Describe the first time that you knew creating art was something you had to do.
I was always involved with some form of creative or performing arts from the time I was a young kid, and I was fortunate to have my creative spirit fostered throughout my coming of age, and onward. I knew by the time I was fifteen that I wanted to pursue the arts professionally; it was just a calling inside. It still surprises me how far I have come, and that my dreams have unfolded before me.
When did you first consider yourself an artist?
By the time I was fifteen I considered myself an artist. Throughout high school, I received ample support and encouragement from my art teacher's, and they really saw something in me that I had yet to recognize myself.
What are you trying to communicate with your art?
Art has this silent exchange; this way of lending the onlooker a perspective that is deeply emotional, personal, and aesthetically unique- it is so subjective that every viewer has the opportunity to interpret a piece, or a body of work, in their own way. My work speaks to deep-seated themes of identity, gender, memory, and place, (more specifically working through the nuances of the human condition, intersections of grief and healing, personal narrative, and memoir.) What I wish to deliver through my art is a sense of resonance, beyond surface level. I aim to exchange in emotional dialogue with the viewer, in one way or another; be it through visual imagery, or written word. I never want to tell the viewer what they should think or feel about a piece, and instead, let the work lend its way.
Describe your favorite piece you created and why. Describe your worst piece you created and how you learned from it.
One of the most formative pieces of advice I have received as an artist was from a former professor and mentor that I had the privilege of working with, while I was in undergrad at Art school; it was mentioned in the form of a question, "How will you leave your mark?" The introspectiveness of this phrase was the pinnacle of my direction, and belief in myself as an artist. The best piece of advice I've ever given is a small fragment, or extension of myself, that I've been leaving with folks lately; a poetic sentiment that was born from an intimate body of work of mine. Truthfully, I feel that it lends itself less as advice, and more of a personal reminder: "Hope whispers, You are a light in a dark room."
Be sure to check out their art in our salon and their instagram!
@jesseryancrosby
