.
Jackie Morreale (23:27): I'm putting out the call. I don't know what runway shows this needs to be, Zena Frey needs to be there to create this art. Since you need to be in nature and feel the energies, I wonder what your work would look like if you were sitting front row at a Marc Jacobs or whatever show would be inspiring to you.
Zena Frey (23:33): Thank you. I think it would be pretty exciting!
Jackie Morreale (23:49): Let's manifest it. I'm putting it out there. You need to go. You need to be at fashion week for the spring collections.
Speaking of upcoming fashion week, are there any places or live events, coming up soon where art collectors can see your work in person and purchase work? What's kind of on your events calendar for the rest of the year?
Zena Frey (24:06): The rest of the year I'm focusing on creating paintings, sketches, my charcoal sketches and paintings. I keep developing new techniques, new ways of doing my art and in December I leave to go to California to do my first show. I have nine shows lined up.
Jackie Morreale (24:13): So this is through the winter months that you're there in Southern California, in the desert? Good for you.
Zena Frey (24:31): Yes. So I'm booked till May. I'm booked up.
Jackie Morreale (24:37): What is it like being there, and interacting with people who love your work?
Zena Frey (24:40): I'm making friends. It's very gratifying to see somebody so happy buying a piece. It's the best feeling. But I'm also meeting such interesting people from all walks of life. I love being with other artists. We're a row of 100 different artists who all have their own form of expression. It's like you're in a community of love.
Jackie Morreale (25:05): Everybody's there for the same purpose and it's to share their vision, and express themselves. Beautiful.
I know that right now you're in production mode where you're getting all your beautiful stuff on canvases and on paper so that you're ready for these nine shows in California. We've talked about this before, how everything is lined up for a reason, right? And how having that experience at FIT where you're taught you have three minutes to sketch something and you have this process or you and you're in the commercial world where you know your buyer, you know your customer, you know you have a certain timeline. It's gratifying to me to hear your process and how that training that you had now you're applying to your own thing and really, able to create so many beautiful pieces and keep the energy going.
I would love to hear more about your process for making art.
Zena Frey (25:57): Don't paint for your audience. Of course, it's in your mind because you know you have a show and you want people to like your art but you have to express yourself from here.
I think that as long as you're true to yourself and really enjoying what you do, not worrying so much about the outcome. After all, you could always throw out your canvas and just start over.
Don't be judgmental. Be organic and love what you're doing. You can't go wrong. You can't go wrong.
Jackie Morreale (26:34): Let's talk more about your painting style. How would you describe your aesthetic as an artist?
Zena Frey (26:40): Even when I just started FIT, I was always drawn to vintage. I would only wear things from thrift shops. I collected the old wired glasses and I'd wear them. I was always very drawn to a vintage aesthetic, even though I had no idea that down the road, that is actually what would come out of me, but it did.
The colors of the '40s and the '50s. I love the fashion from that era. I love women in big mysterious hats. Most of my women are wearing hats or glasses.
That's something I've always been drawn to. My mother had a collection in her shop that had that kind of aesthetic in her store. It just spoke to me, so I think it's just something from childhood.
Jackie Morreale (27:26): You're from urban Montreal. You had this family business that was the premier shop, the boutique to go to for style. And here you are as this tastemaker in New York City going thrifting for vintage and finding all these beautiful accessories that are one of a kind and really setting trends.
Zena Frey (27:29): Yes. I often purchase the frame first and then the frame tells me what to paint. A lot of artists work on a canvas and then they look to frame it. I love painting on canvases alone, but I also like painting for a particular frame. It's part of my vision.
Jackie Morreale (27:54): All of your frames are vintage. So you're finding these frames, they have history to them. You're not piecing the frames together new and distressing them.
Zena Frey (28:05): No. Interestingly enough in my career, I designed photo frames and the packaging for the photo frames. But they were made in China and often, not saying the name, I would take off the packaging that's on the frame and the whole frame fell apart. I have such appreciation for a frame that holds the test of time; that's well made and it's still here and well crafted and a little worn, not perfect. Love it.
Jackie Morreale (28:47): So this is not only just about the art, the sketching, the painting, this is also about the taste making, finding these unique vintage pieces that will go. Yes. So it's still about the style. It's about the home decor and finding things that make your heart sing. Where do you source these beautiful vintage pieces?
Zena Frey (28:59): They're so expensive in New York. There's some beautiful antique markets in California and I frequent them almost daily. I'm on a treasure hunt. I carve out two hours of my day, get in the car and I go. And San Francisco, too.
Jackie Morreale (29:26): Wow. So when you're there, you are not only selling your pieces, interacting with other artists and customers, you are actively seeking your next collection and all these frames that house your beautiful work?
Zena Frey (29:39): Yes. It's a good life.
Jackie Morreale (29:44): So you go full of artwork and you come back full of frames ready for the next year?
Zena Frey (29:52): If I showed you my studio, you would scream. It's loaded.
Jackie Morreale (29:57): But that's the beauty of it, right? It's inspiration everywhere you look.
Zena Frey (30:05): Yes, and I cover the back of all my frames, so I love framing as well, and I cover the back with all handmade paper. Every piece gets covered, not with craft paper, but handmade paper.
Jackie Morreale (30:09): Beautiful. So if we think about the actual product that somebody would be ordering from www.zenafrey.com, it's something that has a beautiful original handmade piece in it. It's a vintage frame that you've sourced, that's lasted this time and has history to it. Then it's framed and backed with handmade paper. It's just such a quality, beautiful piece. wow. To receive something like that for yourself or to give as a gift is such a special, amazing thing. I'm sure your customers are lifetime loyal customers.
Zena Frey (30:48): Well, it’s just at the beginning, right? Because I just launched it this year, so hopefully it'll grow and you can continue, which will allow me to continue to keep doing what I do.
Jackie Morreale (30:55): Exactly. I see really big things! I'm excited and I'm happy to get you right at the beginning, a year in on this and the recent launch. It's very, very big things.
So we talked about your schooling for fashion illustration. We talked about your aesthetics. Did you study under any mentors or get inspired by any other artists along the way that you might want to shout out?
Zena Frey (31:28): Well, I could say that my first semester at FIT, I'll never forget this teacher. Sometimes it just takes one teacher, you just never forget their words. She was my first semester teacher, and she taught layout design and fashion illustration. Her name was Mrs. Ishikawa.
She really motivated me and she was a very funny lady, very nice and I remember standing nervous at the easel because some of the students in my class had done fashion illustration since high school. They were in School of Art and Design, which was a high school and then went up to FIT. I was a novice, right? And she said, Look at Buchwald. She needs two 18” x 24” sketch pads. Look at her. Her energy. She can't draw it all on one pad. She needs two of them.
She took a real liking to me and my style because she wanted everyone to feel free and energetic. I was just so excited to be there. She lit a fire in me. I would say she was a mentor, and my mother was my mentor, too.
Jackie Morreale (32:36): Amazing to make that connection. She lit a fire! The energy and when you talk about sketching, you can't be confined to just one sketch pad, need two. I love that. That's so unique and amazing. And you're doing it for you.
Zena Frey (32:43): It's very liberating.
Jackie Morreale (33:00): You are the archetype of someone who goes to FIT as a really talented artist, who's really into style and someone who's had this tremendous career of 30 years in commercial home textiles, home decor, and now is able to do it for yourself with that same dynamic energy. I really think that the students at FIT, doing what you did all those years ago would really be inspired by your story and your work.
(Continued below)
Recent Podcast Interview with guests Zena Frey and Susan McClelland on hmTv:
(Continued)
Zena Frey (33:28): Thank you. I never really thought about that. I'm just doing, I don't analyze it too much since but we're talking about it now. I guess that's what you're perceiving…
Jackie Morreale (33:31): Yes, that's what I'm perceiving. I love how I sent you my own painting, which I haven't done in million years, and you told me not to overthink it. That's such good advice for anything in life.
Just let it flow and don't overthink it, and see how it goes. Could always throw it out, right? What you talked about with your own experience in that class where there were others who had your perception of more experience than you in that class. We all have our insecurities but if you can work through it and just be yourself and do your own thing, I think that shines.
Zena Frey (34:22): It is not about the amount of likes you get. It's about, I'm proud of this piece. It says who I am.
Jackie Morreale (34:27): There's nothing like talking to artists. Just nothing like it. It's so authentic and to really feel that you're so in touch with yourself. It's amazing.
If we could bottle up the Zena Frey-ness and sprinkle it on other people for some advice... What advice would you give to anyone who's looking to break into the fashion or art world, say in New York City? Or California or somewhere beyond?
Zena Frey (34:53): In the fashion world as an artist, or in a fashion world, because the fashion world is production, buying, anything?
Jackie Morreale (34:58): I know you know both, it could be either. Any Advice to break into fashion, or art?
Zena Frey (35:08): If you explore enough what really moves you, whether it be buying or painting or working behind the scenes, in some way, try to just go for it. From that first spot that you take in the industry, you will discover it. For me, obviously it was art.
Trust your instincts and just go with it. Keep at it, work at it, because you want to. Always work from here, not from here, work from here (your heart). This is never wrong.
Jackie Morreale (35:39): That's advice that could go beyond the fashion industry, or art industry.
Zena Frey (35:41): Yes. I think it's a journey. You're not born with that. You just have to keep trying things and it'll find you. As long as you're working with pride, with conviction.
Jackie Morreale (35:58): I've been trolling your website, and I see that you have various different collections. You have the collections that kind of house the fashion icons, the Audrey Hepburn, the more modern, the Deborah Messing. You have so many different collections and yet you also have these museum style collections with the gold leafing and sculpture. Do you have any new collections that we can look out for? A preview of things to come perhaps in California?
Zena Frey (36:27): I want to do a ‘queen’ collection, like women wearing crowns rather than hats.
I also want to start painting much larger. I would say that's especially after I left the Frick yesterday. I was just there and I thought I was very inspired by long panels, not too wide, but long panels of just poses that were so beautiful and so impactful. I thought I'd do that. I think that's something I'd like to explore. I've been painting pretty small, so now I'm ready to go bigger.
Jackie Morreale (36:42): Go big or go home! I love that. I'm looking over your shoulder at a couple of paintings that are right behind you on your easel. Most of your paintings you would say are something like 11” x 14”?
Zena Frey (37:14): Yes, 11” x 14” is the largest. Yeah, I go from minis to larger pieces.
Jackie Morreale (37:21): Yes, like the white frame down the wall. I can't wait to see what your vertical panels look like! Yes, I can't wait to see. Yes, exactly.
Zena Frey (37:24): So far, I'm going to go bigger. There's no doubt. I can't wait to go to Blick and just find some really nice size canvases. That won't require a frame. It's just fine.
Jackie Morreale (37:39): Exactly. I agree.
What advice would you give to any woman looking to change their career perhaps or get into the art world or perhaps follow their passion in life as you're doing?
Zena Frey (37:55): Find the support in your family. Making that transition can be hard, whether you were raising children at home and now deciding, okay, now it's ‘me’ time and I could explore other interests.
If it is painting, just don't judge it and do it. Just do it. Take the plunge.
As for me, because I transitioned from one industry to working for myself, I just couldn't imagine that this was my end. That I wasn't going to have the same identity anymore. I realized I could just... change. I could just make some tweaks here. I don't have to create art for what my customers want. I'll start working on things that I enjoy. I would say the same thing for someone who loves to bake. I always wanted to have a pastry shop, or I always wanted to build chairs or upholster chairs. It has nothing to do with what I'm doing.
I just think: Do it. Don't question it so much. Do it because you'll really love the journey. It sounds cliche, but it's true. The journey is the best.
Jackie Morreale (39:10): No matter what you're into, you just have to connect with your own identity, and be comfortable with it and don't limit yourself. This is who I am. This is about my vision and I'm putting out there what I feel is it.
Zena Frey (39:25): Yeah, and I think one other thing I could say is, and I will talk about my experience. I was petrified to do a fair or to do an art show because you're in a very vulnerable state. What if nobody likes it?
It's very wonderful to learn a lot about what people like and what are people drawn to in your work. You need that audience to help you see that. I learned a lot from my buyers or my collectors. I enjoy that very much. I think don't fear it, just do it.
Jackie Morreale (40:04): To nine shows in California with your beautiful artwork and it's a lot. I know that every single one of your pieces is going to fly off the shelf. It's a lot of energy. Plus you're doing all the sourcing and all the painting and all the inspo while you're there.
Zena Frey (40:17): I love it all. I do. It's all great.
Jackie Morreale (40:27): Would you ever leave us on the East Coast for the West Coast? Do you like the vibe over there?
Zena Frey (40:32): I like both. As long as I can do both, that's amazing. Because I love the rhythm of New York City and all the museums. I'm very inspired by New York. I get to do both. Then when I'm there, I'm so at peace. It's just a very happy place.
Jackie Morreale (40:37): I think that's nice. Sometimes, you need that happy place just for a couple of months or just for a time period, that's limited to appreciate it. Good for you, Zena.
Is there anything else that you want to talk about today?
Zena Frey (40:57): I think we covered a lot, don't you? I we talked a lot.
Jackie Morreale (41:17): We could talk. It's true. We’re from Long Island, right? That's what we do. We talk.
Zena Frey (41:20): We talked, we talked. What's that on Saturday Night Live? Coffee Talk.
Jackie Morreale (41:23): Oh man, this was so much fun to talk to you, Zena. I feel completely inspired to go and take out my old paintbrushes and canvas and make something beautiful.
Zena Frey (41:27): Same here, send me pictures, I want to see!
Jackie Morreale (41:38): Send me pictures! I'm following you on Instagram and your work, like I said, is so inspirational. So please keep it coming, keep the inspo coming and I can't wait to see your queen collection and everything else new that you have brewing.
Zena Frey (41:47): Thanks so much. It was a pleasure. I love being with you.
Jackie Morreale (41:57): Yes, me too!
To everybody out there, check out www.zenafrey.com and @zenafreyart on Instagram. If you want to feel the inspo vibes, they are there. Thank you so much for sharing some of your process and, about your aesthetic. It's so beautiful.
Zena Frey (42:11): Thank you! Have a wonderful weekend.
Zena Frey (33:28): Thank you. I never really thought about that. I'm just doing, I don't analyze it too much since but we're talking about it now. I guess that's what you're perceiving…
Jackie Morreale (33:31): Yes, that's what I'm perceiving. I love how I sent you my own painting, which I haven't done in million years, and you told me not to overthink it. That's such good advice for anything in life.
Just let it flow and don't overthink it, and see how it goes. Could always throw it out, right? What you talked about with your own experience in that class where there were others who had your perception of more experience than you in that class. We all have our insecurities but if you can work through it and just be yourself and do your own thing, I think that shines.
Zena Frey (34:22): It is not about the amount of likes you get. It's about, I'm proud of this piece. It says who I am.
Jackie Morreale (34:27): There's nothing like talking to artists. Just nothing like it. It's so authentic and to really feel that you're so in touch with yourself. It's amazing.
If we could bottle up the Zena Frey-ness and sprinkle it on other people for some advice... What advice would you give to anyone who's looking to break into the fashion or art world, say in New York City? Or California or somewhere beyond?
Zena Frey (34:53): In the fashion world as an artist, or in a fashion world, because the fashion world is production, buying, anything?
Jackie Morreale (34:58): I know you know both, it could be either. Any Advice to break into fashion, or art?
Zena Frey (35:08): If you explore enough what really moves you, whether it be buying or painting or working behind the scenes, in some way, try to just go for it. From that first spot that you take in the industry, you will discover it. For me, obviously it was art.
Trust your instincts and just go with it. Keep at it, work at it, because you want to. Always work from here, not from here, work from here (your heart). This is never wrong.
Jackie Morreale (35:39): That's advice that could go beyond the fashion industry, or art industry.
Zena Frey (35:41): Yes. I think it's a journey. You're not born with that. You just have to keep trying things and it'll find you. As long as you're working with pride, with conviction.
Jackie Morreale (35:58): I've been trolling your website, and I see that you have various different collections. You have the collections that kind of house the fashion icons, the Audrey Hepburn, the more modern, the Deborah Messing. You have so many different collections and yet you also have these museum style collections with the gold leafing and sculpture. Do you have any new collections that we can look out for? A preview of things to come perhaps in California?
Zena Frey (36:27): I want to do a ‘queen’ collection, like women wearing crowns rather than hats.
I also want to start painting much larger. I would say that's especially after I left the Frick yesterday. I was just there and I thought I was very inspired by long panels, not too wide, but long panels of just poses that were so beautiful and so impactful. I thought I'd do that. I think that's something I'd like to explore. I've been painting pretty small, so now I'm ready to go bigger.
Jackie Morreale (36:42): Go big or go home! I love that. I'm looking over your shoulder at a couple of paintings that are right behind you on your easel. Most of your paintings you would say are something like 11” x 14”?
Zena Frey (37:14): Yes, 11” x 14” is the largest. Yeah, I go from minis to larger pieces.
Jackie Morreale (37:21): Yes, like the white frame down the wall. I can't wait to see what your vertical panels look like! Yes, I can't wait to see. Yes, exactly.
Zena Frey (37:24): So far, I'm going to go bigger. There's no doubt. I can't wait to go to Blick and just find some really nice size canvases. That won't require a frame. It's just fine.
Jackie Morreale (37:39): Exactly. I agree.
What advice would you give to any woman looking to change their career perhaps or get into the art world or perhaps follow their passion in life as you're doing?
Zena Frey (37:55): Find the support in your family. Making that transition can be hard, whether you were raising children at home and now deciding, okay, now it's ‘me’ time and I could explore other interests.
If it is painting, just don't judge it and do it. Just do it. Take the plunge.
As for me, because I transitioned from one industry to working for myself, I just couldn't imagine that this was my end. That I wasn't going to have the same identity anymore. I realized I could just... change. I could just make some tweaks here. I don't have to create art for what my customers want. I'll start working on things that I enjoy. I would say the same thing for someone who loves to bake. I always wanted to have a pastry shop, or I always wanted to build chairs or upholster chairs. It has nothing to do with what I'm doing.
I just think: Do it. Don't question it so much. Do it because you'll really love the journey. It sounds cliche, but it's true. The journey is the best.
Jackie Morreale (39:10): No matter what you're into, you just have to connect with your own identity, and be comfortable with it and don't limit yourself. This is who I am. This is about my vision and I'm putting out there what I feel is it.
Zena Frey (39:25): Yeah, and I think one other thing I could say is, and I will talk about my experience. I was petrified to do a fair or to do an art show because you're in a very vulnerable state. What if nobody likes it?
It's very wonderful to learn a lot about what people like and what are people drawn to in your work. You need that audience to help you see that. I learned a lot from my buyers or my collectors. I enjoy that very much. I think don't fear it, just do it.
Jackie Morreale (40:04): To nine shows in California with your beautiful artwork and it's a lot. I know that every single one of your pieces is going to fly off the shelf. It's a lot of energy. Plus you're doing all the sourcing and all the painting and all the inspo while you're there.
Zena Frey (40:17): I love it all. I do. It's all great.
Jackie Morreale (40:27): Would you ever leave us on the East Coast for the West Coast? Do you like the vibe over there?
Zena Frey (40:32): I like both. As long as I can do both, that's amazing. Because I love the rhythm of New York City and all the museums. I'm very inspired by New York. I get to do both. Then when I'm there, I'm so at peace. It's just a very happy place.
Jackie Morreale (40:37): I think that's nice. Sometimes, you need that happy place just for a couple of months or just for a time period, that's limited to appreciate it. Good for you, Zena.
Is there anything else that you want to talk about today?
Zena Frey (40:57): I think we covered a lot, don't you? I we talked a lot.
Jackie Morreale (41:17): We could talk. It's true. We’re from Long Island, right? That's what we do. We talk.
Zena Frey (41:20): We talked, we talked. What's that on Saturday Night Live? Coffee Talk.
Jackie Morreale (41:23): Oh man, this was so much fun to talk to you, Zena. I feel completely inspired to go and take out my old paintbrushes and canvas and make something beautiful.
Zena Frey (41:27): Same here, send me pictures, I want to see!
Jackie Morreale (41:38): Send me pictures! I'm following you on Instagram and your work, like I said, is so inspirational. So please keep it coming, keep the inspo coming and I can't wait to see your queen collection and everything else new that you have brewing.
Zena Frey (41:47): Thanks so much. It was a pleasure. I love being with you.
Jackie Morreale (41:57): Yes, me too!
To everybody out there, check out www.zenafrey.com and @zenafreyart on Instagram. If you want to feel the inspo vibes, they are there. Thank you so much for sharing some of your process and, about your aesthetic. It's so beautiful.
Zena Frey (42:11): Thank you! Have a wonderful weekend.
Continued reading recommended by Zena Frey:
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Delphi Collected Works of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (Illustrated). By Peter Russell (Author), Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (Author), Delphi Classics (Editor).
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