photo by Laird
1. Hi Jim. Thanks so much for taking the time to do an interview. Tell me a little about your experience thus far in Jacksonville. How long have you lived here? I have been in Jacksonville since 1992, I guess that is eighteen years. In 1994 after deciding that I had to make my own art career, I quit my last real job and put together a way to work which included teaching part time at FCCJ, Flagler, UNF, The Cummer and just about anywhere else I could along with having my own work space. I did several large scale murals around town, the one that is left, though fragmented is the one at the corner of Ocean and Bay with the big Jaguars in the windows. I did that one along with Anne Banas with whom I worked at FCCJ (Florida State College.) During the late 1990’s I was active in a program sponsored by the Cultural Council called CANVAS. It was dedicated to form a link between inner-city kids and artists. The program was a huge success, not only were a lot of kids inspired to go on to great things, we were also able to pay over a hundred thousand dollars in salaries back into the community of artists. During that time my painting career took off and I was selling in galleries all over the country. I was part owner of a gallery called Pedestrian, an art supply store called Raw Materials, and an art center called Brooklyn. Now, I am teaching part-time at UNF and painting at my studio on King St. at Park.
2. Let’s suppose you were the “fly on the wall” for a sec. How do other people describe your work? Arrrggghh! I get all sorts of descriptions from glowing accolades to highly critical. Luckily I have had a pretty large fan base which has helped me do more. I did a series of Palm trees for several years around the year 2000. I think that those made
a large imprint and became a sort of brand.
3. Tell me about your new studio at Park and King in Riverside. Is the best way to see your work to contact you directly? Yes, I am open from 11-5 Tuesday – Saturday and have a phone, 655-4551. You can also send e-mail to draperjr@gmail.com.
Deciding on the studio at Park and King has been a really good thing for me. It is great being back in the Riverside area. I am doing a lot of new work.
4. Has New York ever been an influence on your work? How do you feel about that scene now that we are going into 2010? New York has become a bit of a Yawner as far as I can tell. There are some pretty interesting things going on in LA. So many good artists have moved out of New York and are scattered across the country. I have shown there at two different galleries. Each experience was pretty bad. One gallery sold several paintings and stiffed me for my part. The other sold 9 paintings and charged back everything from postage to utilities to me.
I think I got a check for $236.00 from that one, the first one was a big zero. New York is certainly not the answer.
There is good stuff out in the world. I like some of the books that are coming out and some multi-media exhibits. Regular, put-a-painting-up-on-the-wall stuff is
a little off. Hand-made prints are big all over the world. Young smart collectors can get into some pretty cool stuff for not a lot of money.
5. Where do you get your news from? Do you read any local Jax blogs? I stay pretty busy and have a lot to read. Most of my local news comes from hearsay. I wish there was a talk radio show that had a daily scene art and culture radio show. That would be very cool.
6. I’m sure you have seen quite a few changes over the years here in Jacksonville. What advice would you give to emerging Jacksonville artists? Advice: Work, stir it up. Be kind and supportive to one another. Watch each other’s back. Consider yourselves in relationship to the larger art world, not just local.
7. Thanks again Jim. Before you go, please tell us about the work you are exhibiting on Fri, February 5th at Underbelly in Five Points. I am delighted to show some older figurative work that has not been seen in a while. This will be fun. It may be more about me than anyone would want to know.
A Future Memory
A new project by Matt Allison
January -March 2010
Nullspace Gallery & the asteRISK residency
108 E. Adams St., Downtown Jacksonville
www.nullspacegallery.com
During the 3 months of my residency, my main focus will be a collaborative project tilted A Future Memory. Its goal is to publicly (re)engage and (re)interpret key figures and moments associated with the Modernist Avant Garde timeline. This will happen in a variety of ways, and for a variety of reasons. The following are some of my plans:
- Create an open-to-the-public reference library located inside Nullspace Gallery
This collection of essays, interviews, catalogues, sound and film recordings will create the historical context with which A Future Memory will engage. I intend to make this an extremely collaborative endeavor, and I urge all who are interested to drop off contributions at the gallery or e-mail me at matt.t.allison@gmail.com. More info on that very soon.
- Web-based Interaction through Nullspacegallery.com
In keeping with the interactive nature of A Future Memory, visitors will be able to experience the project via the web. Excerpts from the reference library, exclusive content, announcements, and live video feeds will all extend the piece well beyond the physical space of the gallery.
- A series of collaborative events which correspond to the moments/ characters of A Future Memory
In a series of loosely improvisational events, other members of the creative community will be invited to join me in digging into the Avant Garde. Brought on as guest curators, these invitees will present their own perspective through the what, why and how surrounding each evening’s festivities.
- The creation of a sprawling multimedia installation in the main gallery of Nullspace
With its construction scheduled for the entire month of March, this installation will unfold entirely within the public’s view. Originally proposed as an attempt to read the future, the work will ritualistically explore the possibility of connecting what did happen in the past to what may happen in the future. As with all methods of divination, the ability to embrace chance, interpretation and mystery will be essential to A Future Memory’s success.
If you haven’t met Justin Netti, then you’re about to have your last chance. I highly recommend it.
Riverside Avondale Preservation hosts an inaugural social for a new young professionals group called RAP180.
RAP180 aims to encourage involvement from young professionals in the Riverside Avondale neighborhoods and to progressively nurture the arts, culture and history of the area. It will be strengthening the communities where we live and work through monthly collaborations.
For more information, go to: Riverside Avondale Preservation
An Opening Reception for the Book as Vessel will be held at the UNF Gallery of Art Thursday, January 14 from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m.
The Book as Vessel: an Overview of Contemporary Book Arts is an exhibition of book arts in including work by Carol Barton, Sarah Marshall, Lane Cooper, Werner Pfeiffer, Edwin Jager, Bridget Elmer, Jessica White, Marti Hobbes, Matthew Liddle, Sarah Bryant, Shanna Leino, Shawn Sheehy, John Smith, Todd Sanders, Anna Embree, Roberta Lavadour.
The event is free and open to the public.
The UNF Gallery of Art is located in Founders Hall Building 2.
The UNF Gallery of Art is open from 10-4 Monday-Friday.
For more information contact Gallery Director, Raymond Gaddy at rgaddy@unf.edu
UNF Gallery of Art
Joey Marchy - www.urbanjacksonville.info
1. Would you tell me a little about yourself? What brought you to Jacksonville? I’m a Jacksonville native. I grew up in the Englewood area, went to Landon Middle School and Stanton College Prep. I attended UNF and moved to Minneapolis for three years after college. I moved back to Jacksonville to start a family with my wife Mackenzie and be close to family.
Living in MPLS inspired me and showed me how great city can be. When I returned to Jacksonville, I committed myself to improving Jacksonville and making it a better place to live for me and my family.
2. Tell me about Urban Jacksonville. When and why did you start your blog? About 4 and half years ago. I was inspired to start the blog the day news broke about the three bids on the Haydon Burns Library (http://www.urbanjacksonville.info/2005/06/17/hayden-burns-library/). No one was documenting what was going on in our urban core neighborhoods. Springfield, where I lived, was booming and downtown properties were being snatched up left and right. It was an exciting time.
I’ve always been fascinated with blighted areas, graffiti, and urban decay. I knew there were many things in Springfield that wouldn’t be around for long so I started documenting them with photographs and posting them on my blog.
Blight in a gentrifying neighborhood and graffiti are both transient in nature, just one step away from a wrecking ball or pressure washer. I understood the importance of documenting these things so I used my blog as a channel to publish photos, text and video of the changing urban landscape.
Before long I was posting and breaking local news along with promoting and covering events in the urban core. I felt like I was on a mission to show the city and anyone looking at Jacksonville that amazing people are doing great things.
3. Can you give me some examples of the other projects you are involved in right now? I’m working on three big projects right now. The first is Urban Jacksonville Weekly. The four hosts: Tony Allegretti (theurbancore.com), Jonathan Bennett (jacksonville.com), Jack Diablo (jackdiablo.com) and I record an Internet radio show once a week at the Times Union. We invited guest and talk about the issues effecting the urban areas of the city. It’s like the Urban Jacksonville blog, but you can listen to it on your iPod.
The next project is called Designers in Toyland. I’m helping AIGA promote this upcoming art show. It should be one of the biggest art shows all year. On December 2 from 5-9 pm at the 229 N. Hogan Street Studio, over 80 artists will be exhibiting toys built from scratch or built upon existing toys. A portion of the proceeds from the event will be donated to The Big Fun Box, an organization that provides activity kits to children who are hospitalized frequently and for extended periods.This show will be held during the December ArtWalk.
Finally I’m working on a project related to the Jaguars. It’s going to incorporate social media, video and dancing. That’s all I can say about it right now, but I hope to announce something soon on this project.
4. Tell me your thoughts on the local Jax art scene. Why have you decided to get involved? The local art scene is strong and tight knit, but very open to participation. I think it’s easy to break into the art scene which is not so easy in larger cities. Many of the biggest and best are shows in Jacksonville are open call. Just drop off your work and you’re in.
It gives new and emerging artists a chance to expose their work to a large audience with a relatively low barrier to entry. Thanks to the internet, finding these shows and getting involved is easier than ever. You don’t really have to “know someone”, you just have to follow the right websites.
I think the internet has broken down a lot of the distance barriers that have creatively crippled this city in the past. Because we are spread out geographically, it makes collaboration more difficult. In larger, more dense cities, it’s easier to collaborate because you are closer. I think our “spread-outedness” has made us apathetic, but the internet is changing that. We’re all connected online everyday, inspiring each other with YouTube videos, links awesome screen printed posters and LOL Cats.
5. What are a few sites you admire and why? Is there anyone here locally that you draw inspiration from? I hope this doesn’t come across the wrong way, but lately I’ve made an effort to not pay much attention to what other people are doing. In the past I’ve fallen into the trap of trying to keep up with what everyone else is doing and I end up falling behind. I’ve just been focusing on what I think the city needs right now and I’m focusing on bringing that:
Multimedia experiences like Urban Jacksonville Weekly that extend what we have done with blogging in the city
Strengthening and promoting the graphic design community
Raising the visibility of the Jaguars. This team can build unity, foster pride in our city and ultimately connect communities. Something Jacksonville is sorely lacking.
6. Thanks again Joey. Is there anything else you would like to add? Is there a way for people to contact you? As residents of this city we have the unprecedented ability to control what we want our city to be. The barriers to making change are so low, anyone can have a huge impact in Jacksonville. Consider trying to make something happen in a larger city like Chicago or New York. The competition for attention and ideas is so high only a small percentage of ideas rise to the top and when they get there, they are displaced the next minute by a new trend or idea.
As residents of this city we should all be looking for ways to make it more fun for ourselves and others around us, instead of complaining that there is nothing to do. Recently there has been a surge of people taking good ideas from other cities and executing them in Jacksonville. I encourage the people of this city to take ownership and make this city what you want it to be. There time has never been more right.
I can be contacted on Twitter at twitter.com/urbanjax or Facebook at facebook.com/urbanjacksonville. If you want to contact me personally you can find more about me here: http://www.google.com/profiles/joeymarchy
Filed under: Artst Interviews, Events, Openings | Tags: AIGA, Designers in Toyland, Karen Kurycki
Karen Kurycki: Vice President of AIGA
It was my pleasure to interview Karen Kurycki this week who is Vice President of AIGA.
1. Hi Karen. I am very excited to learn about what you have been up to these days. Let’s start with an introduction. Please tell me a little about yourself and how you are connected to Jacksonville. Hi, Shea! I have lived in Jacksonville for five and a half years now and I really love the city. I grew up in Rochester, NY and attended Kent State University in Ohio to earn my BFA in Visual Communication Design. In 2004, after graduating from Kent, I realized the world was pretty much wide open and what I wanted to do next and where I wanted to live was up to me. I chose Jacksonville because I love a warmer climate. (I can’t take the blizzards like I could growing up) and I had a couple ties to Jacksonville who were family friends. My mom was born in St. Augustine so we had been back to Florida for vacation once or twice a year since I was born, and I had done my internship down here the summer before I graduated. It seemed like a good fit for me.
As far as what I have been up to lately—it’s kind of crazy because there have been quite some changes over the past few months! After working as an art director at The Kurtis Group in Jacksonville Beach for five and a half years, I decided to take a position as Senior Art Director at BroadBased Communications this month. So I will be starting there in December.
I have also been doing a lot of collaborating with friends on projects as well. One of my good friends Ashley Hazen and I have been working on some illustrations; we both participated in the past two atomic sketches (live painting and drawing) at Art Walk that AIGA Jacksonville hosted and we contributed to the book Things Drunk People Say that can be found on sale at Urban Outfitters. I think our styles work well together because we like to work both loose but in a controlled manner—she draws and I paint and we are both trained as designers but love the fine art side of illustration, so it seems to work for us.
collaboration with Ashley Hazen for the book "Things Drunk People Say" for sale at Urban Outfitters
I’ve also collaborated with Dog and Pony Showprints on a couple of posters this year, contributed illustrations to the Jacksonville Public Library card campaign and contributed to the book 1000 Tips by 100 Graphic Designers, which comes out this month.
And, of course, being Vice President of AIGA takes up a big chunk of my time, but I love that it keeps me busy because I believe in the organization and what it offers to designers like me. Right now I’m pretty busy planning a toy show that AIGA is hosting for the December Art Walk called “Designers in Toyland;” it will be up at 229 Hogan Street.
2. How would you describe AIGA and what have you gained by being part of that organization? AIGA is the professional association for design. It’s a national organization of designers (mainly focused in the field of graphic design/illustration) whose purpose is to maintain the standards within the field. The mission of the organization is to advance designing as a professional craft, strategic tool and vital cultural force. We work together to address current cultural/social issues, promote and educate people on how design impacts their life and how powerful good design can be in conveying information; it also provides a community of like-minded individuals who can discuss issues within our own field, such as spec work, pricing, etc.
I have been a member of AIGA since I was a student member in college and when I moved down here, my boss Kurtis Loftus was very involved in the organization in Jacksonville so it was easy for me to get involved. I met a lot of the members through the social events they held every month. I started volunteering at events with my best friend Sarah Butsch and then eventually became volunteer chair, next moved to community outreach chair and now am Vice President of the Jacksonville chapter.
AIGA has provided me with a network of friends and colleagues who are a great resource when I have an issue with a program or a question about a font, need a printer review or a recommendation for a freelance designer, etc. I have used this network to my advantage for the five plus years I’ve lived down here. I often tell people when they join: “AIGA is like…instant friends!” Which is true in a way—we are all very supportive of each other, and I’m sure there are people out there who think we are this pretentious, exclusive club, but we are pretty much the opposite.
3. Your profile describes you as “a strong proponent of volunteerism”, and as “Community Outreach Chair for AIGA Jacksonville”, can you elaborate on that? What projects are you working on right now such as Discover Design? I have actually taken on the role of Vice President this year but have a strong hand in the outreach branch of our chapter because it means so much to me. I believe any professional organization is what you make of it and what you give to it. If you’re just paying your membership fee and not attending any of the events, not volunteering at any of the outreach events we organize, not participating in discussions about current issues, then you’re probably not going to get as much out of the organization as someone who is doing those things.
We welcome everyone, member or non-member to a majority of our events and are really trying to get as involved in the Jacksonville community as much as possible this year through hands-on outreach projects. So far we’ve volunteered at the Jacksonville Arboretum & Gardens, the Jacksonville Zoo Spooktacular, City Rescue Mission’s Bed race, and are hosting the toy show to raise money for The Big Fun Box. We are looking forward to several more outreach projects throughout the year and are very open to collaborating with other organizations like Hands-On Jacksonville to give back to the city.
The outreach branch of our chapter started with the Discover Design mentoring program that Florence Haridan and I started in 2008; it gives high school students a chance to work one-on-one with a professional graphic designer to finish a project that addresses an issue within our community. That started with the Get out the Vote poster campaign and last year we did a project that promoted library cards for the public library system here in Jacksonville. Starting in January, we’ll be doing a project called “Create Don’t Hate” in which mentors and mentees will work together on the design of a billboard that addresses the theme of tolerance.
4. I see that your professional career has strong ties to Jacksonville’s Urban Arts Movement. What are your thoughts on “Graphic Designer” vs. “Fine Artist”? I love what I’ve been seeing with Jacksonville’s Urban Arts movement. I like that the fine art/design lines are being blurred and that you see a more graphic approach to the arts which, in my opinion, are just beautiful to look at, whether they are leaning more toward the fine art side of things or the graphic side of things—and when those two are combined into one piece and done well, you can’t really beat it, in my opinion. I know a lot of fine artists will disagree with me on this one but my roots are in design and illustration; that’s what I know, so that’s what I’m going to say.
I also know that I’m loving the stuff that I’m seeing on some of the buildings downtown. And the fact that Jacksonville has been mentioned on Wooster Collective a couple of times now is HUGE. I think things like that give our city life—and take away the depressing factor of that building that’s been sitting there for 5 years, abandoned.
I know there are blogs in Jacksonville dedicated to the topic of design vs. fine art, but I’m not sure I’m the right person to talk about it, considering I have a hard time defining my own style! Am I considered a fine artist? I guess I have a hard time considering myself one. It’s hard for me to think that way, because I was trained in design and illustration, so that’s what I call myself. I guess it’s like…I can take pictures but I would never call myself a photographer. I guess the truth of the whole thing is that I think labeling it kind takes away from the fact that it’s a creation. To me, whether it was done solely on canvas, or done with a combination of mediums, one of those including a computer, if it’s done well, that doesn’t really matter.
Do I think some fine artists look down on designers or think they’re sell-outs because they get paid on a regular basis for their craft? Sure. Do I get annoyed when a fine artist tells me that they don’t think you need to go to school for design and then I see a postcard with bad typography that they’ve laid out for one of their shows? Yeah, I do. In that sense, I think there is a division, because good typography isn’t easy and I think a lot of fine artists don’t really appreciate that as a craft of its own.
But like I said, I’m probably not the one to comment on this. I love a lot of fine artists in this town and I love a lot of designers here, and I think what they do is different, but in the end it’s a creation, and whether I respond to it viscerally, intellectually or neither, it is what it is.
5. Thanks for your time Karen. Before you go, please tell us about the upcoming show: DESIGNERS IN TOYLAND. Designers in Toyland is a custom toy show being put on by AIGA Jacksonville and the artists of 229 Hogan. Over 80 artists will be exhibiting toys built from scratch or evolved from existing toys—the point of the show is to come up with your own unique toy creation, whether that’s building a toy from scratch, working off of a blank toy, like a Munny doll or a Mighty Mugg, or combining toys to make something new. If an artist chooses to sell his or her toy at the show, 25% of the profits will go to The Big Fun Box, an organization that provides activity kits to children who are hospitalized frequently and for extended periods. So come join us at December Art Walk at 229 Hogan Street, between 5 and 9 pm. It should be quite a sight to see over 85 unique toys in one space!
Thanks Shea!
