janessa bookout Artist Bio
Janessa Bookout is currently living and working in Southern California as a professional artist, author and small business owner.
This is her life story:
Janessa was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She was always a straight-A student who also worked as a camp counselor and held several part time jobs while attending school. She graduated with honors from Booker T. Washington High School in 2000.
Janessa received a substantial scholarship to attend the Maryland Institute College of Art. She moved to Baltimore at age 18 to study traditional fine art and explored digital technology, industrial fabrication and liberal arts. She also worked in restaurants to support herself through school and graduated with honors, receiving a BFA in Sculpture in 2004.
Janessa returned to Tulsa after college and continued to create her own fine art while also working as a creative fabricator, fashion model and waitress. She also spent some time traveling the US before moving to Southern California in 2008.
Janessa lived by the beach and worked from her art studio in Venice, CA . She also worked as a bartender for many years joining forces with Dave Moore and moving to Huntington Beach, CA. The couple officially formed DMZ Surfboards LLC in 2011 and Janessa managed the office as she also began exploring the materials and techniques used in surfboard fabrication, applying them to her work as a fine artist. She regularly showed and sold her art in solo and group exhibitions in Orange County and Los Angeles.
Janessa opened her own retail shop in Sunset Beach, CA in 2016 and then later transitioned into new professional roles as an art gallery manager and website developer before stepping into her current role as a project manager at a steel and canvas awning fabrication shop. She also does some web design and 3D digital illustration work as an independent contractor for several artists and small businesses.
Janessa wrote her first book in late 2019 and then later revised and published this book in 2023. She continues to make her own art from a home studio in Huntington Beach, CA and offers online or in person options for drawing lessons, artist mentorship and creative business consultations.
Janessa also launched a new online coffee & tea business in 2021and became a founding member of a 501(c)3 non-profit called Operation Stoke:.
So yeah… she stays busy with work, but also makes time to play on the beaches and in the mountains of Southern California.
Janessa truly is an ARTWORKAHOLIC, hence the name of her first book...
"Artworkaholic: Confessions and Life Lessons for Independent Artists Building Their Own Creative Career Path"