EchoesLocation

Completed, scanned and yousendit...ed my Andrew Bird to Rachel last night and I've been getting some nice comments on Flickr about it from friends. It's always strange working on a piece for a good bit and getting so intimate with it. You get to a point where you don't want to let it go for fear of it being frowned upon. No matter how many accomplishments and compliments one gets it's still nerve racking and ultimately (if the reception is decent) pleasing to know that people find beauty in what you put your time in. Basically, I'm glad that I'm a pretty good artist and it's afforded me a little bit of supplemental income and it's brought cheer to people.

Illustration and Artwork
If you've never visited my Flickr page a good bit of my illustration work rests there with some studio, gallery and in progress shots from years past. Now since I've gone and made this post "Jeremy Heavy" I'm gonna toss some links to a few people.

I had the pleasure of sharing my residence and time with Denison Witmer this past weekend. He was in town to play a show put on by my roommate Lindsay. I was pretty unfamiliar with his music though the name rang out pretty strong when she mentioned him coming. The show was great from the opening acts (Kellie Schaefer & Day of Lions) to the venue (The Funky Church) and the Denison headlining was just icing on the cake. His performance was sort of a story tellers type of deal and it was awesome getting some insight into his history and the songs make the listening experience so much more enjoyable. His lyrics are not one for trivial turns, all the words are important and none are wasted. Give him a listen and I'll keep kicking myself for not listening earlier.

Douglas Witmer
The day he left we had a chat about art and he clued me into his brother Douglas who also paints and is having a couple major shows in NYC soon. I looked and really enjoyed the paintings on wood that are actual paintings on wood. Disjointed slats, blocks and found wood, painted with blocks of color that off sets the harsh angles of the wood. Check out all the work and judge for yourself. I tend to lean towards figurative, representational work but I'm a fan of his stuff.

jeremy

Chelsea Williams
I've never been one to really lie about my musical tastes and I'm not going to start now. Roomie Ash had a friend stay the night 2 of the past three named Chelsea Williams. She was in town to play for some radio station general managers to try to strengthen her chances of airplay. Kudos to her. I listened to her music, as well as The Henry Clay People who were in town as well but I'll get to them later, and was impressed with the voice but the style is fairly common singer songwriter stuff. I'm writing about her mainly because I was taken by her sweetness. She is a street performer in the LA area and recently started playing shows. I wish her luck. Give her a listen and see what you think.

The Henry Clay People
I unfortunately missed their set at Doug Fir on Sunday because upon listening to them I really liked what I heard and Ash says the live show is tight and fun. They've been playing together for 9 years and I can hear some of that 90's Indie Pavement-esque sound to them and I dig it. I'll have to look more up on them.

The weekend is almost upon me. I have lots to do. Slightly overwhelmed but it's ok. It's good to be busy.

jeremy

Hi.

Last night I hit a few different art openings. Shannon Mayorga, a local curator, put on a show at Edge. The work was all made by tattoo artists and he mentioned this but I'll delve into this briefly, the levels of talent was apparent. Some of the artists work appeared to be well crafted and technically on point but some was way beyond "gallery artist industry standard" whatever you want to take that as. The point being it's interesting thinking of the reasons why some people get into tattooing. Whether it be the early 80's to current punk rock kids who just want to revolt and put statements of said revolt on skin with little to no art training or art school kids who can't find any other avenues to do art and make a living. That juxtaposition was interesting and although I was not interested in 80 percent of the work the idea of these two types and all between showing in the same venue is refreshing. Everyone gets a chance with art and that's whats so great.

Big Time Illustration
I then headed to coincidentally a Tattoo Studio (Skeleton Key) for BT's opening. I was thoroughly impressed at the work and the way it was done. The show was called "Connected" so all the pieces were unified and...connected. I took pictures so perhaps I'll post them for now go check his site I linked above.

I then drove over to Brian's place. He was having a group art show at his house called "Someone Let The Monkey's Out The Cage" (love it). It turned out really nice. Good conversation, great work and I sold a small piece so I came out on top...landed on my feet if you will. The response from my peers is always really good and basically that's who I am working for I suppose...I don't know. I walked over WorkSound for a bit to see the PNCA Masters Group show. There was some really nice stuff in there. I like that space a lot and the people that run it are top notch and on top of things. My kind of gallery!

I would be doing myself a disservice if I didn't mention the show at Sugar. It went well and I met some good people. The work fit the space (retail, vintage clothing store) much better than I anticipated and I think the store profited off of having my work in there and being open for business on First Thursday so I can't complain in the least. It was a good night of friends, new friends, art and beer. It's what I envision as an artist just perhaps as the years progress and my work gets better and more focused the venues will get better and money will start to flow a little better so I can monetarily justify (not that I NEED that) doing this.

jeremy

So I've been lax and my reason for not posting is completely unwarranted. I have not been busy making art as I have not worked on anything in close to a week. Sad but true. I've been around a computer mostly this whole time but I've been doing other things. Experiencing life if you will. The facts...

Last Thursday morning Joey and Pam made a visit to the fair city and that was a blast in a half, save having to work both Thursday and Friday. I went and picked them up from the airport not before I scooped Seth up (The Avett Brothers were playing that night at the Crystal Ballroom) from Burnside to surprise the two of them. I surprised them and we had a great drive from the airport to my place where I showed the three of them my habitat and surroundings on a brief walk up Hawthorne. I then had to get back to work for a couple hours. I got off and came home and changed and went and scooped the two of them back up and headed to MK Gallery for Amy Steele's thesis show on the PSU campus. Amy is attaining her masters degree and her thesis revolved around meeting dogs at the dog park and documenting their behavior and interaction with their owners and other dogs. An interesting show no doubt. We then traveled North to Burnside and to meet up with Levi and Alyson for dinner at Ringlers Pub. We had some interesting conversation and it was good to introduce the two of them to each other as we grew beards together for 4 months and it's only right. After dinner we went upstairs and partook in The Avett Brother's concert...definitely one of the best. The crowd was into it as was the boys and it felt like we were all on the same page, a huge celebration where no one stepped on anyone else's toes. It was great...and I met Jerry Glanville.

Friday after going to work for a full day basically I rushed home and got Joey and Pam and we traveled the boring non-scenic route up to Seattle. Blah. So boring but being with Joey and Pam made it better for sure. We toughed the 5 O'clock traffic and even indulged in a delicious truckstop dinner at Gee Cee's (I had the liver and onions) eventually arriving in Seattle at Neumo's at around 10:15 or so. Rachel and Lori joined us for a while but left because they were tired from exploring all day. The show was great albeit a little bunched in to Neumo's. We hung out with the guys for a little bit and then went and checked into our rooms and slept.

Saturday morning was an interesting one as we sat in the lobby and traded conversation with Scott, Seth, Joe, Jessica and whoever else came to our table for nearly 3 hours. What a way to spend a morning in Seattle at the Renton Hilton Garden Inn...I wouldn't have it any other way. Joey, Pam, Seth and I hopped in the car around 2 to grab some lunch. We went to the nice family restaurant called Claim Jumper. We had great service, great conversation and my meat loaf was delicious. We all four went to UNCC together so it's always good to get together and catch up. True friends never skip a beat. We headed back to the hotel where i switched off car passengers. Scott, David and Jessica Lea Mayfield joined me for a venture to Ballard. What a great little area. I'm hesitant to say hip but it was definitely favoring that vibe. I have no problem with that though. The shops were fresh and the people were "unique". I feel comfortable in that environment and I have to say that some of the other portions of Seattle that I've visited don't rub me right. I digress. We walked around and drove around Ballard for a few hours. I bumped into Tiny Vipers (Jesy Fortino) and bothered her for a photograph. I have no shame. We left that area and traveled back to Capital Hill to drop the guys off for sound check. I went and met back up with Joey and Pam at Moe Bar. Fellow beard contestant Will Hays and his roommate Lauren met up with us for a drink and then a walk to a really delicious Thai Restaurant. That was a treat. Then we headed back to the venue and enjoyed the Avetts yet again.

Sunday morning I woke up and spent some more lobby time with friends and then drove to Green Lake for dinner with Will, Rachel and Lauren at a place called Julia's that was absolutely delicious. After some more conversation and laughs I drove back to Portland not before I stopped at the Value Village for some Tacoma thrifting and the Michael's for some supplies.

So all in all it was an incredible weekend with friends and music. I left out a few things for time's sake. It's 5:34 AM and I think I'm gonna take Nolte for a walk and then do some painting before work. I'll also be uploading pictures to my flickr from the weekend today at work so look out for those. Hope everyone else is well.

jeremy

"The doctor don't wanna take procedures
He claimed my heart can't take the anastesia"
from Kanye West's song "Roses"
I'm pretty sure this song & lyric was in reference to his Grandmother and how instead of sending flowers to the hospital when your kin is sick the "Roses" are the members of the family and the herds of support that is shown when the matriarch or any member of the family is ill. The line is eerie when you consider the rumors amidst on how his mother passed. A sad an unfortunate loss it is and it's got people buzzing about the ills of cosmetic surgery which could be the only positive that comes of this. I obviously don't know Kanye West and probably will never meet him but my heart goes out to him because I know what it's like to lose your support system, your mother. Now, seeing that he has to go thru this in the publics eye makes my heart even heavier. I heard the news last night from my brother and then read up on what happened this morning and felt like typing some words. This life is not as long as we all would like to believe so make the most while you are here. Tell someone you care about them, tell your mom or dad or best friend or even an acquaintance because we are all in this together and it's so much easier with shoulders to lean on. Let's be each others support.

jeremy

Mel Kadel & Travis Millard
Fecal Face has a few Studio Visits up worth your time. The above one is a little lengthy. I am currently watching it but knowing Mel Kadel and Travis Millard's work I can already vouch for it. Jeremy Fish has a studio visit up with some sick 35mm photos by John Trippe also.

These studio visits really make me jealous. It's a good jealous though. Like a motivating jealousy that makes me want to push harder. I can't help but wonder if I am going about this all wrong. If I dedicate enough time to this. Probably not. I know my next step is usually on my mind but with work issues leading to money woes I don't feel like those ideas get the chance to foster and be fully realized which leads to me taking a step back. I think once I find a good steady 9-5 that pays decent then I will be set. Keep your fingers crossed for me. I also have a feeling that this small drought of inspiration is taking its toll on other aspects of my life like growing up. I'll get it figured out. I feel like big things are coming. I'm not worried.

How was everyone's weekends? Mine was decent. I saw Superbad with Destiny. It was pretty funny. I recommend it if you like Judd Apatow flicks and remember/miss High School and old flicks like Dazed and Confused and even Can't Hardly Wait.

jeremy