Artist, designer, and coach Janessa Bookout has followed an unconventional path shaped by fearless creativity and adaptability. From her early days sketching in Tulsa, Oklahoma to managing galleries and surf shops along the Southern California coast, her story is one of persistence, passion, and transformation. With a formal art education from the Maryland Institute College of Art and a career that has spanned fine art, fabrication, digital design, and entrepreneurship, Janessa now helps fellow creatives carve their own paths through artist coaching and resource development. In this interview for Mystic Mag, she reflects on the milestones that shaped her journey—from building sculptures in foam and plaster to painting surfboards and guiding others toward artistic fulfillment.
Can you walk us through your journey from Tulsa to Southern California and how your creative path unfolded along the way?
I discovered my love for the visual arts early in life. I vividly remember loving to scribble as a very small child and then being so proud when I learned to color and draw cartoonish images as I got a little older, but it wasn’t until high school that I began developing my skills in realistic drawing from observation and painting with acrylics.
It was my IB Art class at Booker T Washington High School in Tulsa, taught by Linda Stilley, that helped me build my confidence and curiosity as an artist.
After years of researching art and making my own, I eventually applied to many art schools for my college education. I was accepted to every one of them and finally decided to attend the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. My decision was based on both their credentials and the substantial scholarship they offered me.
During those college years I took 6 hour long studio classes that spanned every kind of traditional fine art (life drawing, painting and sculpture) while also exploring digital art, photography, video and fiber art.
I graduated with honors in 2004 and moved home to Tulsa for a while where I worked as an artist, model, waitress and 3D fabricator before moving again to Portland OR and then to Venice Beach CA in 2008.
It was not always an easy road, but I was thankful to always have my fallback of working in the restaurant industry to support myself as I navigated the life of an independent artist.
I always maintained my own art studio space and participated in many group and solo exhibitions along the way before partnering with a surfboard shaper and moving to Huntington Beach CA in 2012, which is where I still reside to this day.
I have since opened and closed my own brick and mortar surf shop/art gallery on the beach before transitioning our family businesses to a primarily online and/or appointment only structure with my artist website JanessaBookout.com as the hub for all things art related and DMZsurfboards.com for the surfboards.
I also worked professionally as a gallery manager in Laguna Beach and Corona Del Mar from 2017 through 2019, before changing gears yet again to become a project manager for a small fabrication company.
In this position, where I still work part time, I do 3D renderings for project proposals and oversee all projects going through the welding shop, sewing shop and installation process as required by each custom job. I also help the owner of this small family business with digital work like websites and online marketing.
To this day I continue to make my own art from a small studio in my garage while also having recently published my first book. I am now offering an artist coaching program and digital products that I created to help support my fellow artists on their own unique paths.
How did your experience studying sculpture and working in restaurants during college shape your work ethic and artistic style?
I definitely pushed myself to the limit in those years. I worked continuously on projects, most of which were large figurative sculptures. I was always mentally stimulated with studies of modern literature, creative writing and all the new digital art technology of that era.
Top all that off with waiting tables to pay my own bills, falling in love for the first time and attempting to have a social life… I often wonder how I ever got any sleep at all.
Even though I stay pretty busy in my current life, I look back at those days and think anything is possible. Maybe that’s why I have a tendency to take on so much… I really believe anything is possible, because I’ve done so much already, and know it’s all “figure-outable”.
To this day, I continue to hold myself to the highest standards of quality in everything I do and regard myself as a “real” artist because I know I truly earned my stripes as a craftswoman and continue to put in the work it takes to walk on this path with my head held high.
I believe my style always had my own voice coming through, but continuing to practice and improve my skills just makes my work that much more effective to share with others and more meaningful for myself.
What drew you to surfboard fabrication, and how did blending that craft with fine art change your creative expression?
Growing up in Oklahoma I never surfed a day in my life. The closest thing I ever knew was wakeboarding on a lake or belly boarding as a kid on vacation.
Then, in college, one of my favorite teachers taught us how to carve foam and create a plaster and fiberglass shell around the sculpture. It was my favorite medium to work with and I continued sculpting like that for years after graduation.
I would scavenge large pieces of styrofoam and create various mixed media sculptures that were unlike anything I had ever seen.
When I explained my process, many people remarked it was “kinda like a surfboard” although I preferred to work with plaster rather than resin. I would just laugh it off and admit I had never even touched a surfboard in my life.
A couple years after I had moved to California however, I ended up meeting my partner Dave, who was a well known and very skilled surfboard shaper. We were introduced by mutual friends and we immediately bonded over our creativity and similar beliefs despite having very different backgrounds up to that point.
Dave then introduced me to life in the surf community and more specifically, at a surfboard factory. I immediately saw their surfboard material waste as treasure I could use for art supplies.
I soon began playing with broken surfboards and cut off rails from foam blanks. I used their fiberglass scraps and even some deckpads and wetsuits became more materials to explore.
I tried surfing a few times over the years but decided I prefer to spend my time sitting on the beach or splashing in the waves but I am not called to surf.
I have, however, continued to be involved with painting hand art onto finished boards and have created many digital images that were printed and glassed into the decks of new boards made by my partner Dave Moore at DMZ Surfboards.
I am still a partner with Dave on many of our projects and help support our family business with all things digital, from custom artwork to the website to good old bookkeeping and business management.
I am also honored to be inducted as part of the Malibu Surfing Association where I help with club events, custom artwork and admin support for their annual filings of nonprofit paperwork.
After managing a gallery and launching your own shop, what pushed you to pivot toward artist coaching and digital work?
I realized traditional product sales and marketing was not my happy place. Although I’m fairly good at it, my true calling (in addition to my own creative endeavors) is to be of service to other creatives.
This role as an artist coach literally came to me as people asked for my support. Now I love offering my coaching in a one on one setting either in person or online, but I also found that is limited by my availability and my client’s budget.
That’s why now I have also developed a simpler digital product that’s available through my website. It allows my students to go through a basic curriculum independently and then reach out for support on the level they need when they need it.
With so many ventures under your belt—from Fifty Skies to Operation Stoke—how do you decide which projects to pursue or let go of?
Funny you should mention that. I have actually just recently closed down Fifty Skies, the online coffee endeavor I began during Covid as it simply was not profitable enough to keep going.
We are also considering closing down our nonprofit, Operation Stoke, again, because our original plan for funding fell through and the board members have not really stepped up with any other ideas to keep it moving forward other than the small events we were able to host over the years and the few custom boards we were able to provide to people in need of the support.
I guess you can say we had the best intentions to do even more than we already were, but ultimately, we (Dave and myself) have decided to refocus our energy on our true passion of creativity.
Today we offer our unique handmade products and services to our niche market of likeminded creatives and grassroots surfers of Southern California. We are happy to share our gifts with the world through our art and surfboards, as well as our personalized creative services such as artist training, support and life coaching as well as surfboard shaping lessons.
