Jasmine Seuling
Interviewed November 21, 2015 | Written and photographed by Ilya Natarius
I get out of my car, grab my coffee and shoulder bag containing my notebook, audio recorder, and camera, and walk toward the Aveda Institute where I’m to meet Jasmine Seuling, a local makeup artist and educator for Aveda. From a short distance, I can see that from the outside the building is quite old — it’s a brownstone-style structure with architecture harking back to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As I get closer, I can see more modern stylings as I peek in through windows on the ground level that show off the newer look of the first floor interior. I walk in and see the inside open up to a salon, a coffee shop, and a sitting area — a very sleek, clean look when compared to the weathered brick and mortar exterior.
Jasmine and I have agreed to meet on the fourth floor of the building where the Grand Atelier, the building’s event center, is located. I find Jasmine upstairs and we walk together into the space. Inside of the Atelier, it’s hard to keep my eyes from darting to each wall to try and take in the overwhelming amount of artwork. The room is enormous, with ornate decorations from many different eras covering much of the wall space and the entire ceiling. The ceiling itself is covered in geometric patterns around the edges which give way to a painting of clouds in the center. There are Masonic and religious symbols in many areas of the room, with a different symbol — the Order of the Eastern Star emblem, the Knights Templar cross and crown, and others — in each corner of the ceiling. Stained glass artwork bearing the Aveda symbol, a flower, covers the window in the back of the Atelier while an altar sits immediately below. A stage flanked by columns decorates the front of the space.
Jasmine explains that the building, located in Northeast Minneapolis, used to be a Masonic temple before it was converted, and the Atelier used to be where meetings were held; this explains the room’s carefully chosen symbology. In keeping with the building’s history, Aveda made the space into their event center. Jasmine points out that the stained glass and altar were redone to include the Aveda symbol. Jasmine’s history with the space goes all the way back to when she was just a little girl, coming to the space for dances she had rehearsed with the dance school she attended at the time. Over the years, various dance and fashion events she was involved in were held there, and as a result, the space represents different stages of Jasmine’s life and carries with it many memories of her past.
The space also serves as a place of peace for Jasmine where she can ground her thoughts and emotions — something she’s done during several important stages of her life. As Jasmine speaks about the space and her experiences with it, she talks about how coming to the Atelier for the interview was an obvious choice for her. With so many of her memories originating from the space, she says she could not possibly think of another place for us to meet.
Jasmine is a makeup artist and educator at the Aveda Institute and has been involved in the beauty industry since 1999. Prior to working in makeup, Jasmine danced for nearly twenty years. When she was fifteen, Jasmine dropped out of high school to pursue a career in dance, and when she was sixteen she moved out to Seattle to dance at the Pacific Northwest Ballet School on a scholarship. However, at the age of nineteen, Jasmine began her transition from professional dancer to makeup artist after discovering rave culture and finding the music to be more liberating than a ballet that she had rehearsed many times before. “I first found it in Seattle, going out and seeing rave culture and seeing that as an art form, and thinking there’s more to dancing than being in tights and in a bun, and being strict. I thought, ‘Maybe dance isn’t for me anymore,’” she says.
Jasmine recalls a fateful run-in shortly afterward that redirected her path toward the world of makeup: “I was with my then boyfriend and we were out and I was complaining about my life and my job, and how I didn’t like my job, and a guy there said, ‘Why don’t you come work for me?’ and I said, ‘Where do you work?’ and he said, ‘My name is David Wagner, I own Juut.’” Jasmine started working at the company’s phone center and later the salons as a receptionist. One day, when one of the stylists didn’t show up, Jasmine’s coworkers encouraged her, “Well why don’t you try to go over there and sell something?” as she recalls. “I think I put stage makeup on someone and that’s where I thought, ‘Wow, I could do this,’” she says. Ever since this experience around the turn of the millennium, Jasmine has been working her way up in the world of makeup as both an artist and an educator to arrive at where she is now, planning courses and workshops for her
students at the Aveda Institute. According to Jasmine, much of her work has been fueled by an intensity and drive that she can apply to multiple disciplines. Growing up in a household run by two intensely hardworking parents influenced her own work ethic. “They were doing what they needed to do, and I saw it and thought, ‘Oh my God, these people are superheroes,’” Jasmine says. “I just took that to the next level.” Considering her path thus far in life, it’s clear that Jasmine’s parents have had a great impact on the person she is today.
Throughout all of Jasmine’s experiences in both dance and makeup, there has been one place that has always been a constant in her life: the Grand Atelier. Numerous dance and makeup events that she’s been involved with have happened here and, as a result, the space has always been a part of her work. “When I was a little girl, my first Nutcracker Fantasy was in this room. I would do other ballet performances in this room. I did runway shows in this room where I was the artist, I did shows where I was the model, and Aveda does a lot of shows here,” Jasmine says. “When you asked me to choose a place, I thought what better place than here? I wanted to tie in both my now and then.”
Jasmine continues to name events that she has participated in that occurred in this space, and emphasizes the significance of having that constant in her life. “I’ve taught classes in here, I’ve done so many different things. Every time I come in here I love it,” Jasmine says.
“This room has always been that place where I feel like I can grow and feel grounded.” She recalls the first time she entered the space as a child and was in awe of the grandeur of the room and its detail: “I was about seven when I started running around this whole building. We’d have rehearsals here and explore different places and rooms.” Jasmine also mentions her first encounter with Aveda and a makeup artist she met who made an impact on her career. “I first got introduced to Aveda when I was nine years old, and I didn’t know I’d be working for Aveda,” Jasmine says. She recently saw this makeup artist again. “I wanted to thank her for introducing me to makeup. She was one of the people that inspired me as a young girl, so it’s kind of come full circle.”
The significance of the space, as well as those who worked and continue to work at Aveda, becomes very clear when Jasmine speaks about the turning point in her work. In the beginning, Jasmine focused more on her technical side, and eventually loosened up and began to think in a more abstract fashion. “When I was more technical, I took shapes very literally, but now when I look at shapes and how it works with the bone structure of a face, I don’t take it so literally anymore. I’m more proud of my work now,” Jasmine says.
That notion has followed Jasmine throughout her career — becoming less strict in following the rules. As a dancer, Jasmine hadn’t found satisfaction due to the strict nature of the art form, and eventually she learned to let go at raves, finding satisfaction in the freedom of expression she found there. Taking the same principle to her makeup career, Jasmine let go, no longer staying completely technical, but loosening up on the rules, viewing them more as guidelines. It’s clear that Jasmine’s drive will continue to fuel her career, and the Grand Atelier will always be there for her to ground her thoughts or plan her next move.
