In the art world, there is a term called a Studio Visit. Taken at face value it means exactly how it sounds - a visit to an artist’s studio. Sometimes these visits are for students learning from professional artists, but often these include prospective buyers or gallery curators stopping by to discuss potential sales or exhibitions.
These visits provide a sneak peek behind the curtain. Artists open up regarding their processes and most importantly what is currently inspiring their work.
I remember attending many of these studio visits in college during my BFA program, but one stands out because of a silly piece of advice the artist gave to us overwhelmed students.
”As a courtesy, always have a bottle of whisky available to anyone coming for a visit.“
I thought this was absurd, and my 20-year-old self at the time didn’t have a context yet for a “happy hour” sort of professional drinking.
But alas, a decade later and a much more refined palette of tastes, I am not offering any whisky but instead an aperitif. You don’t know what this is? I don’t really either, but what I do know is that there are many of them, they come in lots of different forms, and typically they’ve got strong flavors - kind of like a cocktail in a bottle.
We’re drinking my absolute favorite aperitif - Montenegro Amaro, serving it over ice and with a splash of tonic water. My favorite thing about this amaro is its sweet orange flavor and having just enough spices and herbs to keep me guessing what the other ingredients are.
So…thank you for stopping by and attending this first studio visit of mine. Cheers!…
Let’s begin.
I’ll start by saying that this first topic is going to get its own blog post at a later date.
I am changing my artistic labels.
I am no longer considering myself a landscape artist. Before you walk out of the room, I am still going to continue to use that label in certain contexts. However, it also will now be one label in a growing collection of labels. I’m exploring more things, opening myself up, and discovering more visual styles and content.
I still believe at my core that I’m an artist exploring the experience of being human. However, it is no longer only the context of the natural landscape that I’m exploring this theme.
Over the last few years, most of us have become more homebound than we used to be. This reignited a long passion of mine for constructed environments and interior spaces. The first job I ever wanted to be was an architect. Why I chose a career in fine art is another topic for another time.
All of this time at home created a moment of doubt about my creative direction. I really was second guessing if I should continue this path down fine art or switch to the more intense rigor of architecture.
Creatively I felt too confined. I’ve been creating only landscape art for almost a decade. I was compartmentalizing a lot of my interests to move forward publicly as a landscape artist. (Again, more to come on this in a future blog post).
So in giving myself permission to create with more things, there’s an opportunity to break down a lot of the walls between interests. There’s an opportunity to re-focus on the bigger picture regarding what it means to be human.
I’m working on a couple of new series that mesh landscape and our built spaces. Some of these works are going to be architectural, while others are going to be simply textural patterns painted in watercolor. Other works will combine interior spaces and the natural landscape. What I’m trying to focus on is more than one context for how we interact with our world and each other.
I hope I’ve intrigued you a bit more. I’m sure you feel this way too, but as I leave my comfort zone, everything is both exciting and a little chaotic.
There’s another big thing that I’m excited to be announcing soon, I will be launching a new product: Graphic Prints.
Inspired by illustrative posters, these works will launch in a series exploring a unique seasonal context. Being that it is currently the height of summer, my mind flew to the nostalgia of a holiday abroad. I’ve imagined my home reflecting these summer adventures and I wanted to create a series of works to inspire the every day to be just as novel as a trip.
To whet your appetite - here’s a picture of the mood board for this first graphic print series.
I will be sharing more soon about this new series soon. I think this is all the time we have for this visit.
Thank you for stopping by. I hope you go out and get yourself a bottle of this amaro, it’s truly the best! (number 11 on my mood board if you’re paying attention).
Until next time,
Jonathon
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