Meet Jeff Chelf | Artist/Musician

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jeff Chelf and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jeff, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I stumbled into art over the course a decade and actually started my career as a wooden boat builder. From there I spent years building furniture, though over time my curiosity drove the work further from craft to focus on the conceptual aspects of the work. Over the years I’ve taken numerous detours from art only to be pulled back in by another curiosity. Most recently, I was diagnosed as having progressive hearing loss and while wrestling with what this means for my life it became apparent, I wanted to spend my time making music. While in a sense this has been a vast departure from my work as a visual artist, I examine the same concerns around our relationships to both place and each other.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
The paradox of life as an artist is that it is simultaneously the easiest thing in the world and the most difficult. If you are lucky enough to enter a flow state the work is almost automatic. I can be highly productive for brief periods followed by fallow weeks. The balance has always worked as an opportunity to catch up on the myriad of administrative tasks (applying to shows, writing statements, update the website etc.) My strength is having explored so many facets of the world – whether through various artistic mediums or even life experience like travel or having moved 10 times in my adult life. In my current pursuit of music, it feels like tapping into an unexplored well of ideas built from years of exploration in other realms.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.

Any good day in Fort Collins starts at Silver Grill for breakfast and then in no particular order would find us browsing the books at Wolverine Farm, hiking the trails around Lory State Park, and wander around old town before catching a concert at Washington’s.

If I’m down in Denver you can bet I’ll either be at Safta or glued to a seat at ESP Hifi on Sante Fe. Sometimes it pays to be predictable!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are so many influences I have to thank for my current trajectory it is hard to know where to begin! Most recently, I owe so much to The Music District in Fort Collins for guidance in making my most recent album come to life along with all the folks in the music community that have listened and provided feedback along the way. I also can’t imagine I would be in the same place without the community that is centered around Wolverine Farm and Public House – they are truly my spiritual home in Fort Collins.

Website: jeffchelf.com

Instagram: @jeffchelf

Image Credits
Portraits: Ben P. Ward Album Cover: Lewis Ableidinger