Tom Heath
We are back for another installment of Meet the Artist inside of the Tucson Gallery at Proper Shops in downtown Tucson, 300 East Congress, right across from Hotel Congress. And every week we have a chance to talk with a different artist. Some have worked in our galleries, some on our online gallery, and others are just amazing people in our community. Today we have someone that fits all three categories. Welcome to the show, Mr. Joe Pagac. Rhymes with magic.
Joe Pagac
Hey, thanks for having me.
Tom Heath
Absolutely. I think a lot of people, when they see your name on the murals, they’re not exactly sure how to pronounce it, so we always tell them it’s Joe Pagic. Like magic.
Joe Pagac
Yeah, that’s the way to do it here in America. Actually, I just got back from finding some of my old relatives in slovakia, and they pronounce it Pagache. It’s a pastry over there.
Tom Heath
Well, there’s nothing that rhymes with that.
Joe Pagac
We’ll go with Pagac.
Tom Heath
Pagac and magic. And I think that it’s appropriate because people see your work and they’re like, man, there’s some kind of magic going on there. You’ve been a tucson muralist for how long?
Joe Pagac
I started when I was 24, so it’s 18 years. I’ve been doing this full time.
Tom Heath
Wow. What were you doing before that?
Joe Pagac
I was a loan officer for a little while.
Tom Heath
I did not know that.
Joe Pagac
An assistant manager at einstein’s bagels. I worked busting tables at tgi fridays.
Tom Heath
Were you doing art during this time too, or no, you’re just like, you know what? I’m tired of this bagel. I’m going to go climb on a scaffolding and paint something on the wall. And how do you get from bagels to nols?
Joe Pagac
So I was in college, didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do. And my sophomore year, I took a drawing one on one class just to kind of fill the space. I needed a full load of credits, and the teacher took me out in the hallway, and she was like, wow, you’re so good at this. Are you an art major? I was like, no. And she was like, you should do it. You should do it for a living. I was like, Nobody makes a living as an artist, right? You know, it’s like the joke is, you know, what is the what does the artist say to the engineer or whatever? Do you want fries with that? So I you know, I was like, really? You think I could make a living at this? And she was like, yeah. So I ended up just switching majors, became an art major. And then when I graduated, I didn’t really know what to do with that. So I put an ad in the paper, artist for Hire. And I think because murals are their own billboards, it’s just I started getting more and more mural calls because I was doing everything at first.
Tom Heath
What was your first mural, do you remember?
Joe Pagac
I think the first mural I did that was for just a total stranger. It was a fence between a guy’s yard and his neighbor’s yard. He had me paint an underwater scene, and he had me include naked mermaids on it. And he had me paint the neighbor’s side too, while she was out of town. And she came home and was like, furious and then actually built a wall right against his fence. But it was a cool mural, and then it was just like just little jobs. And the more murals that did is.
Tom Heath
A mural still there? Can you still kind of see it if you haven’t been driven by there?
Joe Pagac
It’s in the neighborhood over by where Magic Carpet golf used to be.
Tom Heath
Yeah, we don’t want to be too specific with all your fans. We’ll start out a frenzy over there tearing up the neighborhood.
Joe Pagac
I don’t know. I bet if that guy is still in that house, that mural is still there.
Tom Heath
18 years.
Joe Pagac
18 years.
Tom Heath
So you do one and then someone sees that and like, man, this is pretty cool. Can you do one for me?
Joe Pagac
So it was word of mouth. And then I ended up getting hired by an interior designer, and she would actually we were doing a whole bunch of murals up in, like, fancy houses in the foothills, and so it was a lot of tuscan scenes and stuff like that. But I did that for a number of years for her. And the condition was she got to sign my work, but I could use it in my portfolio because she already had a big name going. Okay, so right off the bat, in my mid twenty s, I was already getting these big commissions to paint these Italian murals, and I was getting to paint for three weeks and then go to Italy for two weeks and then paint for three weeks and then go to Mexico. And so it kind of started this lifestyle that I still keep going where as soon as I’ve got money in the bank to leave town, I go travel or hike for five months or whatever.
Tom Heath
In the brief time that I’ve actually known you, you’ve been hiking across the United States, you’ve flown to Hawaii to see a volcano. You flew somewhere to get involved with the avalanche. You’d make snow angels. You just got back from Europe, and somewhere in there you decided you’re going to walk across tucson to raise money for the food bank dressed as a hot dog.
Tom Heath
And I haven’t known you that long, right?
Joe Pagac
This was all in the last year, I think. Everything. You just last six months, right?
Joe Pagac
So, yeah, that’s just how I’ve always kind of lived my life, since being an adult is like, as soon as there’s money in the bank, I hit the road. You and I have different adaptations of being an adult.
Tom Heath
I’m just saying. That’s awesome. And it’s fantastic. And then the way you generate your money, I think brings you enjoyment too, right?
Joe Pagac
Yeah, for the most part. There’s some jobs that I love more than others. I think a lot of the bigger scale stuff gets into more feeling like you’re doing a construction job. And sometimes I’m like hanging off a nine story building on a window washer scaffold and 100 degree heat, and it’s humid and I’m miserable and afraid for my life, and I’m doing that for weeks. So you get there’s some trade offs, right?
Tom Heath
Can go to Hawaii. That seems fair.
Joe Pagac
I think it’s not as glamorous once you start getting into the really large scale murals. The one I’m working on this week is over at FC tucson, which is a soccer club. And it’s indoors, it’s ground level. It’s like a nice flat wall. It’s air conditioned. It’s so nice. And I just put on like, podcasts and audiobooks while I’m working or call friends I haven’t talked to in a while and just chat while I paint. So those are the dream jobs.
Tom Heath
There you go. So if you’re a muralist, the advice is to find the indoor, ground level, air conditioned jobs.
Joe Pagac
Exactly. The only problem is those who don’t advertise for themselves. It’s the scary outdoor ones that keep getting your business.
Tom Heath
Let’s be clear. You’ve done murals all over the United States. You’ve done Washington, DC. Where is Joe padrick art right now?
Joe Pagac
So I have a whole bunch in Washington, DC. I’ve done them in Miami, Las Vegas, La. Tons of them in Phoenix. I have a whole bunch in pecos, Texas. weirdly, because it’s one of those things where once I did one, they kept bringing me back, so I’ve gotten around quite a bit.
Tom Heath
Does your style remain like when you look at a Joe Pagac in tucson, especially with the more recent last ten years, there is some element that people would recognize as being Joe Pagac. Does that sort of carry through? Do you have jacobs riding bicycles in Vegas?
Joe Pagac
Yeah, the one in Vegas, the big one I did was for Buffalo Exchange, and so there’s like buffalo floating on balloons and helping each other up to grab clothes out of trees and stuff like that. So some of that carries over. The ones in DC. I don’t think you would recognize his mind at all. They’re much more realistic. They’re historical people and events and stuff like that.
Tom Heath
I do remember, I don’t know how many years ago, but you did that mural of the postal worker, the jazz musician.
Tom Heath
And that got like national attention because I remember reading about that in a lot of different newspapers.
Joe Pagac
Yeah, so that one has gotten a ton of attention. Some of the murals I do, the one here in tucson, actually, with the people and animals riding bicycles that I did in 2017, I see that everywhere. When I’m traveling, people use it as just if they’re talking about tucson in a magazine or a news article. That one shows up a lot, which is really cool to see.
Tom Heath
So then they don’t get your permission to do that, right? Because it’s a public art.
Joe Pagac
Right?
Joe Pagac
As long as you’re showing the surrounding area, too. If it’s just a street shot, it’s a fair game. And they’re not advertising anything besides tucson for me. I’m not super litigious or anything anyway. I just love having that art go around the world and knowing that people are excited about it and want to use it to represent the city.
Tom Heath
Do you ever reach back out to the drawing teacher that encouraged you?
Joe Pagac
Yeah, you know what I did? I went back and found her years later and I was so excited to tell her that I had made a living at it and she had no idea who I was.
Joe Pagac
She had a lot of students, I’m sure.
Tom Heath
What are you, that pastry guy? pajak.
Joe Pagac
What is that? Although I did recently, like two years ago, I was on a road trip and I looked up my high school art teacher because I took some art classes before and I looked her up. She was in idaho and she was super excited. We went and got dinner together and it was really cool to see her and catch up. Nice.
Joe Pagac
And she still follows me. I think a lot of my art teachers and just regular teachers from earlier life still follow me. I’m friends with them on Facebook and stuff.
Tom Heath
Is there a retirement plan from your list? Is there a transition? Do you start doing more traditional canvas art or are you just always going to be hanging off the roofs?
Joe Pagac
I already am working on I’d really like to get more involved with the national parks and stuff like that because one of my big loves is just being outdoors and hiking and camping. So in the background, in my evenings, I’m home working on a whole bunch of designs and stuff like that for the national park system, and I’m hoping to start getting that going more. One of my dreams would be to just travel from national park to national park in a van or something and just well in there, work on merchandise and artwork for them and then travel to the next one. We’ll see.
Tom Heath
Everything just gets combined into one thing. That’s perfect.
Joe Pagac
Totally. So we’ll see. That’s kind of one of the things I’m pushing for right now. I have a number of kids books that I’ve written and illustrated, but they’re just not quite where I want them to be yet.
Tom Heath
Oh, wow.
Joe Pagac
So I even have printed out hard copies of them, but they’re not quite where I want to put them out in the public.
Tom Heath
So that’s another you said you’re writing them, so you’re doing the story as well?
Joe Pagac
The story illustrations, yeah. And then on top of everything else I’m doing. I have now like four properties that I’ve bought and fixed up over the years and made all fun and quirky and artsy. Just anything I can do where I’m creating something with my hands makes me happy. So construction falls into that really well, actually.
Tom Heath
I remember when we were talking originally about the gallery, and one of the goals here was to help up and coming artists get a little bit more knowledge, exposure, and a chance to meet some of the more experienced and seasoned artists. And I was like, what advice would you give to a muralist that’s starting out? And you said, don’t do it.
Joe Pagac
Right.
Joe Pagac
I think it’s a great if you’ve got what it takes to come out. And you have to be good at art, but you’ve also got to be good at marketing yourself and doing business and doing all the paperwork and stuff like that. On a good year, I would say I do painting a third of the time, and the rest of it is like going to meetings and doing mock ups and doing all the tax work and all that stuff. So it’s not just painting every day. Unless you have an agent, the tax.
Tom Heath
Stuff gets you every time.
Joe Pagac
Tax stuff, yeah.
Tom Heath
When you’re doing these mock ups, I’m assuming there’s a combination, but how often does someone come to you and say, just create us something? Or do they come and say, hey, we want pigs on balloons, or it’s the full range.
Joe Pagac
I honestly I prefer when people have something they want. If someone just says, Create me something awesome, I want it awesome. I want it different than anything else you’ve ever done, but I want it just like your style. That’s really hard.
Tom Heath
That’s where the magic comes in, right? There you go.
Joe Pagac
And sometimes I just get those. Like, I’ll be laying in bed at night, at 11:00 at night. It’s like, I’ve got it and I got to wake up and put it down. But sometimes those are hard. And if somebody comes in, they say, I want a buffalo floating on balloons. I can put that together quick.
Tom Heath
So you’re some of your ones here in tucson, like the whales, was that you or was that a so the whales.
Joe Pagac
The whales was me. It was actually they made me tone it down. Originally, the whales had little sorrow scenes on their backs. They were like little floating islands with birds circling them. And there were scuba divers on bicycles riding on a beach below them and then floating and swimming up to swim with the whales. And they made me tone it down.
Tom Heath
Wow.
Joe Pagac
They were like, that’s a little much.
Joe Pagac
Some of that stuff gets pulled in when you’ve got corporate sponsorship.
Tom Heath
What’s the process then? Do you create something on paper? Is it digital? That exists somewhere? The scuba diving, bicycle riding?
Joe Pagac
So now I do everything on the ipad I switched over a few years ago, just procreate, which is, I think, what every single artist out there uses now. But before it was like pencil drawings, and then I’d scan them into the computer and try to manipulate them in photoshop a little bit and then go from there. But yeah, I mean, I have so many mural designs and just art designs in general that because a lot of times it’s like three or four designs will go to a client and they shoot down three of them. They’re all just sitting there unused and.
Tom Heath
Unseen and then scaling it to a large building. Is it math?
Joe Pagac
It’s just a grid. Like geometry was actually a really useful class.
Tom Heath
Geometry? Geometry.
Joe Pagac
Not just the art for all of this stuff, for sculpture and art. And I do a lot of building stuff for hotel congress for years, building the Taco hand holes and the taco and the hands and all that. It’s all geometry and construction stuff. But yeah, it’s just a grid. I put a little grid on the drawing and then a huge grid on the wall. And I just fill in square by square, kind of where stuff is going to go roughly. And then from there, once I kind of know where stuff is going, I just learned the hard way. It’s like you’re up there on the wall and you’re like, there’s no way a nose is this big. And then so you make it smaller and then you get down after a couple of hours of painting and realize you made it way too small. So I just trust the grid. It gets things to look right in the end.
Tom Heath
Some of your projects. Is it there’s a sculpture coming, I think, or is it out?
Joe Pagac
The sculpture is done. We’re just waiting for the install. But it’s going right up on the river path between it’s like St. philip’s Plaza and the retail racetrack. So it’s a Havalina riding a tandem bicycle. It’s riding on the front and you can sit on the back and take photos with it and stuff like that, but it’s life size and it’s going to be super cool. It’s my first bronze sculpture. I’ve got a sculpture down in the airport already between the ticket counters that I did, that I did all by hand. But this one’s had the help of a foundry.
Tom Heath
Do you have any idea of the release date for that tandem bike?
Joe Pagac
I don’t know. We’re hoping to get it in the next week. We actually almost installed it this week, but there’s crazy weather going on and we didn’t want to install it while it was snowing. So I think it’s going to go in this coming week, but I think we have to let it set up with the concrete and stuff like that. So I think next month will be the unveiling and I’ll definitely let everyone know about it.
Tom Heath
A couple of last questions here. These are just for my benefit. But do you work on multiple projects at the same time? Or are you one and then move on to the next?
Joe Pagac
No, I always have like ten or 15 projects in the pipeline that I’m in different stages.
Tom Heath
That’s why I can never get a hold of you.
Joe Pagac
Right, yeah. So there’s always like the one or two that I’m currently painting and then the ones that I’m working on mock ups for, and then ones I’m going to initial meetings for calls. So it’s a constant thing.
Tom Heath
And then all these cities where you’re putting up murals. Is tucson really as special as I think it is with the amount of murals we have here? Or is this really something we have across the country? And it’s just I see it because I’m in tucson.
Joe Pagac
No, I think tucson has got a couple of great things. One that I noticed is we have a huge painting season. Like you go anywhere else and it’s rainy or it’s snowing or it’s just not good for painting. So it’s really good to paint here because you can paint almost year round. The other thing is, tucson is just super supportive of the arts in general. People like to put their money into it. They like to put the press on it. They go and take photos with it and support it with their own pocketbooks if they can. It’s a really supportive city. And in general, we also have less vandalism of murals here. I mean, occasionally stuff gets tagged, but compared to a lot of cities, there’s plenty of cities out there that you just can’t keep a mural up. People tag over it within days and it’s just destroyed. tucson is a great place for murals, and I think there’s very few cities like that in the country that really are as supportive and have that many muralists. But I think one of the things is that tucson
Joe Pagac
is drawing them in and the ones that are coming up are like, really getting supported well and can make a living at it, so it makes it easier to I was.
Tom Heath
Thinking of just from the talent standpoint, but without the community support, without the respect, I guess. Yeah. It doesn’t matter how talented you are if you can’t paint because someone’s not going to pay you or they’re going to tag it or it’s going to be snowing.
Joe Pagac
Right?
Speaker 2
Yeah.
Joe Pagac
And I think that’s what keeps a lot of the talented people here. It’s supportive, actually. When I graduated college, I was talking to all my classmates and was like, yeah, what are you guys doing when you graduate? And every single person was going to Los Angeles or New York, and I was like, Well, I’m going to stay here. nobody’s staying here. I’m going to see what I can do here if there’s no artists here.
Tom Heath
Were you born in tucson as well?
Joe Pagac
I was born in tucson, but for a number of years, I was one of the only muralists here working. So slowly, slowly, more murals have come up, and now there’s a huge community. But for a long time, I was like the only guy out there that was getting the calls I think made it.
Tom Heath
Do you have influences? Do you follow people on Instagram that you look at their stuff or you just don’t?
Joe Pagac
I’m not super into social media, and so I go on and post stuff on there, but I’m not really into it.
Tom Heath
I know you have time. You don’t have to have time, right?
Joe Pagac
And if I do waste time on there, it’s on reddit. I don’t know. And I’m not following any art stuff on reddit either. It’s like just all garbage. So I try to delete it when I can occasionally reinstall it.
Tom Heath
Where can people find what you’re posting? What’s your instagram? Facebook.
Speaker 2
Yeah.
Joe Pagac
So my Instagram, I have Joe padg, which is my art stuff, and then Joe padget the person, is all my other stuff. I’m up to my hiking and traveling and stuff like that. The hot dog hike that I’m putting together to raise money for charity.
Tom Heath
Let’s talk about that.
Joe Pagac
Oh, sure.
Tom Heath
First of all, what is this and when is it happening?
Joe Pagac
So when I was hiking the Pacific crest Trail, I was doing a lot of wearing costumes while we were hiking. And I jokingly was talking to some of the people I was hiking with about getting hot dog costumes next, and nobody was into it, but I thought when I got home, I would do it. And then I thought, well, if I’m doing that, I should do it for charity and make a spectacle out of it. And then I mentioned to a number of people, and they were all really into it and wanted to join. So I decided just turned it into a big thing. So we’ve got 30 people dressed up as hot dogs hiking from March 15 and 19th. We’re going through the rincons and the catalinas. It’s going to be about 20 miles a day. So it’s going to be brutal. It’s going to be a hard hike. And then the hope is to just make a spectacle and steer people toward donating to the food bank. So you can go to Hotdoghike.com.
Tom Heath
I’m surprised that you’re all wasn’t taken already.
Joe Pagac
I know
Joe Pagac
it was a little more expensive than Net, but I paid the extra for it.
Tom Heath
Hotdoghike.com.
Joe Pagac
Hotdoghike.com. So that has all the information about it, and you can donate there. And then my other ones, it’s just Joe Pagac or Joe Pagac the person.
Joe Pagac
And then if you go on Google and type like Joe Muralist tucson, that will pull me up, and you can find me from there.
Tom Heath
Yeah, you can go on Google and find yourself with that easy to search. You’re doing something well, right?
Joe Pagac
Yeah.
Tom Heath
I appreciate it. I appreciate you being a part of the tucson Gallery. You’ve been kind of an anchor to help get this started as well. Your reputation people, when they see your name, they know it’s something of value and something that’s good for the art community. So we appreciate you being a part of that and look forward to kind of what the next projects are going to come out and can’t wait to ride a tandem bike with a Havalina.
Joe Pagac
Yeah, cool.
Tom Heath
That’s one of those things that when I was in Ohio, I never thought I would say.
Joe Pagac
Right, cool. Well, thanks for having me.
Tom Heath
Absolutely. And if you want to hear any of our other artist interviews, it’s called Meet the Artist. It’s on our website, the Tucsongallery.com. We have a new feature each week and then it’s followed up by meet and greet here so you can come live and hang out with the artist for a couple of hours, get a glass of wine or a cup of coffee, chat about process. It’s pretty casual and laid back. And then all of these are archived on our website. They’ll be on spotify and other places soon. It’s all called Meet the Artist. It’s a production of the tucson Gallery here inside of the proper shops, 300 East Congress. And tune in next week to find out some more exciting news from the art world.
Joe Pagac
All right, cool.
Tom Heath
Thanks, Joe.
Speaker 2
Yeah.
Speaker 4
Thank you for listening to Meet the Artist. This is a weekly production by the tucson Gallery located inside of the proper shops at 300 East conga Street in tucson, Arizona. The mission of the tucson Gallery is to support local artists by providing a space to show their art, a forum to engage with their audience, a virtual presence to connect with global patrons, an outlet to earn a fair price and an opportunity to hone their business skills. Head over to the Tucsongallery.com for more information about our live event. Listen to other Meet the Artist podcasts and check out the wide selection of art gifts and other items created by tucson’s modern, thought provoking and forward thinking artists.
Tom Heath
Well, here we are, another rendition of Meet the Artists. We’re inside of the Tucson Gallery on Congress and Fifth Avenue, 300 East Congress, across from the Hotel Congress. And part of this retail collective called the Proper Shops. And the Tucson Gallery’s role is to give artists an opportunity to showcase their work as well as help the world understand how amazing our artists are here in Tucson. So not only do we have the gallery of the website Tucsongallery.com, and then every week we bring a different artist in to talk about their process. They hang out here at the bar inside of the Proper Shops from five to seven. And we start all of these Meet the Artist events off with a recording of a podcast. So if you hear some noise in the background, those are just some raucous art fans going nuts. But that’s okay.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
At the bar.
Tom Heath
At the bar. We’re in the gallery and I think you’d be excited about the gallery.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
All went the same.
Tom Heath
We are joined today by the Amy Bumpus, fairly recently to Tucson. How long has it been since you moved to Tucson?
Amy Lynn Bumpus
Just on three years.
Tom Heath
Three years. And where were you before the newbie colorado. Colorado to Tucson.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
Very different climate. Yeah.
Tom Heath
How’s the snowing in Tucson compared to Colorado?
Amy Lynn Bumpus
No snow, which is perfect.
Tom Heath
You were telling me you do like some kind of surfing or wind surfing.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
It’s called wing foiling and it’s a cross between kiteboarding and the wind surfing. New sport, but a little easier to deal with than kiteboarding.
Tom Heath
It’s on the water and you get up there and it actually leaves the ground, right?
Amy Lynn Bumpus
It does, yes. That’s what the foil part is. So you have a kite in your hand and catch the wind and then the wind pulls you up on the foil. So you’re basically in the air on your board.
Tom Heath
Wow.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
I don’t know if that makes sense.
Tom Heath
Well, it makes sense because I’ve seen pictures. If you haven’t, definitely look up a wing.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
Wing foiling. Wing foiling.
Tom Heath
It’s pretty crazy what happens there. So that’s the sports section of our show. Now let’s move into the arts and entertainment side. You’re an artist?
Amy Lynn Bumpus
I am. Lifelong.
Tom Heath
Lifelong. So you came out of the womb ready to go?
Amy Lynn Bumpus
You know, there was no conscious decision to be an artist, so yeah, I’m saying it was from the start.
Tom Heath
And describe to us because this is going to be a big part of the questioning that we go down today. But tell us about what you’re producing now, the medium that you’re using.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
I use paper, I cut paper. So the image is created by using small pieces of paper. And I use old National Geographics and I say old then that means sixty s and earlier because of the ink difference. And I prefer the colors that they used back then. But I call it drawing with paper.
Tom Heath
Because is it exclusively National Geographic or do you mix it?
Amy Lynn Bumpus
No. Now I’ve added to my pile, I found old Life magazines as well with the same idea. It’s the different inks. But I’ve also incorporated. My sister had inherited I had no idea. An entire Encyclopedia Britannica. I did the Old Britannicas from my grandfather. So these were like, what, 1940s, 50? And she inherited them. And what else are you going to do with them? Really?
Tom Heath
We can learn about the USSR.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
You could back then. It all shifts. So anyway, I’ve been incorporating that as well.
Tom Heath
Okay. And then the end result, this is something you’re going to have to go to our website or come into the gallery to see this because it’s really amazing. This isn’t just like a collage of pictures that come together. You create images, very clear images, from.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
Using these papers with the paper. Which is why I call it drawing with paper. So it is layered. It’s very layered. So until you get up close, you can see it from afar and you see the image. But when you get really close to it is where you see all the layers that come in, and you don’t see those until you’re right, really, on the piece. But since it’s all National Geographic images, words, so really I’m playing with words as well. But then you get up close and you see basically what I’m trying to say with the painting.
Tom Heath
And when you go to the website, you’ll see the reproductions of what’s there. And so that’s the flat surface. And it’s amazing work. It’s like, this is fabulous. Then when you come into the gallery and you do see those layers, it’s mind blowing as you get closer to see how intricate these original pieces are.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
Yes. So the whole point, really, and hope is to get people to walk up to the pieces because they all have an idea behind them. They all have a message. And using the paper that I use, I also use the words to convey what I’m trying to say.
Tom Heath
Your work has a message. Sometimes it’s political, sometimes it’s environmental. But you definitely have a clear pattern of your messaging through your art. It’s very interesting.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
I do.
Tom Heath
You say you’re a lifelong artist. There are not a lot of parents that I know that will allow their youngster to use an exacto knife at a very young age. So there had to be a transition. What were you doing before this and what was the transition?
Amy Lynn Bumpus
I’ve experimented with all kinds of mediums. So my favorite of choice throughout the years has just been drawing because it’s so simple. You pick up a pencil, pen and you start drawing. But I love line, so that’s why this kind of morphs into the paper that I am using now. That’s why I call it drawing with paper, because it’s an easy transition. But I’ve used paints, oil paints, acrylics. I’m a print maker, so I’ve done a lot of different mediums.
Tom Heath
Is any of your other artwork available somewhere? Because we’ve only seen the drawing with paper, and you do have some of your stickers and things that you’ve created through. It looks like more of a digital digital form.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
Those are digital drawings.
Tom Heath
But where can we find your original hand drawings? Do you have those somewhere?
Amy Lynn Bumpus
At my house.
Tom Heath
These are the types of things we should be showing off to people, too.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
We could talk about that because I still have prints that I’ve made, monotypes, things like that, that I’ve created. Taos was my favorite place to go. I had a friend who was a master printer, and we used to work a lot together, so I have some of those images. But as I transition into using other mediums, it’s basically the medium of the moment is paper. So that’s what I’m showing, and that’s what I show on my website, my own website. But, yeah, the rest of it, I still have some.
Tom Heath
All right, well, we’ll have to figure out how to get some of that in here. I think these meet the artists nights should be more like a retrospective, too. We should bring in this whole litany of what artists have done over the years to see their progress.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
It’s not a bad idea, because we should do that. The thing about artists being an artist is you create inventory, and some of that in inventory throughout the years. Hopefully, you will sell, but you always have inventory from all of the different styles you’ve used.
Tom Heath
I just have to imagine. I do some writing, and I look at some of the things I wrote at an earlier age, and I’m like, oh, this is just horrible crap. At that time in my life, it was inspirational. Now it’s just crap. And I’m wondering, do you look at your work, or do you see something like, man, this was very young when I did this, and I can see this evolution.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
Oh, absolutely. So, the thing about my family is they’ve always been my sisters. My parents have always been supportive of my work, but their houses are full of my past work. And certainly when I walk into their homes, there’s ones I would love to take back, and I beg for them to give them back to me, but they don’t.
Tom Heath
Right. Once it’s made right, isn’t that the art no longer belongs to the artist? Once it’s in the world, yes. You can control it.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
There’s always that butt, though, because there’s things you would shift. And I will say, if a piece stays in my possession and I will mess with it, it’s never finished. I’ll mess with it.
Tom Heath
That’s interesting, because you brought a couple of pieces into the gallery, I think, that were hanging on your wall.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
Yes.
Tom Heath
I wonder what they looked like before.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
You brought them in. Well, it’s good that they’re here, because.
Tom Heath
Not in the gallery. If I sit up there with an exact phone number.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
Yes, you are. I might come in with one hidden in my coat.
Tom Heath
So when you get into this, are you influenced by someone? Did you see this out there in the world? You’re like, oh, I would like to do this, or did it just come to you naturally?
Amy Lynn Bumpus
No, I hadn’t seen it before it really started because a friend of mine was getting rid of a bunch of old National Geographic magazines that he had, and he just gave me a box. And I carried that box with me for a few years, and I’m not really knowing what to do with it and where I was living at the time. I finally just pulled the box out and went, you’re going to do something with this or get rid of it? And in my studio at that time, I finally just kind of morphed on its own. It’s like, what am I going to do with this? So I just started cutting the paper and creating an image directly on the wall. So whoever has that space now has the first one I ever did was.
Tom Heath
It covered up at some point and.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
Then just like by the time I sold it, archeological find.
Tom Heath
Wow. We found this date. Back to the how long have you been have you been working in this medium?
Amy Lynn Bumpus
Probably since about 2013.
Tom Heath
So you moved from Colorado to Tucson. How much of you haul was filled with old magazines?
Amy Lynn Bumpus
I had my pile by then. The pile grew.
Tom Heath
Well, then let’s talk about support, because you have to have people that help you in this. I think your husband, Ben, we’ve met, he’s got to be very patient to put up with moving these magazines from state to state.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
Absolutely. He’s moved my art studio so many times. We have moved around quite a bit. And yes, he always was part of having to move all of my stuff. So he’s extremely supportive. He’s a videographer, so that’s really handy, I have to say, because he can take all the photos of my work that I need. But super supportive. Yeah.
Tom Heath
As an artist, you probably recognize that although a lot of his stuff might be digital, so he’s like, why don’t you just go digital and have to carry everything?
Amy Lynn Bumpus
I’m going to say digital has its own weight. It has its own stuff, too.
Tom Heath
I think that might be the title, this podcast, digital Has Its Own weight, but people trying to get into art. One of the things we really wanted to focus here on the Tucson Gallery was helping up and coming artists as well. You’re established we’ve got people like Joe Padrick and Nasio Garcia who are well known murals. Jessica Gonzalez, Sean Parker, leslie Leather. These are well known photographers. You’re maybe not as well known in Tucson because of your recent move here, but you have a following. So what are those things that a young artist needs to understand, I think.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
In anything, and it’s the same in art, is networking. So it’s joining that community, that artist community where you live, taking classes, but it’s really just meeting other artists.
Tom Heath
Interesting.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
Yeah. And growing your network that way.
Tom Heath
And then you get influenced by them, or you get both.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
I think that goes both ways. Every artist has their own vision, so I don’t care how young you are, we can all learn from each other all the time, I think, because every artist has their own vision. Even if they’re using the same medium, they have their own vision with that. So as a young artist, I think it’s just so important to surround yourself with other artists, not just your peer group, but people have been doing it a while and can kind of mentor a little bit.
Tom Heath
And you also come from a background where you or your family has owned galleries?
Amy Lynn Bumpus
Yes. We owned one in Breckenridge, Colorado.
Tom Heath
So you’re bringing in different artists to that gallery?
Amy Lynn Bumpus
Yep.
Tom Heath
That sort of leads to that sort of collaborative mentality, I think, that you.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
Might have I got to say it’s helped along the way because I’ve seen both sides of the art industry. I understood what it meant to be a gallery owner and how to run a gallery, and then always had the artist’s perspective as well. So in our gallery, it was extremely important to keep the artist upfront, and that would be from paying them before we paid our rent, which did happen just really in support of the artist, but also understanding there’s a business side.
Tom Heath
To this as well that comes through with your advice. As far as networking. A lot of times when I talk to artists that don’t have the business side, it’s always about passion and never giving up, which are important aspects as well. But there definitely is a monetization of the art that some people don’t like that term, but it allows you to focus more on your art if you’re not having to earn a living doing something else.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
Exactly. And for the most part, most artists will at some point in their career show and say that they had to work a job to support basically their art habit. But I think it’s important to talk about your dreams and to follow those and your passions. But there’s a realistic side to it as well, and I think that that has to come into play. It’s not the most fun part of it, but it is part of it. You have to market yourself. You can’t rely on other people to completely do that for you. So there’s a point where you have to market yourself.
Tom Heath
Well, we appreciate that. My business partners, Tony Ray Baker, Darren Jones, myself, when we opened the Tucson Gallery, our thought was, we need to help these artists with their marketing, help them monetize what they’re doing. But we continually have this conversation that we’re helping you. You have to still do it. We can’t do it all for you. Your fans don’t want to hear how much I like you. They want to hear that, but they also want to hear from you and what a certain piece might mean to you or why you did something in a certain way.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
Right? So I think this platform that you’ve created here gives artists a great opportunity to showcase themselves and just even be here. Even if you’re not working this space as an artist, if you’re here and somebody walks in and obviously likes your work, you happen to be here and you get to talk about it. So you can’t be better than that.
Tom Heath
We’ve seen that over and over. Someone will be coming in just to drop off something and someone will be looking at their work and we introduce them and 20 minutes later, they’re buying their art. They’ve got a photo with the artist, they’ve got a story. They’re so excited, they’re telling their family, I met this person because it is all part of the experience of owning the art, is being connected with that artist.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
Right. So you can tell my story for me when I’m not here. And that’s a great thing.
Tom Heath
Good, because I do that a lot.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
Which I’m so happy about.
Tom Heath
And I’m pretty sure I get like 80% of it. Pretty close.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
I think you do because you’ve heard me talk about my own work to people. And then you hear those stories and those where you get to relay, but in the end, there’s really still nothing better than the artist being here and speaking about their work to someone who’s interested.
Tom Heath
Well, I think that’s a good place to end it. Today we’ve got Amy Bumpus. She’s one of the founding artists in the Tucson Gallery. Her work has been in here since day one. You can see it, the originals here at 300 East Congress. You can head to our website, the Tucsongallery.com. How do people follow you? Instagram. Social media handles instagram.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
Facebook. I have a website which is just my name, Amypumpus.com. And those are the ways to find.
Tom Heath
Me on Instagram Facebook saying, my Amy Bump. Amy Bumpus.
Amy Lynn Bumpus
Yeah.
Tom Heath
Okay, so check her out and then stay tuned. These air, every week, they’re recordings that we do live at the Tucson Gallery. Every Thursday we do a meet the artist event. The whole schedule is listed on the Tucsongallery.com under tours and events. You’ll see all the upcoming artists. And if you missed the live presentation, then you’ll start to see the recorded podcast that we do. There’s also going to be a video section, all kinds of information as we try to connect the artist with the world and the world with the artist. But it is the meet the artist. The Tucson Gallery, downtown Tucson. Tune in next week for another fabulous episode with an amazing Tucson artist.
Tom Heath
Thank you for listening to Meet the Artist. This is a weekly production by the Tucson Gallery located inside of the proper shops at 300 East Congress Street in Tucson, Arizona. The mission of the Tucson Gallery is to support local artists by providing a space to show their art, a forum to engage with their audience, a virtual presence to connect with global patrons, an outlet to earn a fair price and an opportunity to hone their business skills. Head over to the Tucson gallery.com for more information about our live events. Listen to other Meet the Artist podcasts and check out the wide selection of art, gifts and other items created by Tucson’s modern, thought provoking and forward thinking artist.
Tom Heath
We are back here at the Tucson Gallery inside of the proper shops in downtown Tucson for another edition of Meet the Artist. This one is kind of a special occasion because not only is it an artist, but it’s another retailer here within the shop. So it’s not someone that actually has the art in our gallery. He’s too good for our gallery, so he’s got his own place. But you will be able to find some of his reproductions and gifts on our website which will tell you all about the end. But Meet The Artist is a chance for us to explore, explore Tucson’s fabulous art scene, get to meet these wonderful people that make amazing works. And then our goal in the gallery is to export this to the world. And one of the ways we do that is through this podcast, Meet the Artists. And today we are joined by the Tyler Bentley.
Tyler Bentley
Hello. Hello. How are you guys? Thank you for tuning in and I just want to thank you all for supporting local artists and making this dream a reality.
Tom Heath
How long have you been making art and when did you first sort of get that bug that you knew you were going to be an artist?
Tyler Bentley
So I’ve been making art basically my whole life. I never took it too serious until around 2017 when I went to California and got sober for the first time in my life and started painting. Something ticked and started just creating. And ever since I did that, it turned something on inside me that was such a fire that lived, made my life worth living.
Tom Heath
Well, you say something ticked and I think you’re kind of burying the lead. This was like a spiritual awakening for you, wasn’t it? Like you were out, this force came over you. In some ways, yes.
Tyler Bentley
So I was up in Santa Cruz, California, and it was in the redwoods and I was to say, extremely lost, didn’t know what direction to go. And something brought me out into the beautiful woods. There was this beautiful redwood tree that unfortunately got struck by lightning. But redwood trees, through the process of fire, they regrow and it calls the grandmother tree. And there was around ten trees growing in a circular around the remnants of this old tree. And I went there and I got on my hands and knees and I asked for relief. I asked if something is there to help me. And a sensation came over me that was extremely heavy when it came down, but once it hit the ground, it lifted up and I couldn’t stop crying. I felt like everything was taken away from me in the most positive way of all. My burdens and all my worries were just completely lifted. And yeah, through that process of the almost rebirth and the metaphor of the tree getting hit by lightning and burning and through this process of you
Tyler Bentley
can say death is his rebirth. And after that rebirth, I realize that creation is life. And we are creators creating in this life.
Tom Heath
Now you’re creating. And tell us this art, does it all come from this feeling?
Tyler Bentley
There’s a level of intuitive design in mind where it’s just an absence of thought, but more directed thought. It silences their critique, and I just let creation flow. Other paintings, they come through meditations. And their most recent painting was it was just burning through my mind’s eye. Driving through town, I was looking at the road, but there was an image of, I would say, the Holy Spirit, the spirit holding flames. And basically, I couldn’t help but to paint it.
Tom Heath
So you see this you have this vision, and then what’s the process? Do you immediately go home or do you have to think about this for a while?
Tyler Bentley
It depends on the painting. Others are immediate painted. Some it’s a process of kind of surrender. I just I start with a certain layer and keep building and keep building. And then eventually, through the process of three or four days of patience and just not liking it, not liking it. Then it becomes what it was going to be. So there’s a level of painting it as soon as I see it, but there’s also a level of free form and just letting kind of the journey guide me to the destination. Okay, so, yeah, it’s a mixture.
Tom Heath
And then the art itself, is it oil based or what’s your medium and kind of your style?
Tyler Bentley
It’s acrylic. I do experiment in other mediums oil, a little bit of watercolor pastels, but mainly acrylic.
Tom Heath
It looks like a lot of emotions come out. So it’s more kind of abstract, is that?
Tyler Bentley
Yes, there’s a level of abstract and specialism in all of them. And basically my thing is I use color and motion to provoke emotion. Knowing that colors can directly affect the human psyche. And that also when you infuse motion into it, it makes the brain kind of dance with the paintings.
Tom Heath
I think that needs to be your slogan. Tyler Bentley color and motion evoke the emotion. Is that what it was?
Tyler Bentley
Yes. Color in motion provoke the emotion.
Tom Heath
There you go. That’s a good saying there for you.
Tyler Bentley
Wow, that is good. Thank you.
Tom Heath
Color in motion evoke the emotion. The works that I’ve seen, it definitely is. As I’m looking at that, I think whoever is viewing it is probably going to have their own experience.
Tyler Bentley
Is that intentional at 100%? Is it’s? It’s designed to I don’t try to put too much of my own idea of what it needs to be, mainly because it encourages, I think, progressive thinking and the fact that we all see something different in the same painting. And to respect that you might see something I don’t, but it doesn’t mean that it’s not there. I’d like to challenge people to accept thoughts outside of their own. That may be challenging.
Tom Heath
And outside of your art, are there people in town who you follow or whose work that you like?
Tyler Bentley
Mine is more international. There’s a lot of international artists that I’ve found that inspire me. Alex Gray a level of visionary art is super inspiring, but also instagram is a great tool just to give you exactly what you’re looking for. So the artists I follow, it just gives me more of their art.
Tom Heath
So you follow Alex Gray?
Tyler Bentley
Yeah. Alex Gray. John Sparks. Chris Dyer. I like Chris Dyer’s work because he has a level of cartoon and very high color, but it gets the message across. And also, I like he mixes a level of realism with a level of cartoonish.
Tom Heath
Okay.
Tyler Bentley
And, yeah, it really inspires me. And, yeah, I love color.
Tom Heath
Well, you took kind of a big leap because we work with a lot of artists that have a space in our gallery, and you decided you want a large presence, so you actually have an entire shop here with improper shops. What’s the name of it?
Tyler Bentley
Heart of Earth collective. The idea, basically, that you can’t spell the word heart or Earth without art, and that is the basis of all life. And yeah, the big leap, I couldn’t describe it other than natural timing and pushed me exactly where I needed to go. It’s been something I’ve wanted to do. I’ve wanted to make my passion a reality and something that I make money off of. And I realized that if I don’t take a step forward, a leap of faith myself, then who’s going to do it for me? It still is extremely rocky, but nonetheless, I’m riding the wave and trusting the process.
Tom Heath
Yeah, I don’t think if it’s not rocky, it’s not exciting enough. Right. It’s too easy. Heart of Earth collective. Is it just your art, or do you have other things in there as well? From what I can tell, yes.
Tyler Bentley
So I focus on precious stones and other beautiful jewelry. I want it to almost seem like a treasure chest that you find, and you open it up, and there’s things that make you wonder who it belonged to, where it came from. I really want to empower people to feel as confident as they want. And I think I see a lot in society as they wear more nicer things. And I think that’s a beautiful thing because I think it encourages growth and just being better and all around. So, yeah, there’s four local jewelry smiths that I work with, silver smith, gold wire wrapping. I do do my own jewelry, but I haven’t had the time because I’ve been balancing a lot right now.
Tom Heath
It’s amazing when you’re an artist and running a business, both sides of your brain working full time.
Tyler Bentley
Yeah, I’ve heard it a lot that you’re going to do the marketing, you’re going to do everything by yourself. And I didn’t believe it, but now I realize it is a reality. But yeah, I want to build this into a large collective of artists that push their art into the world because I believe our passion should be rewarded. And I think there’s a lot of people that don’t have the reach. So part of this is providing the reach for talented individuals that have a passion they want to push into this world.
Tom Heath
Yeah. When my partners, Tony, Ray, Darren, and myself, we open up the gallery, it was the exact same thought, this is a passion of ours. And we get excitement, not just when someone comes in and appreciates the art, but we get excitement when an artist realizes that they bring more value to the world than they realize.
Tyler Bentley
Yeah. And that’s been the biggest blessing of this whole situation. A reminder of as much as we all need to make it surviving. And then a living off of stuff is even if I don’t sell something, I’m getting an impact and seeing the impact that my art has on the people and realizing that the things I tell myself that I put into my art, infuse into my art is actually being received. So it’s a beautiful and kind of uncomfortable scenario to be on the receiving, like watching people look at your art and then telling it’s yours because it’s really broad what you can get reaction wise, but it’s been happily received and beautifully received. And I’ve loved this process. Yeah.
Tom Heath
I talked to a musician a few years ago, and he had said I put stuff out there. And then I asked if he accepts feedback, and he said, Honestly, their impression of my work is none of my business. I put out what I love. It resonates with some, not with others. And that’s fine because that’s how you grow and you progress.
Tyler Bentley
Yeah. That brings up I traveled to Washington last year on my bus, and I was painting in the forest, and I just kind of had some paintings out, and this lady comes up and she’s just looking at him and she says, I don’t get it. Like, what don’t you get? She’s like, you’re in this place and this is what you’re you paint. And it was the first time I was challenged with constructive criticism, and I was just like, I respect that you don’t understand it, and there is nothing to get. It’s abstract, but yeah, it was a gentle reminder that each one of us have a different view and not to get hurt by what they view.
Tom Heath
Yeah. I think for me, whenever I write or I do anything, it’s about what do I want to say? I’m not as concerned about what do people want to hear? And I see that in your painting. It’s out there. This is what’s coming through me. I tell you, it’s like you control it sometimes. It’s just this is my vision. I’ve got to paint it. It’s not like I set out to do this. It’s just what happened.
Tyler Bentley
Yeah, 100%. And it’s become just who I am. I live breathing in art, and I believe we all are art dancing in this beautiful world that we live in. And I just challenge people to express themselves.
Tom Heath
Well, you mentioned a challenge that you have, which is marketing. So tell me, is your social media up yet? I know we’ve been harping you on this telephone. Where can people find you proper shops? 300 East Congress. This is on the corner of Fifth in Congress across from Hotel Congress, and it’s open now Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at eleven, sundays at eleven and closing at eight or nine, depending on the day. They can come in and see your art there. But tell us about Instagram, Facebook, those outlets.
Tyler Bentley
So the instagram page would be hard of Earth collective. And then my personal art page is Newhue underscore Art. I’ve definitely been working on getting my art readily accessible online and more open to the public. I feel like it’s right around the corner to becoming a reality. It’s been a lot of work, but nonetheless a beautiful journey. And I think it’s right around the corner that I have prints, ready accessories, mugs, puzzles, and I would say within a week and a half, I think it will be ready to go push them out.
Tom Heath
So I’ll get a lot of the reproductions, the gifts, things like that. We can do that through our website, the Tucsongallery.com, so that people can find that. But the original work, if they want that, they’ve got to come see you at proper shops.
Tyler Bentley
Yes, sir.
Tom Heath
And they can get more information through our social media or through your social media. And let’s help Tyler Market spread the word about him. He’s coming from this from a very spiritual place and it’s almost as if he’s a reluctant artist. He’s creating art that comes through him. He might not think that that was his first choice in life.
Tyler Bentley
Yeah, but definitely the right choice. The right choice. I’ve gotten a lot of fulfillment and love for myself through this process and a lot of learning about myself through this process.
Tom Heath
So someone that’s been interested in doing or doing it more full time, maybe facing some challenges or facing some adversity in their life that’s pulling them away, what are some thoughts for those individuals?
Tyler Bentley
Don’t give up. Challenging things arise, especially when you’re on the right path. I feel like it goes back to what you said, if it’s not rocky, it’s not fun. I remember setting up in parking lots and setting up on the side of the road, fighting the wind paintings, blowing left and right, and realizing that this is part of a journey that getting handed something immediately is not rewarding, it’s not fulfilling. So this realization that the struggles are part of the end result, it gets you to where you’re going to go. And the struggles are the memories that are like you can go back and laugh at. So I think the most important thing would be to remember that it’s part of the journey. It’s not a destination, it’s a journey. And to continue on the journey. If you feel it’s something that lights you up and ignites your soul, do it.
Tom Heath
Tyler Bentley not only an artist, you’re like a wordsmith. The struggles are your memories that you can go back and laugh at. You got all these thoughts. It’s heart of Earth collective.
Tyler Bentley
Heart of Earth collective.
Tom Heath
Find it on social media. Come down to the proper shops, say hello. You work your shop most of the times, right? You’re there most of the time?
Tyler Bentley
Yes, sir. I am here basically all the time. Unless I have something else going on, which then one of my jewelers, Lisa Mele, is here. She’s a beautiful goldsmith. She does amazing work. Beautiful woman that’s been in this business for a few years. It’s teaching me a few things.
Tom Heath
You want to come actually meet the Artist from Meet the Artist had done a proper shop. Part of Art collective. You can check out our website, the Tucsongallery.com. By the time this airs, you should be up and running with some reproductions and gifts available. But I think as much as I love the ability to reproduce a lot of your art, I think you do get to see the original. I think the original brings an emotion that a reproduction you can capture, but it’s easier to capture that if you’ve seen the original work.
Tyler Bentley
Yeah, there’s a level of energy that are in the originals that cannot be reproduced. And there was a level of me not wanting to reproduce works, but I think they need to be seen. So let them be seen. And quick reminder that we vote with our dollar. And what are you voting for?
Tom Heath
Yeah. Support local. I’ve been using this phrase. It’s art made by local so you can buy vocal.
Tyler Bentley
Yeah.
Tom Heath
Look at that. I’m a word smith.
Tyler Bentley
Look at there is rubbing off on you.
Tom Heath
Tyler Bentley, thank you for your time.
Tyler Bentley
Thank you.
Tom Heath
We’ll get this up and share it with the world and look forward to meeting all of your fans as they come in to say hello at Heart of Earth Collective in the proper shops.
Tyler Bentley
Yes, sir. Downtown Arizona tucson thank you for listening.
Tom Heath
To Meet the Artist. This is a weekly production by the Tucson Gallery located inside of the proper shops at 300 East Conga Street in Tucson, Arizona. The mission of the Tucson Gallery is to support local artists by providing a space to show their art, a forum to engage with their audience, a virtual presence to connect with global patrons, an outlet to earn a fair price and an opportunity to hone their business skills. Head over to the Tucsongallery.com for more information about our live events. Listen to other Meet The Artist podcasts and check out the wide selection of art, gifts and other items created by Tucson’s modern thought provoking and forward thinking artists.
Tom Heath
I’m kind of excited about this. We’re having our very first Meet the Artist podcast. We’re inside the fabulous Tucson Gallery at the proper shops on Congress and Fifth Avenue and part of our series where we’re going to expose the world to our fabulous artists here in Tucson. And we get to launch this with someone who have gotten to know very well over the last couple of years. And we’re going to talk about art today, although we have talked about many different things over the last few years because you’re doing quite a bit. But Randy CF. Fletcher. Welcome to meet the artist.
Randiesia Fletcher
Thank you so much, Tom. Thanks for inviting me.
Tom Heath
It is our pleasure. If you’re not familiar, head over to our other podcast, Life Along the Streetcar and you can look up interviews we’ve done with DC and her husband Herman who are doing amazing things for sustainability, affordable housing and others within our Tucson community. But today we’re talking about art because you do all these projects and a lot of the way you fund these projects is by selling art.
Randiesia Fletcher
Absolutely.
Tom Heath
So when did you know you were going to be an artist?
Randiesia Fletcher
Well, I remember in 6th grade when the administration, they come and ask all of the children about what are you going to do when you get older? And I remember saying, well, I’m going to go into the army, I’m going to be the president and I’m going to be an artist. And so, no, I didn’t go into army, I went into the Marine Corps. I’ve been the president of my own company. And I knew then that I was going to be an artist. But that was short changed by the idea of I didn’t think artists made any money. And so at that time when I understood that I was an artist, we were homeless. And so how I was selling a piece of art, going to pay the bills. And so it was quickly just taken out of my mind that I’m not going to be an artist. And I said, well, I’m going to be an architect instead.
Tom Heath
This is in 6th grade and you’re homeless at this point.
Randiesia Fletcher
Yes, but around that time there was a lady named Don who took me shopping and she took me to an art store and she bought paint, brushes, lava, soap, a sketch pad that I just remembered the other day, a sketch pad, charcoal, pencils. She brought paintbrushes, turpentine and oil paint. And so I started painting and I started painting the faces of family and so the eyes and what the lips look like. And I was drawing also. And I just had this memory because I was sitting in the dark, drawing, and I couldn’t see what I was drawing, but I was just sitting in the dark. And I remembered the nostalgia of just sitting and drawing, and there were so many dark places at that time, but I always remember drawing, and it made me feel good. It was a place of escape. And so I started painting and writing as a place of escape for myself.
Tom Heath
I’ve talked to some other artists, and I think that is sometimes a common theme, that they use it to move themselves to a different level mentally, physically, emotionally. But I don’t know of anyone that has done that from such a stark beginning and created light in that way. Wow. Now that you’re a little bit more established, are you still using Lava soap?
Randiesia Fletcher
When I go to my uncle’s house, he has Lava soap there, and I always remember the smell. So it’s such a wonderful smell, but I need to buy some because it’s the thing that takes that oil paint right off your hands. And when I’m painting, I’m making a mess.
Tom Heath
So tell us about your art. That it’s I’m assuming that it’s oil paint.
Randiesia Fletcher
It is oil. So I use oil on canvas, and I paint eyes, and I paint family faces. I paint the stories that I imagine in my head and so they’re historical fiction, stories that I imagine in my head. And then I write the story and I paint or I paint and then write the story. But it comes together simultaneously where I’m imagining this person and their history and their lineage and where they’ve come from, and I’m painting that and almost like breathing and telling myself the story at the same time. And so I get lost in the psychosis where I’m just in this place with this person paintering everything about them.
Tom Heath
Wow. So this is not just representation on canvas. You’re writing the story out as well?
Randiesia Fletcher
Yeah, absolutely. So all of my paintings have a story that goes along with them.
Tom Heath
I knew they ought a story, but I didn’t know that they had an actual written story. I thought the story was in your head as you were creating with you. The story came first.
Randiesia Fletcher
Yes. Or it’s like chicken or the egg situation, but they’re written. So, like, whichever picture that I have up there is an actual story. So when people purchase paintings or when I do presentations, I situate the painting, and then I tell the story. And so it’s my favorite. It’s the presentation part of the story that excites me so much. To see the person in their eyes I’m talking about the painting. To see that person in their eyes and to understand, like, I’m in their head. It’s like a second person.
Tom Heath
I love that understanding. And you’ve kind of grown now into teaching as well, right? You’re helping young artists get going.
Randiesia Fletcher
Oh, yeah, absolutely. So I’m a teaching artist. So teaching artist doesn’t necessarily mean teaching other people art, necessarily. But I’m an artist teaching. And so as an artist teaching, those social issues that I paint are the ones that I’m able to teach. So if we’re talking about recovery and repair like we’re doing at the University of Arizona. Right now, I’m teaching art for people to write down their feelings of how do they process grief. So we write something, and then we’re feelings. But the artist that I’m training is my daughter, the most in oil. But my sons are training artists as well, but they have different mediums, like jewelry, so they’re big jewelry makers. And my older son is a painter, too.
Tom Heath
I did not know that you had all this artistic energy flowing through your house.
Randiesia Fletcher
Yes, it’s the whole family, and Herman does the audio visual, and that’s art within itself.
Tom Heath
I’ve seen his work as well, and I don’t want to get too far afield from the art component, because that’s what we’re here really, to discuss. But this funds really interesting projects in our community. Can you just briefly kind of touch upon your urban forest?
Randiesia Fletcher
Yes. So the urban forest project started as a community project to build a food forest. And so our goal was to house individuals on a property that Herman and I own and then create a food system where people who were challenged with food security and housing insecurities. I wanted them to have housing, and I wanted them to be able to have food in the same place so they wouldn’t have to spend their money elsewhere. So, like today, I was able to go out into my own yard, and before I came here, I’m cooking dinner. I’m cutting down all the collard greens, and I’m just putting it in a pot. So that saved me a lot of money, because one bushel of collard greens are, what, a dollar 99 for, like, three big leaves? And so the same thing at the other properties where people can go outside with a little scissor, cut those greens, put it in a pot, and they’re able to eat, and then they don’t have to go spend the dollar 99. But no one buys one bushel of greens. You buy at least three bushels of greens,
Randiesia Fletcher
and so that’s six $8 that you’re able to save instead of spending. And you grew it in your own house. It’s not on the Dirty Dozen. It doesn’t have pesticides on there, and you took care of it and grew it yourself. And so that’s what we’re teaching people, to grow it and to eat from their own food lands.
Tom Heath
It’s such a serendipitous path that someone who at such a young age is facing food and housing insecurity finds art as a way of of bringing themselves emotionally and mentally through that, and now using art to find physical manifestations to help people through some of those same challenges. See, I know from the past, but I’m going to ask you, you’re a woman of faith. Is this important to you in your art?
Randiesia Fletcher
Absolutely. So I believe my relationship with God, it’s very important because I believe that the Holy Spirit talks to me and is a guide for me, and it was so many people of faith who helped support us along the way. And so I definitely honor God in the things that I do in my painting and my lifestyle. And I believe that we have to love our neighbor as ourselves, and that’s so important, for I would be very selfish to do nothing after so many people did so much for me. And so how can I do that? It’s by loving God with my heart, soul and light and then loving my neighbor as myself. And so how I treat myself, I definitely want to treat others as well.
Tom Heath
And someone else in your life, I know, has been a big influence, and he’s not here, so we can talk about him. But your husband yes, Herman. Tell us a little bit about your husband. And he’s not here, so you can be very candid.
Randiesia Fletcher
I could be very candid. Even though he’s on his way. Oh, my goodness. He’s right behind me.
Tom Heath
He shouldn’t have laughed. I was going to get the real dirt. Herman.
Randiesia Fletcher
Herman is my protector. I text Herman what happened, and so when I walked up and so, of course, he came here as soon as possible, and I can’t believe that he got here so fast. But Herman, he and I connect because we’re both PTSD veterans, post traumatic stress disorder veterans. He’s a combat veteran, and he was in the army, and I was in the better service, the Marine Corps. And of course, I’m always going to say that. So that’s our little running joke. And he’s probably smiling behind me right now because I think I’m superior because I’m a Marine. But we met in a common understanding that we’re both suffering with this PTSD thing from the military, and we were able to really just be each other’s counselors and understand that, hey, sometimes I’m down and I need to have the lights off, and I just need some meditation, some lavender, and then I know when he’s down. And so we’re able to support each other because we have similar backgrounds of homelessness abuse within the family. Both of
Randiesia Fletcher
us are disabled veterans, and so we’re able to really support each other on a common ground. He’s such a great support, too.
Tom Heath
So we are inside the Tucson Gallery. We just launched in December, and you are one of our very first featured artists, and you’re our first to launch this whole series of Meet the artists and tell us a little about your gallery experience. What does it mean to be in a gallery? Are you in other galleries?
Randiesia Fletcher
Yes, I’m in other galleries. What it means to be in a gallery is it’s a big honor for me, one, and it means representation. It means exposure for me because a lot of times, people don’t want to see Pan African faces in their galleries. What my experience has been in certain places in the Southwest, and so a lot of times, people have southwestern themes, which are beautiful, but that’s not my theme and that’s not my genre of painting. And so for a gallery to say, hey, we want your work in our gallery, it meant so much because it wasn’t just one type of painting in that gallery in which I see so much of. But you accepted this here. People are able to see what I see and understand the stories that I’m telling and to see it deeper than just sometimes. We’re so prejudiced against skin color and that black thing over there. But no, this is artwork and you are displaying this artwork high on your shelves right here. And that means the world to me. Representation matters and you’ve invited me to
Randiesia Fletcher
be here and I’m just be so grateful for what you have done. Thank you so much, Tom.
Tom Heath
It’s just mutual. We had a lot of respect for you and your work and what your work leads to. If you want to see her in DC’s work, you’re going to have to come down to the Tucson Gallery to see some of the live stuff here. And we are on a rotating schedule, so I can’t guarantee that it’ll be here forever. So you want to get down here quick. But you can also find it reproductions on our website, the Tucsongallery.com. And you have your own website with a lot more artwork than word displays. What’s your website?
Randiesia Fletcher
And so www dot Harris Fletcher.com that’s.
Tom Heath
Pretty easy to remember. And how do people follow you, like on social media? What’s your handles?
Randiesia Fletcher
My handles for instagram is Portraits of Sustainability. So that’s portraits underscore of underscore sustainability or urban Forest by HF. Or you could just look up my name Randy SIA Fletcher on Facebook.
Tom Heath
All right, well, we will link to all of those at some point through our, through our gallery page. We’ve got that up and running now, but excited to have this series every Thursday we’re going to have a different artist in some that are Tucson known, some that are up and coming, some that are established but maybe not here in Tucson yet and just really excited to share. And I just want to leave with a thought for someone who’s getting into an art situation. They’re in the 6th grade and they’re contemplating their future and they don’t have someone that’s going to come over and give them that nudge. What can they do internally? How do they get that nudge? If if they really want to be.
Randiesia Fletcher
Into this, don’t give up. I was just saying about stumbling blocks. If you have a stumbling block there, just learn how to run track and jump those hurdles. And so don’t let little things stop you and don’t let your own self doubt stop you. I think it’s very important that we persevere forward. I kept telling myself I’m fearfully and wonderfully made, no weapon form against me shall prosper. And I believe that wholeheartedly. And I’ve been so successful because of the self talk that I have done with myself since a child. And I haven’t been perfect with it. But it’s so important that I keep telling myself that I’m more than a conqueror and I can do all things. And that’s very important for me.
Tom Heath
Nothing to add? That’s where we’re going to end it. That’s perfect for DC. Thank you.
Randiesia Fletcher
Thank you. Thank you.
