In today’s episode of Extraordinary Creatives, I’m joined by Jenn Ellis, founder of APSARA Studio and a curator whose work moves between institutions, vineyards, churches, theatres, and digital space with remarkable fluidity.
Jenn grew up in a family of theoretical particle physicists, studied law, and then pivoted into art history. That background shows. Her approach to art feels investigative, architectural, and deeply relational. She thinks about time not as something measured by clocks, but as something lived, layered, and tested.
In this conversation, we talk about long-term commitment to artists, the power of positive disagreement inside collaboration, and why site matters as much as concept. We explore Terra, her exhibition across UNESCO heritage vineyards in Burgundy. We unpack AORA, the digital sensory world she built during lockdown. And we speak candidly about contracts, rate cards, negotiation, ego, Instagram performance, and what it really means to care for artists inside complex systems.
Jenn is rigorous, warm, and clear-eyed. She understands budgets as well as beauty. She believes in boundaries. And she asks one of the most important questions a creative can ask: how is this bigger than you?
If you are building a practice that needs both imagination and structure, I hope this episode will land with you.
