Meet The Artist

Transcript (Unedited)

Tom Heath

Welcome back to the Tucson Gallery meet the artist event. Every week we have a different artist coming to the studio. They share all their trade secrets. They meet with their fans, sign autographs, all the cool stuff that happens inside the Tucson Gallery, the proper shops, 300 East Congress in downtown Tucson. And then we always pull them away from their fans for a few minutes and record these annoying podcasts because they’re so engrossed. And I’m like, hey, come and come talk to me. And I have to have a podcast, otherwise they wouldn’t talk to me. We appreciate that, but you can’t miss us. We’re in downtown Tucson, across from Hotel Congress, next to the Alto Theater and next to the playground. So come down, check us out, and if you can’t make it down, check out our website, thetucsongallery.com. It’ll have a schedule of all the live events, all of our artists with profiles, those that have merchandise available online, and past episodes of Meet the Artist. Today we have a sculptor in

Tom Heath

our midst. We have the fabulous hopefully I’ll say this right, Ukiah Hoy, you got it. Look at that.

Ukiah Hoy

Thanks. Nice to be here.

Tom Heath

So you like to play with metal is what I understand.

Ukiah Hoy

Yeah, I think play would be the operative word. Right. I like to see where it goes and what I can make it do.

Tom Heath

How did you get started in that? Have you always been like, an artist or did you just wake up one day and say, I want to cut strips of metal?

Ukiah Hoy

I’ve been making art of all kinds since I was little, since I was a small child. My father, his dad was an animator for Walt Disney.

Tom Heath

Oh, wow. So you got some professional artistic blood in the family.

Ukiah Hoy

Exactly. So I used to sketch and doodle and give him my sketchbooks and wait, worryingly for him to meander them and critique them. I always thought I would keep it as just a side hobby. So when I started pursuing art in college, I didn’t really think of where I wanted it to go. And then I stumbled upon metal for one sculpture project there. And I knew in the back of my mind I was interested in metal sculpture. And it really made me angry and it was hard to navigate, but the outcome was really cool. And by the time I was done, I triumphed. And I thought, wow, I could really go somewhere with it.

Tom Heath

What was your first piece?

Ukiah Hoy

There were these two really cool great blue herons that were made in the same way I do all of my birds. And I kind of started out with all of the scrap metal and knew that I wanted to make herons because I had just had a heron eat all my koi out of my pond. That made me very angry and also inspired me.

Tom Heath

There’s a lot of anger in your art.

Ukiah Hoy

I know there’s sharp objects too. Maybe it’s correlated.

Tom Heath

So these heron eat your fish and you’re like, I’m going to sculpt you out of metal.

Ukiah Hoy

Yeah. Instead of like, shooting the bird and stuffing it. The koi were like, ten years old. That’s an investment if you’re a koi person.

Tom Heath

I am not. But a fish that’s ten years old of any sort seems like quite an investment of time and money.

Ukiah Hoy

Yeah. And the birds are protected, so what are you going to do? And they’re beautiful and majestic and fantastic and amazing.

Tom Heath

So did you make herons and then break them? Is that why you made them, so that you could take them down a pain?

Ukiah Hoy

I fell in love with them.

Tom Heath

Okay.

Ukiah Hoy

And so as I’m sculpting with metal, I was learning about what it does. So it heats and it shrinks and that makes it move. And the way I weld is tack welding from the bottom all the way to the top. So by the time I got done, these creatures had this really inquisitive kind of look to their faces and these personas, they felt very alive. And I used them for a show as a senior in college and now they adorn my pond at home, hopefully keeping herons away.

Tom Heath

Wow, that calls full circle.

Ukiah Hoy

Yeah. It was humble, though. I kind of kept them in my pocket and I didn’t make anything like that for a while. And my art degree was focused on art education because I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do as an artist.

Tom Heath

Okay, before we get into the art education, which we want to talk about, people can see that on our website, thetucsongallery.com but a lot of what you have in the gallery are birds. And is that still your primary sort of object that you create?

Ukiah Hoy

I think currently, yeah, that’s primarily what I’m creating, but I’m interested in how things are assembled, like how the way I’m creating is going to complement what the structure is. So I also enjoy insects for the same reason I enjoy the birds, because you can hide the weld work and make it look really candid and get a lot of movement out of them. And so I’m exploring more into mammals and other things, but it’s slow going because it’s very much an investigation.

Tom Heath

Okay. Well, these birds, I mean, they are incredibly lifelike. It looks to me like there’s like an under, like a base, like a body, and then you handcut hundreds of feathers and assemble them. Is that an accurate exactly?

Ukiah Hoy

Yeah. I look at whatever bird I would like to make and I sketch it out and then I make an underbody, like a round rod structure that resembles its skeleton.

Tom Heath

Okay.

Ukiah Hoy

And then I handcut every feather and I feather the bird from tail to beak.

Tom Heath

So you know a lot about birds.

Ukiah Hoy

Too, I guess, about how they’re put together.

Tom Heath

Yeah, I think how birds are put together. It’s interesting. You come at things from a very scientific and analytical perspective. It’s like it’s not how birds are created or how they’re born, it’s how they’re put together. Yeah, like the pieces and parts.

Ukiah Hoy

I think biology inspires me in that way. Right. Like you, me, plants, animals, there are all these really neat little puzzles that put together. And when you break an animal down or an insect down to its exoskeleton or to its skeleton and start from the inside and work outwards, I’m fascinated by that. I’m also quite the bone collector.

Tom Heath

Okay, we’re going to save that for another podcast of the creepy things our artists do. But I do want to get back to the art education because that’s a primary focus for you as well. You teach youngsters how to create art.

Ukiah Hoy

They do, yeah. So I got my undergrad at the U of A in art education, so I’m one of a handful of teachers that actually wanted to become the art teacher. I went to college for it. So bringing in contemporary art practice into a high school setting and teaching them how to expand beyond, I don’t know, I guess you would classify it as discipline based art education. So thinking outside of the box has always been a big passion.

Tom Heath

And then how long have you been doing this?

Ukiah Hoy

I’m going into my 8th year.

Tom Heath

Okay, what kind of some success stories? People that have come through your class that are I’m not sure, what should I do? And then you’re like, oh, and then there’s like this light bulb that goes off because you’ve given them some path.

Ukiah Hoy

To follow, runs the gambit. So it could be students that were really wayward that didn’t go to any other class and then got thrown in mine and we built a rapport. And then they really still only came to mind, but then landed some cool scholarships at Pima and went to college because of that experience. Or were dealing with really hard life issues and found a way to vent that through art. Or there’s kids that have gotten full rides to the U of A for the College of Art just based on merit because they showed their portfolio to professionals and they were that good.

Tom Heath

Wow.

Ukiah Hoy

And they wouldn’t have done that otherwise. We’ve landed a lot of scholarships and a lot of college placement. I was running the IB. So it’s international baccalaureate art program at Choya High School for the last seven years. And that’s just really in itself rewarding to see the kids analyze life and themselves and experience that through art making. If that makes sense.

Tom Heath

It does. Have you crushed any dreams? Anybody come to you and said, oh, I’m a great artist, and you’re like, wow, you should stick to the theater.

Ukiah Hoy

We call those ones dragons. Those aren’t teachers. We call them dragons.

Tom Heath

Okay.

Ukiah Hoy

But the good ones, I like to pop their bubble for sure. Yeah. If they come into a critique heart like they know everything. I’ll definitely make some really technical digs and I’ve never had a student fail to rise to the occasion.

Tom Heath

Good, very good. Tough question here because we put you on the hot seat with Meet the artist, the joy of a successful creation, something that you’ve never done before, or the joy of your student success. Which one gives you more elation?

Ukiah Hoy

They’re equal.

Tom Heath

Yeah, they are, though. I love my kids all the same.

Ukiah Hoy

I think they both just both as much of a mystery, so you never know how it’s going to hit until it’s done. The kids, though, man, when you see someone struggle and you feel that to your core and you watch them triumph, that’ll get tears on my eyes right now, I have a bleeding heart for that.

Tom Heath

I think that’s good to be in a position that you are and I think that’s why you’ve had so much success. We like to talk about for other artists that are sort of in up and coming mode or trying to figure things out, you have a very busy life. I mean, you’re raising some kids of your own, you’re teaching a bunch of kids, you’re doing the art you’re displayed in many places around Tucson. What are some of those thoughts on balancing? Where do you find the time to do this?

Ukiah Hoy

Make time. You have to make it. You have to carve it out of your day and you have to say, I’m sure about this. Like, I’m confident that I’m going to at least try and see what happens because I think I spent a great many years trying to figure out how to find time. I’ll find time for that balance. And it wasn’t until I decided, no.

Tom Heath

I’m going to do it, okay, that it happened intentionally. You’re never going to be less busy than you are now.

Ukiah Hoy

Just do it and see what happens.

Tom Heath

Okay? That’s simple advice. Just do it. Don’t question, just do it.

Ukiah Hoy

Like a soda slogan, right?

Tom Heath

And then getting out into yard, into the world. So you’ve done shows you’re in galleries like that. What’s that process? Like, are you going from gallery? These things are heavy, so it’s like you can’t just, hey, here’s 20 pieces of work that I’ve done that’s like literally like a ton of material.

Ukiah Hoy

Literally. It’s a pain in the butt and I have really good gloves. We’re talking about upgrading transport for that because this has kind of been a big swoop, even just in the last year of how many things have been created and where they need to go. So logistically, I think a nice suited trailer, but then you get into thinking about shipping and handling and who’s going to take it beyond yourself. And those are all things that are I don’t think you negotiate when you’re like, I made this, I made this.

Tom Heath

This is beautiful.

Ukiah Hoy

There’s so many other little pieces to the puzzle that come together to get it to where it needs to be.

Tom Heath

Yeah. The commercial side of art sometimes is a little bit more complex, and a lot of the artists that we talk to, some of them are figuring it out. Some of them have it completely dialed in, and others are just struggling. It seems like it’s almost like a different brain function of the creative side as to how to market it is.

Ukiah Hoy

Absolutely. And I think it might be easier for some than others. If you’re dealing with paintings, they’re going to be relatively flat. You can kind of guess what their weight is going to be. But when you’re dealing with sculptures, it’s really more dynamic. I don’t know what shipping is going to require.

Tom Heath

Right, shipping. And then the delicacy of these. I mean, they’re hardy, they’re really well built, but they’re also really small feathers on some of these birds. If you don’t package it right, you could end up with a bald spot on one of your birds. Definitely destination.

Ukiah Hoy

If I did my job right, welds shouldn’t pop. But more so, they’re prone to puncture boxes and things because they’re so sharp. So that’s more of an issue, is.

Tom Heath

Getting arms and hands layers. When you first came in because you had those gloves and you were handling these birds, I mean, you honestly look like the actual falcon ear. Right. You got this huge raven, and you’re holding it in a way and looks like it’s perched on your glove. And I’m like, Wait a minute.

Ukiah Hoy

No, it’s a metal one. I do go through a new pair of welding gloves in about four months. If I’m working steadily, though, and then.

Tom Heath

How long does it take to create? I mean, because you got small, medium, large, but let’s just take like, a medium sized bird.

Ukiah Hoy

Like, how long start to finish from first tack to paint is probably about 48 hours.

Tom Heath

Oh, that’s faster than I thought. And do you work on one project at a time, or do you have multiple going?

Ukiah Hoy

I have multiple going. And if I’m making a set to sell, if I’m working for a market, or if I’m making stuff for the gallery, I’ll do things all at a time. Right. I’ll need feathers for three birds, so I’ll cut all my feathers.

Tom Heath

Okay.

Ukiah Hoy

And then I’ll make all my frames, and then I’ll weld each bird out. And when you get systematic, you get a little faster.

Tom Heath

I guess that makes sense. And then the painting of it. I understand you use, like, a car paint or something really heavy. These are outdoor.

Ukiah Hoy

Yeah, they’re for outdoor use. So it’s a candy coated or candy pigmented clear coat that’s UV resistant automotive paint that’s sprayed on.

Tom Heath

I didn’t understand. I know all those words, but not in that order.

Ukiah Hoy

It’s on your car.

Tom Heath

It’s on my car. Okay.

Ukiah Hoy

Yeah, but so it’s really great for Arizona sun, especially because they sparkle in the sun and they last.

Tom Heath

Any drawings you’re still doing? Is it all metal?

Ukiah Hoy

Yeah, now I do a little bit of everything. I’m actually working on drawings right now. My daughter’s dog passed away. It was really sad. So I’ve been working on a commemorative piece for her. When you say that. So I like drawing. It’s a nice respite because it’s not so physical. Sometimes it can get exhausting.

Tom Heath

Well, I imagine you can. Drawing is also you can do it a little bit more frequently. You don’t need a space.

Ukiah Hoy

I don’t need, like, a space, a set up, a babysitter. I could have a cup of tea and a sketchbook. It’s kind of nice. It’s, like, very relaxing.

Tom Heath

You can draw on vacation. It’s kind of hard to well, on vacation, honey, pack the torch.

Ukiah Hoy

Burning my clothes and my hands and my hair and all that jazz.

Tom Heath

Yeah. So when do we see some of this other art? Is that available, or are you only commercially working on your sculptures and I’m.

Ukiah Hoy

Only commercially working on sculptures, so it’s kind of I guess it’s still dabble work for me with my 2D stuff. I think that it’s like an ever growing practice of where every year I try something a little different or see it change a little more into a way that I enjoy it, but nothing that I’m ready to get out and put on a wall yet.

Tom Heath

Is your grandfather still alive?

Ukiah Hoy

He’s deceased. His name was Frank Thomas. Not the baseball player, but the animator.

Tom Heath

Okay.

Ukiah Hoy

He’s a cool guy. So he worked on every movie from Snow White to Fox and the Hound, except for Dumbo and Fantasia. He was a directing animator.

Tom Heath

Did he get to see your sculptures?

Ukiah Hoy

No, he died when I was, like, 16. No, I was 18.

Tom Heath

Okay.

Ukiah Hoy

I was 18 and he was 93.

Tom Heath

Because these strike me as sort of like 3D elements of what you would create for a cartoon.

Ukiah Hoy

I think he would have loved them.

Tom Heath

I think so, too.

Ukiah Hoy

You know that crayola air, dry clay?

Tom Heath

No.

Ukiah Hoy

Oh, man. Come on, get yourself to a craft store. I’ll buy you some. But I used to dabble with that, and I’d make him little creations, so I’m sure he would have been really excited to see where that went.

Tom Heath

Fantastic. Fantastic. And then with your students, it’s been eight years, so are any out? Professionally?

Ukiah Hoy

Yes, actually. I have one graduated that’s at the U of A right now, getting ready to be an art teacher. So that was one of the biggest full circle rewards. She observed my classroom again, and I have another one that just had her first solo show over at the Steinfeld Warehouse. And she’s got her own shop, and she’s slinging art, and it’s amazing.

Tom Heath

Wow.

Ukiah Hoy

Yeah. Really proud of both of them.

Tom Heath

Wow. Well, good for you. Good for them. And I think the foundations of what we talk to these are is there’s someone in their life almost always that gave them some sort of credibility that this was possible or some sort of nudge that this is something they could do. Because a lot of them didn’t come by this just naturally. They’re like, hey, I’m a great artist, I’m going to do this. They had this talent but didn’t know what to do with it. And someone like yourself came along and said, well, you could do this and that, so to speak. Little pushed the bird out of the nest, so to speak.

Ukiah Hoy

Good.

Tom Heath

Yeah, look at that. Full circle back. So that’s why I get paid nothing. So your work is in the Tucson Gallery. Do you have website? Do you have social media? Where can people check out what you’re doing?

Ukiah Hoy

Yeah, I have social media. So it’s old canoe designs on instagram.

Tom Heath

Old canoe designs.

Ukiah Hoy

Yeah.

Tom Heath

Where does that come from?

Ukiah Hoy

It’s an inside joke from way back when I was dating my husband and his mom couldn’t remember my name and she said, invite that girl over, what’s her name? Used kayak, old Canoe, whatever it is, tell her to come.

Tom Heath

One more time.

Ukiah Hoy

Old Canoe, old Canoe designs on Instagram and Facebook and website in the works.

Tom Heath

Okay. And tell the website tip you can head over to Tucsongallery.com and check out all of the work that we have. Some photos of that as well as a nice bio and a little some fun pick photos of you and the family. And then while you’re over there, you can listen to other Meet the Artist podcast. It’s under a media section. And don’t forget to sign up for the monthly newsletter because we have kayan, all these artists coming in once a month to share their talents with an adoring group of fans and we’re lucky to have them here in Tucson. Tucson Gallery focuses on local artists and we are just blown away with the amount of talent that we have here in Tucson. So sign up for the newsletter, check out the artwork, peruse some of our other artists, listen to podcasts and buy stuff. Buying stuff is good, so don’t forget to do that and come on down and check out Yukaya, the Old Canoes work down here at 300 East Congress in downtown Tucson. Miss Canoe?

Ukiah Hoy

Yes.

Tom Heath

Absolute pleasure. Thank you.

Ukiah Hoy

Thank you so much.

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 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 thetussongallery.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.

Transcript (Unedited)

Tom Heath

Welcome back to another episode of Meet the Artist. This is our weekly installment of Artist podcast. We record them as part of the event where artists come into the studio and share their knowledge with their fans. It’s every week. And it’s at the Tucson Gallery in downtown Tucson. 300 East Congress. We are located inside of the proper shops. We’re across the street from Hotel Congress, next to the realtor theater hub. You can’t really miss us. We’re down where it’s all happening. And we’re inside of a fabulous building here with all kinds of merchants. You can check out more information about the gallery on our website, tucsongallery.com. And while you’re there, you can check out these past episodes with all these fabulous artists. And most importantly, you can sign up for our newsletter and find out when your favorite artist is going to be live here in the studio. And had you signed up, you would know that your favorite artist, Casey, is going to be in the studio today.

Casey James

Hey.

Tom Heath

So we’ve got Casey. He is a photographer by trade, I think, but he’s a magician. Magician by night. We’re going to see how he puts all this stuff together. Casey, welcome to the show.

Casey James

Thank you. Glad to be here.

Tom Heath

So your art with us is kind of interesting. And

Tom Heath

there’s a lot of different layers that go into this. And it’s done with photography and painting and woodworking and stuff like that. So you’re quite extensive. You’re kind of busy. But what is your day job? What do you do when you’re not full time?

Casey James

I’m a full time photographer.

Casey James

Okay.

Casey James

I’ve been doing that eight years now. Full time. Primarily it was weddings, events, portrait work, working with people. But I really enjoy scenery, capturing sunsets, just what nature has to offer. So when I’m able to incorporate those two, say, people a couple, and then put them in nature with a nice sunset, that’s kind of my forte.

Casey James

Okay.

Casey James

So I do a lot of weddings with these epic scenic views, engagement shoots, family shoots, portraits for just couples, individuals. But when I’m out and about by myself, I like to go venture out sometimes at night, late midnight, look at the night skies. Sometimes I’ll go out during sunset just to get that sunset or just to get that sunrise. So that was kind of like the hobby side of photography. But ultimately I dove into real estate photography in 2019. Pretty tough. And that has kept us busy. So between doing weddings and events and real estate photography, I’m consumed with the camera.

Tom Heath

Okay, I get that. And then the art that you create then this is a photograph, and it’s inset in a shadow box. But then you’ve done all the paint. You’ve painted the box itself too.

Casey James

Yeah.

Casey James

So pretty much to describe the product, it’s pop’s art. I called it that after creating the product. So I created the product first without a name and it kind of speaks for itself. It’s like pop art, but it does pop out at you. But what it is, is it’s a 3D cut sorrow or cactus, whatever the cactus might be, but the shape of that 3D cut. Well, I say 3D cut, but it’s actually plywood. And I use a laser to cut the shape of the cactus to match the shape of the photo. So I have to go out and get a nice photo of a, say, a Sauaro, like our showstopper. That’s kind of like the first one to debut with Pops and get that and kind of cut it out, as you would say in the photo, and then match that to a wood piece about a quarter inch thick of plywood. Put those two together to create this 3D Soworo. And then I actually had to figure out a way to bracket and mount that sauro so it’s in a shadow box, and it’s not just floating around. It’s not just pasted. It’s nice and sturdy. So it is a bracketed in

Casey James

the shadow box made of wood. And then the backdrop is just a solid, vibrant color with acrylic paint. And I use a medium to thicken up the acrylic, so it’s more of like a stucco, so it gives it extra dimension. And, yeah, the colors are kind of endless. I’ve been experimenting with those.

Tom Heath

That is just, like, so much work that is put together a single piece, and then you got them in different sizes, too. You’ve got small, medium, large. I think you’ve got some huge ones.

Casey James

Trying to go life size. Like, if I could, my goal, which is the goal by the end of the year here, is to have maybe like a six or seven foot sorrow framed wow POPSART with a nice canvas background that maybe be a solid color or could possibly have some gradients to resemble a sunset. I’m barely dabbling into the painting side of things. Being a professional photographer, I’ve definitely learned my lighting and technique as far as highlight shadows, and really that’s all photos are, is highlights and shadows and the contrast between that dynamic range. So when I dabble into painting, it’s a new thing for me. It’s so hard to achieve that result that I desire. But what’s beautiful about what I’ve created here with Pops is most of my backgrounds so far are just solid colors. So I have the opportunity to create a color that I desire of a nice, vibrant, poppy color and just apply that to a canvas. And with that, it’s not that there’s no skill behind that, but it takes less skill than being a meticulous detailed painter. I think most of the detail comes in the photography, which I do specialize.

Tom Heath

Yeah, I could imagine you would drive yourself nuts trying to you’re a perfectionist, so you would drive yourself nuts trying to get all these different colors to match what your vision is. So you got into photography professionally, and you’re doing this as a hobby, which came first? Was it the passion for the artistic side? And then you said, hey, I need to make some money, or I need to make some money. And then you’re like, you know what? This actually kind of leads me into my artistic side.

Casey James

Yeah.

Casey James

So this was entirely very sporadic. It was just a vision and idea that I had. I was doing real estate photography at a Paid Job, a very nice home up in Catalina foothills. I saw a canvas print of a cactus with a black background. And then it wasn’t a full cactus. It was like an arm of a sororo. And it just struck my eye because it was so appealing, and I hadn’t seen anything like it. So I start to dissect it on the photography and just on the technical side, like, how did they capture this?

Tom Heath

Is it a photo?

Casey James

Is it a painting? And I realized, okay, it is a photo. But what they did was they took a photo at night with a flash where they illuminate the cactus. Therefore, the background is just black. Okay. You have nothing. Which looked cool, right? So I said, let’s try something. But that just triggered me to thinking even further, like, hey, maybe I could make something where the color is, like, crazy, right? Like, not black, but purple, pink, yellow, green, blue. And I’ve seen a lot of photos with sororos, but usually you’ll see, like, a night sky or a sunset or a blue sky. So you have a few different colors in that range. You’ve got blue skies. Sunsets here in Arizona are beautiful. It could really be any color of the rainbow. But for the most part, they’re like oranges and kind of purples, reds. Pretty warm.

Tom Heath

And then when did the 3D element come into it?

Casey James

Well, so I knew it had to pop out. So originally I was, like, cutting out foam, trying to match it with my photo to extrude it from another photo. So I was stacking a photo on a photo and extruding it by about a quarter inch.

Tom Heath

What is that word again?

Casey James

Extrude. I learned that back in college working.

Tom Heath

On my I went to the wrong college. What does that mean?

Casey James

So to extrude something is to, like to pull away, I guess.

Tom Heath

Okay, so you create depth. You create depth of the picture. So it’s like two pictures with a spacer in between it? Yeah, spacer. That’s the word us dumb kids use.

Casey James

Yeah, I guess it’s a spacer. Yeah, it adds depth. So I knew there needed to be depth. So what I was doing was pasting a photo on a photo, but I would add depth by using, like, foam core.

Tom Heath

We call it extruding.

Casey James

Yeah, I would extrude it how smart I am. But it looks so crafty and cool. And I actually have one in my house too. It’s got the three colors. It’s like pink teal and yellow, and they’re like the foam sticking out. If you go to the side of the photo, you could really see, like, the foam. It looks kind of crafty.

Casey James

Okay.

Casey James

But when I looked at that, it didn’t satisfy me, because, again, with not being a perfectionist, because I hate to claim that title, but I do strive to perfect a lot of things.

Tom Heath

You have a lot of attention to detail.

Casey James

Yeah, exactly. This is a better way to put it, but I wanted it to be much better. I wanted it to be presentable in an art gallery, presentable to a point where it’s like, wow, this is kind of realistic, even though it’s so far fetched, where it’s not real.

Tom Heath

Right.

Casey James

So to achieve that, I was just like, process after process, trial and error, trial and error, using the foam. Finally, I said, forget the foam. I need to just cut some, like, with a laser precision again, to get those edges perfect. So that way you see the side of the cactus, and it matches with the photo. It’s like a 3D cactus. So I looked around and finally found someone that could cut for me. So I sent the files. They had some prototypes, matched my photo perfectly, and that was the original, sororo so we ran a batch of 100 to start with, and each of those hundred she actually cut. My Lisa V Designs is actually my supplier for that. She’s amazing. She does more than just wood cuts. She designs wedding things and swag gear using engraving, anything with wood and lasers. She does it. So she’s kind of my source when I need to order a batch, a large batch. But in the meantime, I was like, I need to order my own laser so I could cut my own prototypes, figure it out. But once I got the 100

Casey James

on my hands, I had to order 100 prints, cut 100 prints, paste them to the wood. On top of that, the wood is just wood. So I also paint the wood black so it blends more with the photo. But yeah, just getting the actual cactus by itself in that 3D module is the hardest part.

Tom Heath

And you do then. So you’ve got the Suarez, the Agave, and the prickly pair.

Casey James

So three currently. I wanted to start with five. I wanted a choya as well. And then I also wanted to have a barrel cactus.

Casey James

Okay.

Casey James

I shot both the barrel cactus. The shape isn’t that appealing, to be honest. The reason I think the pops aren’t so cool is because shape of sororals or agaves or any cactus are so unique. There’s not really any items in our day to day world other than cactus that resemble that. Maybe a palm.

Casey James

Interesting. Yeah. Okay.

Casey James

So when you look at it’s, the shape more than anything. So when I cut out a barrel cactus shape minus the photo, it’s just like a half circle. It doesn’t look that great. So it didn’t excite me much. Now, maybe a barrel cactus with tons of vibrant fruit just bursting out of it might be pretty neat. So I do want to do that. And then the prickly pear or the Achoya, it’s so thin in some areas. Trying to cut like, a 3D wood and then match the photo to it, it’s almost impossible.

Casey James

Okay.

Casey James

So I’m limited currently to some of those.

Casey James

Okay.

Tom Heath

Confidence in you finding a way through some of this stuff.

Casey James

I think with a three for now, it’s a great opportunity because with just having three cactus, I also have three sizes, and then we also have what? Twelve colors.

Tom Heath

Yeah. We have a lot of people that will buy them in different sets, and they’ll find ways to mix and match them either by color or by style, or they want one of each, or they want different sizes because they’ve got different places, so they come together in a lot of different ways. And you mentioned earlier it kind of want to be realistic, but also very not realistic. And it is interesting because people will stare at them for a while to try to figure out what’s happening here because it kind of looks in some ways like it’s fantasy and then sometimes no, that’s a photo. But the way it all comes together, it it kind of tricks the mind.

Casey James

Yeah. Yeah.

Tom Heath

It’s fun. It’s fun to watch people stare at them.

Casey James

Yeah.

Casey James

And I get caught staring at them as well. Walk into a gallery or if I see more than one piece, it’s like, wow. And it’s bigger than just, oh, I created that. But that’s the vision I’d aim for, is to create that, and it’s done. So ideally, my goal is to definitely expand the product variety beyond just those.

Tom Heath

Three cactus or cacti, anything outside of the natural world. I mean, anything else that other than like, cactus. Yeah.

Casey James

So I love Hawaii.

Casey James

Okay.

Casey James

And I have a vision maybe one day having POPSART out there, and it would just be Hawaiian.

Tom Heath

So I’m talking this trip.

Casey James

Yeah.

Casey James

Surfboards. I think the pineapples would be a big hit. You have those in the tour.

Tom Heath

Pineapples would be fabulous.

Casey James

Get a contract with ABC stores. That’s all I need. I might be able to retire off of that, who knows? Okay, just kidding on that. But mainly, I think to brand it, I think I just want to keep it just like cactus. It’s Arizona.

Casey James

Okay.

Casey James

I think if it does grow bigger than what it is or what it’s deemed now, like, say, just locally here in Tucson, if I’m able to grow all throughout Arizona as a brand, as a product of pops art, and it’s known for what it is. I think that would be amazing because it just represents everything I’ve kind of built for me up to here with the photography, with business, and then being able to just express myself through the arts and stay up late nights painting canvases, different random colors that appeal to my eye. And even the assembly parts rewarding because that’s when everything comes together. The color of the canvas, the choice of the cactus, the size of the frame, and then the final product.

Tom Heath

So much thought into each and every piece. It’s really quite amazing. And you come at this from a different background than a lot of artists that we talk to because you started with a business mindset. So you were really aggressive about getting this product out into the market and advertising it and marketing it. Social media events. You’re doing a really nice job with putting that out there. So if you’re not, where do people follow you? Like on social media and Instagram, all that stuff?

Casey James

Yeah, so we have social media POPSART. Social media just was established in March, so it’s a couple of months in. We’re really trying to build a following, but we’re on like, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook. So those are the three ones. And aside from that, I’ve also got my real estate photography running all three of those. Instagram, Facebook, whatever. The TikTok.

Tom Heath

And what’s the brand on that?

Casey James

So the brand for the real estate is Luxe Realty Photography.

Tom Heath

Luxe.

Casey James

Luxe.

Casey James

L U XE.

Casey James

Yeah.

Casey James

So last year was our biggest year. It was just crazy with real estate. I had a team of five photographers. I think we closed on about we shot about 500 homes last year. So just between my team myself, I have editors in India. We’ve created a formula since 2019 when it was established to be able to really deliver a great service and product with the real estate. So that’s really consumed me. That is more to my day to day job, because weddings aren’t Monday through Friday, they’re usually Friday through Sunday, which usually I’m not working Friday, Saturday, Sunday, doing weddings, I would just be drained. Ridiculous. So where I’m at now, I did a wedding show at TCC a little while back. I generated quite a few leads from that, and that was amazing. Booked some weddings. And I’m not necessarily focusing on growing that because I’ve got quite a portfolio and I’ve been doing that the longest. But with the real estate, that’s kind of my main focus again, because it is the day to day operations.

Casey James

And then when it comes to the artwork, it’s kind of where I can meditate. Late night kids are asleep, families winding down. I’ve got some quiet time. And again, I could just paint.

Tom Heath

That was going to be perfect. Segue into my next question, which is, we always like to give Tidbits to people that are trying to figure out their path in life. You’re getting this figured out, but what kind of guidance do you have for someone that’s trying to manage that balance of man? I’ve got these full time restrictions on my time because of my job and what I have to do, but I also have this passion. But you’re fitting that in at different times and use the word. It’s like meditation. It’s your relaxation.

Casey James

It’s still a challenge every day, but I think starting Lux Realty Photography back in 2019 and trying to build a team and operating a team, I realized then that being in that industry too, in real estate, that a lot of people are just constantly working. So I set a boundary where Sundays I don’t work.

Casey James

Okay?

Casey James

I just don’t. I try not to if I can, I just don’t.

Tom Heath

But I mean, sometimes okay, when I.

Casey James

Say I don’t work, for some people, work is answering your phone or replying to an email which might take you a couple of minutes, but it does distract you and take you away from that moment. So if you’re able to free your mind entirely for the day from all distractions, I think that’s the healthiest thing to do mentally and then also for the family. If you do have a family, you got to allocate time to that. And it is hard working nine to five and coming home late nights and kids in school, things like that, and trying to build something. I don’t have an office where I clock in every day either. So my office is at home. So if my children are home and my wife’s home. And I’m working hard, avidly with deadlines in the office for hours up at 05:00 a.m., trying to beat them before they wake up at 630 or seven. So I could get 2 hours in and I get up to go get a cup of water, some coffee, or go to the restroom and they hear me and hey dad, that’s it. And it’s like quiet time is over. Yeah. It’s

Casey James

not about because I don’t desire to work. I don’t desire just to be away. But you need to be away in those times to be focused. Sure. So setting those boundaries, I think, is important. That the Sunday thing has been tremendous for me. My family goes to church Sunday mornings. Afterwards we usually go somewhere for lunch. We spend time with maybe other family members or go to a park and really just try to do the least. And I think that’s how you can really kind of wind down. And then come Monday, I know it’s manic Monday, it’s like who knows what’s coming the next day? But in that day, Sunday, it’s time to settle back and again. And it’s not always like that. If I book a wedding for a Sunday, I’m obligated to that wedding on that Sunday. I’m not going to necessarily turn a couple down just because I don’t work Sundays.

Tom Heath

But it’s the exception, it’s not the rule. I mean, you create the balance and I think that’s what we hear from others as well as you’ve got to figure out how the art relaxes you. You can use that as part of your meditation. And as you’re building that business, it’s creating enough boundaries so that you’re not mixing the two and kind of confusing where you are in that. Casey James, you’re known as the talented artist here in the Tucson Gallery. We are fortunate to have you.

Casey James

Thank you.

Tom Heath

People are going to check you out at POPSART. All over social media. They’re going to listen to this podcast and on our website you can see pictures of what we’ve been talking about. Is it POPSART? Is what’s your website?

Casey James

Yes. It’s just PopsArtGallery.com.

Casey James

Okay.

Tom Heath

So you can go to Tucsongallery.com or Popsartgallery.com and check it out while you’re on the Tucson Gallery. You can also listen to this podcast and others of our fabulous, all Tucson based artists. And that’s a product of the Tucson Gallery. Every week we do a different event and we’re fortunate to have tremendous talented and generous with their time. Artists come in and share what they do with us and as you can see, getting some loud fans behind you here. Getting a little rowdy here. So we’re going to wrap it up in case. We appreciate your time.

Casey James

Yeah, thank you. Thanks for having me.

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 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 thetussandgallery.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.

Transcript (Unedited)

Tom Heath

And yet, once again, we are here at the Tucson Gallery inside of the proper shops in downtown Tucson for another fabulous installment of Meet the Artist. Each week, we have one of our fabulous Tucson artists come into the gallery, spend some time hanging out with a fan, signing autographs. And as part of that, we pull them away from the crowd and record these fabulous this Meettheartist podcast. All of the past episodes are on our website, thetucsongallery.com as well as the schedule of events. And probably most importantly on there, there’s a newsletter you can sign up for that get once a month updates on what’s happening inside the gallery and the proper shops, the artists, the music, the events. All kinds of crazy stuff happening here in downtown Tucson. And if you are looking for souvenirs from Tucson or gifts that represent Tucson, this is the place to come. And we’re talking to the man today who made those. We have the Jeff Brack joining us today.

Jeff Brack

Hello.

Tom Heath

All right. First time he’s ever been on a radio. Just kidding. We’ll talk about it, but he’s got a storied career in the film and sound industry. But in the gallery, we have merch for Mr. Jeff. Tell us a little about your merch.

Jeff Brack

Yes. So it’s Tucson branded t shirts and hats, simply put. But you want to kind of hear.

Tom Heath

The yeah, these aren’t just Tucson branded. Like, oh, hey, we got the word Tucson. You got, like, shadows and you got all kinds of cool art happening here. Did you design these?

Jeff Brack

Yeah, so I designed them and it came out of a couple of things. So one was, wherever I travel, I like to find cool shirts from New York or Moab, Utah, or Denver, Colorado, or wherever I’m at. Just something I like. It’s fun to do and a lot of tours like that. And I noticed I hadn’t seen a lot of that in Tucson. A lot of good t shirts, hats. And at the same time, I was also trying to think of a cool idea that I could do for friends and family. During the holidays, I was designing the T shirts over at Roadhouse Cinemas, which is my day job as a creative director there. And I thought, well, I already know the ins and outs of the T shirt design business. And so I started working on some Tucson designs. And so for the last maybe four or five years, I’ve done Tucson themed t shirts and hats for my friends and family for Christmas. It was Christmas gifts. I can put an order in. Also, I didn’t mention that my passion for Tucson is a way the reason why I wanted to do it was I love our city, I love

Jeff Brack

our culture, I love representing Tucson. And so that was part of it too. I could have made anything for these gifts, but I wanted to highlight Tucson.

Tom Heath

To my friends and family, not just your big face on a shirt that says Merry Christmas from Jeff.

Jeff Brack

From me.

Tom Heath

If you’re not sure it’s the guy.

Jeff Brack

In your shirt, I wanted to highlight something cool.

Tom Heath

So those designs that you created, are those the ones that we have in the gallery? Are there, like, Jeff Brack originals out there that we haven’t seen?

Jeff Brack

There’s some you haven’t seen.

Tom Heath

I see treasure hunt happening. I see some value coming in here from some of these hidden items out there. There’s only like, a limited edition of 2015 Jeff Brack Christmas shirts. So if you got those, you might want to hang on to them. They’re going to be keep them in the box. Don’t open that box. Keep them in mint condition.

Jeff Brack

There’s a few that the family and friends have that aren’t out here. Some of these are the ones that I gave as gifts. There is one of the designs with the backlit 3D Tucson the sororo that was designed specifically for this gallery.

Tom Heath

Oh, yeah. We love the exclusivity.

Tom Heath

If you haven’t seen them, you’ve got to come to the gallery. I don’t know if we have do we have them on the website yet, at least for an image?

Jeff Brack

Yeah, you can get them on the website.

Tom Heath

So we can’t buy them yet on the website. We’re still trying to figure out that shipping piece of it from a merchandise in the gallery. We can ship a lot of the reproductions because we work with a third party to do that, but the stuff in the gallery haven’t quite gotten there yet. But we will. But I like them. And you should check them out on the Tucsongallery.com website because they’re the sort of balance between elegance and simplicity. A lot of T shirts, you see, like a lot of these touristy T shirts. There’s too much going on and you sort of lose that city. And here you’ve got Tucson is very obvious there. But there’s also entertaining. You’ve got things going on with a suwaro in the a mountain in the background. And the way you’ve put where you’ve put the word Tucson, how you put it. I know it might sound silly, but I think there’s an elegance and a simplicity to your shirts that make them, to me, very eye catching and appealing.

Jeff Brack

Oh, thank you. Yeah, I really like the use of negative space. There’s a design where the letters are actually the T shirt color coming through. And so I like doing that a lot where you actually utilize the T shirt as another color.

Tom Heath

Yeah, I think my favorite part is that I saw one of your shirts. I’m like, that’d be an awesome hat. And then about a month later, you show up with hats.

Jeff Brack

The that may have been your idea.

Tom Heath

It was my idea. I made you do. I’m like, we’re not putting you in a gallery unless you get hats. Yeah, but they have the Tucson with the A Mount and the cactus in the background. And I think I might have bought the first one. I should have had you sign it. Now it’s a little worn, but I do get compliments on that hat. And people are like, where’d you get I’m like, Tucson Gallery. It’s the only place you can find these. It’s a Jeff Brack original.

Jeff Brack

Oh, that’s cool. I’m glad you get good feedback on it.

Tom Heath

We should mention that your wife Julie is also an artist. And I’m kind of teasing because her brand is Julie’s original, Julie originals. And so I’m trying to get this Jeff Brack Originals to go with that. Is your company set up and your company name?

Jeff Brack

No, just the Tucson Gallery. That’s my all right. That’s my company.

Tom Heath

You got to get the Jeff Brack original series going here. I’m telling you, these things are they’re popular. We sell quite a bit of these as it goes.

Jeff Brack

I’m going to keep adding to it. I have some other designs I might bring in that highlight some areas around Tucson. One is presidio. San Augustine del Tucson. The original name Tucson.

Tom Heath

Yeah.

Jeff Brack

It’s an image of the old fort that I found in a history book. And then I have another one for Sabino Canyon.

Tom Heath

And I know you’ve given us sort of the nice exclusivity of selling these, but you need to get these out to other places. Like when you do the Presidio T shirt, you go over there and talk to them because they have a gift shop that’d be fabulous in there.

Jeff Brack

Yeah. To the museum.

Tom Heath

Yeah. Over there. And I mean through Sabino Canyon. The Parks and Rec. I would think they would want to use those as a little bit of a money maker for those. Give us the 3D Soaro as our exclusive. That’s the only place you can get that and maybe the hats. But I think your stuff, it needs to get out to more people because not only is it’s a symbol of the art in Tucson as well, I.

Jeff Brack

Like that it’s a celebration in Tucson, but also our gallery council serve as a tourist. What’s the word we were using?

Tom Heath

A destination? A Mecca trap or a tourist trap? Is that the word you’re looking for?

Jeff Brack

I don’t think the word is escaping me, but it’s a place where people can come pick up some memorabilia.

Tom Heath

Okay. Yeah.

Jeff Brack

Well, we have a lot of tourists walking around downtown, and there’s not a lot of places selling Tucson gear, so I’m glad we have it right here. It’s a great location, and hopefully some people walk away.

Tom Heath

Yeah. And then I think the other thing to talk about is the quality of the shirt. Right. You don’t just slap these on some basic cotton T shirts you can pick up, do you? Spend some money and get a really quality shirt?

Jeff Brack

I know it sounds silly, but just a straight cotton standard shirt, that doesn’t do it for me. So there’s a brand called Next Level that a lot of printers will use, but it is an expensive shirt, but it’s a blend of cotton and synthetic. And so it’s very soft. It doesn’t shrink, it stays soft. And that’s important to me, too, mostly from a selfish standpoint, if I’m going.

Tom Heath

To wear it, which you do all the time. I’ve never seen you in anything but a Jeff Brack original.

Jeff Brack

That’s not true.

Tom Heath

It is true. I don’t think I have. I don’t think I’ve seen you in the six months that we’ve been open. Every time you come in, you’ve been wearing a Jeff Brack original.

Jeff Brack

Let me be intentional.

Tom Heath

Yeah, I think so. It’s good marketing, but I want to shift gears a little bit because this is a project and I know it’s sort of a side hustle off of a side hustle, but from an art standpoint, you are an accomplished filmmaker. And I know it’s not part of the gallery, but I do want to talk about that because you got an exciting project. And as of the recording of this podcast, there’s still some anxiety around it. But you’re up for some awards here and those Darn writers are on strike. So there’s a hold on this. But tell us a little about your film and your career and what you’re doing.

Jeff Brack

Well, accomplished is generous of you. No, definitely. I’ve made a lot of short films and a pilot for TV series in the past. And worked as a TV commercial producer.

Jeff Brack

Yeah, I have a background in it. I studied film in college, and that’s really my first love, is filmmaking. So I did write a new screenplay, a feature screenplay that I’ve been pushing out kind of aggressively into screenplay contests, mostly in La. And I’ve gotten tremendous feedback. I’ve had six finalist finishes. One of them is still in the mix for the top ten, the last ten screenplays. So it could get option from that.

Tom Heath

Get option mean, like someone could purchase it to make it into a movie.

Jeff Brack

To develop it into a project. Yeah, they pay you when they option. So the way that this contest works is that final? Actually, it’s easy to say top ten. It’s actually the last nine. So these nine scripts are all sent to this big production company and they read them and then they’re going to choose one to develop. And they will pay you for an option, which means it’s their option for a year or whatever, the period that’s decided. And then if they are able to get the actors and the funding and everything put together, which is the development of it, and they can package it, and they decide they’re going to go into production within that time period, then they pay you for a preset fee that was decided for the cost of the screenplay. So you can get paid twice. You get the small amount for the option. You can get the full amount for.

Tom Heath

The actual and then after the option period, if they choose not to make it, then you get the script back. You can go back to and you don’t have to pay them back the option fee or anything like that. And then if it gets picked up, do you have control or say in how it’s made or is that part of the deal? Like once you option it, they can do whatever they want with your stuff?

Jeff Brack

Likely that’s the case. So yeah, they could do what they want with it. They can even rewrite it. So it may not even end up resembling what you originally wrote. It may just be inspire the next draft. But sometimes you can negotiate to be a continuing writer on the project. You can write new revised scripts for them. I guess it depends on their interest in having to be involved or whether is the artist can negotiate more involvement. But I think the standard deal is they just take it.

Tom Heath

I would imagine like any other artist, when you’re starting out and getting your foot in the door, you’re just happy to meet someone that’s interested in the work that you’re doing. And then the second one you’re like, hey, wait a minute, I didn’t do so on that first one. And then by the third one you’re like, no, this is how it’s going to go. If you want my stuff, this is how it’s going to go. Otherwise I’m going to take it across the street.

Jeff Brack

Right? You need that first project produced so you have a credit produced credit. And my real love is directing and I write to direct. But if the right situation arises where they want to option it and take it, that’s something that has to be seriously considered because getting a project out there and getting it made, that can be, like you said, open doors.

Tom Heath

We’re going to direct people over to my other podcast, Life Along the Streetcar, because you and I did an interview just after they announced the state incentives for the film industry and that’s going to have a huge impact. So I don’t want to dig too deeply in that because it’s sort of off topic from the gallery. But again, if you head over to the other podcast, lifealongthreestreetcar.org, just put Jeff Brack’s name into the search bar there and it’ll pull up the interview that we did and talking about what a very bright future for the film industry here is in Tucson. It’s been a while since recorded that. Are you still hopeful that that’s going to happen?

Jeff Brack

It’s happened. So it has happened. Small update on some of the things we talked about that ended up not being correct because it was early days, we didn’t know exactly how it was going to be hashed out.

Tom Heath

We were doing breaking news, we were breaking the news right then and there. And sometimes when you’re in that fury. You don’t always get all the facts right, but you do your best well.

Jeff Brack

And you can try to get the facts right, but then they change them because the negotiations continue. And the rules but the program is live. They’ve finalized the rules. The Arizona Commerce Authority, I think, is what actually runs it. But the application, I think it’s gone live and it can be retroactive. Productions can apply now for things going all the way back to January. Okay, so there are productions already coming in, but we are going to see an increase in film and television production, and that’s exciting. Even for small productions, there’s no limit to the budget. So if we decide to try to produce my script locally on our own, we still qualify for assistance.

Tom Heath

Listen out there, Funders. If you’re looking to get involved with the project, you got a script and a director sitting right here, and he’s going to make his own merch. It’s perfect. It’s perfect.

Jeff Brack

And I have a website, Jeffreyscottbrack.com, that has all the updates and news on the project and the status and feedback from screenplay contests and producers.

Tom Heath

Is the screenplay on there or at least like a synopsis of it or.

Jeff Brack

Like a log line is on there?

Tom Heath

I don’t know what a log line is.

Jeff Brack

One sentence description people can request on the website, the pitch deck and the script.

Tom Heath

Okay. Do you want to vet them first so they just don’t take your stuff and run? Is that pretty much how this industry works?

Jeff Brack

Yeah. You got to be a little cautious. Okay.

Tom Heath

But if you’re seriously thinking about funding or taking advantage of these new film credits and want to support local, I’m sure you’ve got a crew of people that you can put together to help get this thing launched, too.

Jeff Brack

Yeah, absolutely.

Tom Heath

Can you tell us at least the title of this movie?

Jeff Brack

Title is the Last Road Trip. Yeah, I can give you the basic gist of it. Two best friends are reluctantly hired to drive a dead body from Austin, Texas to Tucson, Arizona for a funeral.

Tom Heath

I love it. I love it. Come on, Funders, let’s get out there. I’ll bring the popcorn. Anyway, Jeff, it’s good to have you in the gallery. Your merchandise hats and T shirts are selling. I’m looking forward to maybe a couple more designs as they roll out, when you have time and not making films and heading to Hollywood and doing your day job, but still paying the bills for a while. And then do you put this stuff out, like on social media? Do you have Instagram, Facebook people can follow you? Or is it just Jeffreyscotbrack.com?

Jeff Brack

You mean for the merch?

Tom Heath

For the merch or just about you and your film and stuff?

Jeff Brack

Just you, yeah, the the Jeffreescotbrack.com is my film site.

Tom Heath

Any social media people can and actually.

Jeff Brack

There is a portfolio on there that does have some of the designs, some graphic design work. But these are actually you can see them on the gallery website. You can see them on my wife’s website. Juliangels.com. Okay.

Tom Heath

I’m trying to get to do you personally if people want to follow you to see what’s up. Do you have social media?

Jeff Brack

Oh, absolutely, yes.

Tom Heath

How do people link to you on that?

Jeff Brack

Yeah. So just Jeff Brack on Facebook and Jeff S brack on Instagram.

Tom Heath

Can’t get more simple than that. Thank Kevin. It’s brack. Are there a lot of bracks out there?

Jeff Brack

No, it’s pretty rare name.

Tom Heath

There you go. There you go. Rare name, rare shirts, rare hats, rare movies. We got it all here at the Tucson Gallery and you can learn about Jeff and all the other fabulous artists. I think we’re up to like 25 represented in the gallery. We just did a meeting with the artist and it was like this like this celebrity red carpet event. All these fabulous artists showed up and a lot of them hadn’t met each other. It’s a lot of fun. But you can check out all of our artists on the Tucsongallery.com. You can listen to past episodes, sign up for the newsletter so you can find out when your favorite artist is going to be live. And if you’ve missed that window and they’ve already been in, don’t worry, they’ll probably come back. But in the meantime, they’ll have a podcast up and you can listen to it. And it’s all happening inside of here. The proper shops, 300 East Congress. We’re in downtown Tucson. We’re right on the corner of Fifth in Congress. You can’t miss us. We’re kind of sandwiched in between

Tom Heath

hotel congress, rialto theater and the playground. We’re in a really popular corner. So come on down, check us out and meet people like Jeff. They’re keeping Tucson very beautiful and creative. So thank you again for your time.

Jeff Brack

Thank you, Tom. This is fun.

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 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 thetussonggallery.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.

Event Photos

Transcript (Unedited)

Tom Heath

Welcome back to another fabulous installment of Meet the Artist. It is our weekly series produced by the Tucson Gallery. We’re inside of the Proper Shops at 300 East Congress in downtown Tucson. We’re across the street from Hotel Congress. We’re next to the playground and the Rialto Theater. Really hard to miss us but come on down if you want to check out some fabulous artwork by some local Tucson artists and every week We do a Meet the Artist event where they come in and chat about their history, their work, meet their fans. Sometimes we even premiere new artwork at these events. We always try to snag a few minutes of their time and do this podcast called Meet the Artist. Today we have, blessed with the very busy, but very excited to have her here, Kathleen Arthur.

Kathleen Arthur

Hi Tom.

Tom Heath

Well, welcome to Meet the Artist.

Kathleen Arthur

Thank you for having me. I’m glad to be here.

Tom Heath

Well, the first thing I need to get off, get cleared up here is you have a very Tucson accent. So I’m assuming you’ve grown up in your whole life in Tucson

Kathleen Arthur

Negative I’ve been in Tucson are in Arizona for 15 years But I was raised in Alabama so that accent will always be with me.

Tom Heath

That’s perfect. Perfect. What, do you mind me asking what brought you to Tucson?

Kathleen Arthur

I came here for a job. I worked for a superior court judge here until he retired. I outlasted five judges in my career Before I retired after 30 years,

Tom Heath

okay, and and have you been painting this whole time or is that something new?

Kathleen Arthur

I have not I took art lessons for years growing up and put my art supplies away when I went to college. And I did not touch a paintbrush for about 80 years. I’m sorry,

Tom Heath

I’m not that old. Wow, you look fabulous. No, it’s 30. 30 years, okay. So while you were working for the judges, you were using your analytical side of your brain, not your artistic side.

Kathleen Arthur

Exactly. I haven’t had really time to develop that side of my brain until after retirement to pay more attention to it. It was always there because I think that there’s a physical aspect to drawing and painting and once you’ve learned that as a child it’s like learning how to ride a bicycle. So the first time is always difficult, but once you learn, you don’t forget. And I think that muscle memory plays a big part in my ability to just pick the paintbrush back up again.

Tom Heath

So then how long have you been retired from the court system?

Kathleen Arthur

I retired in 2017. Okay. And the first year of retirement, I didn’t know what to do, so I remodeled our whole house. And then I wondered what to do next and I began writing children’s books. Oh

Tom Heath

wow.

Kathleen Arthur

Yes, I wrote two children’s books for ages four to eight and about a little character named Horace Henway. And one is one of them is titled Horace Henway Raises a Stink and the other one is Horace Henway brushes it off. And one’s about dental health, and the other one is about digestive health. And I have an elderly puppet character that I use. I take her with me to places, and she’s my alter ego. Her name is my Southern Granny. And so she reads my books for me at libraries and different places. The kids love her. And when I first wrote a book about digestive health, she said, oh Lord, Kathleen, I hope I don’t have to say the F word. And I said, oh granny, you know I wouldn’t do that. I used the word toot instead of F-A-R-T in my Digestive Health book. So she was happy to hear that.

Tom Heath

Wow, we have, you’re much more multi-talented than I thought, you’re just a fabulous painter, but You write books and you do impressions and you probably do some comedy in there too. Look at you. Look at you. So you wrote the books and you’re like, okay, well now I’m a published author, done that, check that box. And then you started painting?

Kathleen Arthur

Then I started painting because each book took me about a year a piece so I needed a break from that and I started painting still lifes and different things but I always said I cannot paint people

Tom Heath

I can

Kathleen Arthur

paint anything but that And because that was such a challenge, what did I do? I started painting people. And so that’s where my art has gone, toward portraiture.

Tom Heath

Well and you have a very distinctive style, at least for what we carried in the gallery and what I’ve seen from you here locally. It’s people, but mostly people.

Kathleen Arthur

I think it goes back to two different things. One goes way back to ancient Rome where the marble art was torso art, where you didn’t

Tom Heath

see

Kathleen Arthur

above the chest

Tom Heath

or the neck area. Yeah, there’s no head, no face.

Kathleen Arthur

And then what really started the You Go Girl collection that I do now is I came across some old paper dolls that I played with as a child. And I got that idea and then I needed a model. Well my model told me she didn’t want her face included in the portraits. And I thought, well, perfect, because I can define the characters by the clothes and the accessories alone. I don’t need to paint her face. And that way, with the paper doll concept, people can put their faces into the portrait and take the portrait’s place. So

Tom Heath

if you haven’t seen it, you can check out some samples on the website TucsonGallery.com or you can head into the gallery. But these are all very elegantly dressed women and they are from the neck down basically and they’re engaged in some sort of activity sometimes sports or gardening and they always seem to at least from a from a my perspective they always seem to be in a position of power. They’re very strong characters.

Kathleen Arthur

Right. And that’s, you know, the interpretation of the art is up to the viewer. My intent behind the paintings was simply painting what I love to do myself. A lot of these characters are doing things I have done and I enjoy doing. And it’s you know just just portrays a capable well-rounded woman. So

Tom Heath

are you a boxer?

Kathleen Arthur

I have done boxing. I mainly like kickboxing but I have done boxing. I’ve done performance car, high performance car racing, which you’ll see some of the automotive repairs and some of my portraits that I like to do.

Tom Heath

Yeah, and so if you haven’t, again, you got to check the work out. It kind of speaks for itself there, but they’re just very engaging. They’ve got a lot of props that they’re using. And the imagery is really just bright and vivid. And I understand that you have a model and you have the accessories. This isn’t like drawn from memory. You actually lay this out and paint someone’s doing this activity in that clothing.

Kathleen Arthur

Right. A lot of the process of my paintings is actually thinking. Thinking of the ideas and what accessories I would like to use and then gathering those somehow. Sometimes I find things in antique shops

Tom Heath

and

Kathleen Arthur

some of the clothes I we buy online some we already have.

Tom Heath

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And they’re always perfectly titled. So the there’s one where there’s the images with a boxing glove and I think it’s called a knockout.

Kathleen Arthur

Right.

Tom Heath

And you’ve got one with jumper cables and it’s self-starter.

Kathleen Arthur

Right. They all denote strong characteristics of a woman’s personality. And my husband says it’s me I’m describing. But the interesting thing is I actually come up with the double tendres titles, and that’s something my husband could pronounce better because he speaks fluent French. But it just means that It has a double meaning. I come up with the titles before I ever begin the painting. That

Tom Heath

was my next question, which came first? Because I could see that the painting could very easily come from the title, but I could also see you just sitting there staring at this work and going, got it.

Kathleen Arthur

Right. I think most artists probably title the painting after it’s completed.

Tom Heath

But you, uh, you kind of start with this and it’s, it’s a self starter. And, but what does that look like? Like, like can you walk me through how you got to self starter? Is that,

Kathleen Arthur

well, I have to admit that I have had dead batteries in the past when I was younger I haven’t done it recently had that happen recently, but I have had to jump my own car off before But all these paintings are actually painted in My mind’s eye. Mm-hmm every stroke before I ever touch the canvas.

Tom Heath

So you start with the title, okay, it’s gonna be self-starter. But at that point you don’t know it’s jumper cables yet, do you?

Kathleen Arthur

No, I don’t. I think of several things that the title could fit with. I have to choose one, and a lot of times, I run it by my best advisors, which is my husband and my daughter. And they help me with

Tom Heath

that. Okay, yeah, it’s really fun. I think the titles really capture people it brings it draws them into that picture a lot more because it It’s that double meaning, you know, it’s it’s you can clearly see what’s happening in the photo But then it’s also something about that characteristic of that of the the model that that you’re portraying in that It’s really fun. Right Really fun.

Kathleen Arthur

Thank you. I enjoy doing it. I hope I’m able to continue sharing my art with the world and using my God-given talent as long as I’m able.

Tom Heath

Yeah. And I tell you, you know, you were I think you were probably the fastest selling artist that we had here because we put up one of your originals and it sold the second day it was up and we put the second one up and it sold a couple of days later. And then the third one, we’re like, Kathleen, we need more. We need more. We need more. So I appreciate you keep churning those out. But you and you’re in other places too. You’re not just in the gallery, you’re part of the Saga experience up at La Encantada.

Kathleen Arthur

Yes, I have some art at there and I also have Paloma Art Gallery, which is owned by the Sarnoffs. They’ve been in Tucson for a long, long time in the art scene.

Tom Heath

Yeah, they’ve certainly been pretty impactful in the art world.

Tom Heath

They all have different originals and you’ve got different works in each one. We should probably get a list, because people come in and ask for certain things, and I’m like, I don’t know if she has that available or not, but it’d be nice to be able to point them to another gallery, because you have the prints in the store. And it’d be nice to say, Oh, if you want the original, it’s at the line cantata’s store and send them up there. Yeah.

Kathleen Arthur

So, um, we’re working on getting more in the Tucson gallery. So eventually I think we’ll have all of them down here.

Tom Heath

Oh, good.

Kathleen Arthur

Space allows

Tom Heath

good. Oh yeah. Well, The way they’re selling, we’re not getting much space, so just put one up and then it goes. So a lot of the artists we’ve talked to, they sort of had this inkling from a young age and they nurtured it and then at some point it became their career. And you’re taking a different approach. You’ve had the urge, but then you pack things away and you went ahead and did this whole thing with the courts and, you know, save the world or, or, you know, whatever you were doing, but, but then you got back into it. So there, there are other people I think that are in your situation that maybe are looking to wind down a career and they have an artistic side. Is there any sort of, was there anything that you learned along the way that you wish you had done differently or things you did well that could kind of guide them?

Kathleen Arthur

Well, I think that it’s a stress reducer, you know, for me too. I can spend hours in my studio, and I can spend four hours in my studio, and it seems like 15 minutes. So I think that it’s good for people who are looking to relax more. You know, art therapy is a real thing and it helps people with PTSD, it

Tom Heath

helps

Kathleen Arthur

overactive children with short attention spans, it Helps with everyday adults like us Reduce stress and so I would say if you have some creative abilities at all of it And and you want to relax it’s a good way

Tom Heath

Yeah and and then they’re like have you have you just been sort of isolated in your studio? Or do you get out and you network with other artists or how do you?

Kathleen Arthur

Well, I go to Events for the artists that are in the different galleries that I’m in and so I mingle that way Of course, no, I don’t just you know, hold away in my studio, but if I am MIA, my family knows where to find me. PAUL

Tom Heath

So if you’re trying to get started, I’m just always curious as to how much role the community plays in helping you get your work going. Because a lot of this is your inspiration, which you mentioned. You’ve got your family that gives you guidance. You’ve got a whole career behind you that kind of gives you some influence. Do you see sort of that professional side of you? Does that come out in your artwork? Is that kind of part of this?

Kathleen Arthur

I think it does. I think that’s part of the whole dressing to the hilt thing because for years, for 30 years, not 80, I had to dress up in heels and business dresses

Kathleen Arthur

and portray that business-like demeanor. But unlike my portraits, I was supposed to blend in with the furniture in my career and really not be noticed until I had to speak up in the courtroom, which I learned to not be shy about. But the clothes had to be pretty drab in the courtroom. And so I think that now I’m really expressing myself in with the vibrant colors. Yeah,

Tom Heath

there’s there’s nothing drab about your work. It is it is bright, eye catching. People are going to get drawn. Well, people are getting drawn to it as soon as they see it. So there’s nothing drab about it. But it’s interesting. Do you have any of your images, are they any in professional settings? Because they all seem to be, you know, they’re very active. Do you have any that are in a courtroom or in a workplace setting? Dr. Pollard I,

Kathleen Arthur

I, one of my upcoming portraits is a judge, a female judge. Okay, yeah. And so, that caters to a very small percentage of society, but I’ve known a lot of female judges in my career, and I think that would appeal to them, as well as lawyers.

Tom Heath

And that’s still to come, you don’t have that finished yet.

Kathleen Arthur

No, that’s on the list. And I take a lot of hints and suggestions from fans and I’m getting to them, I promise, but I only do about one painting every three or four weeks currently. Okay.

Tom Heath

And at the Meet the Artist event here, it’s at the end of May, we’re about to unveil a new work. This won’t air prior to that, so Can you tell us a little about the work we’re going to see tonight?

Kathleen Arthur

Tonight I have a brand new painting I just finished a couple of days ago. We’re going to unveil that tonight. And the title of it is Game Changer. I had several titles that I began with before I settled on that title and shooting from the hip was one of them so that might give you an idea of what sport this lady is. I have note cards of all the paintings and prints, but tonight probably the newest thing would be Game Changer. Game

Tom Heath

Changer, yeah. So we’ll unveil that tonight, and by the time this podcast is released, it’ll be available in the world, if it’s still available. But it’s a remarkable painting, and it involves a basketball and some…

Kathleen Arthur

Oh, you let the cat out of the bag.

Tom Heath

Well, I think the cat will be out by the time we open this. This will get unveiled before we air the show. We

Kathleen Arthur

do have one other special surprise tonight and that is one of my models will be here making a painting titled High Octane basically come to life. She’ll be walking around here. I

Tom Heath

think High Octane was the very first painting we saw. That one was really fun. It was very interesting because you mentioned earlier it’s the perspective of the viewer that really sort of interprets the art. And we had people that saw it as a very strong character. We had people that viewed it as someone in need of help. And the ultimate, I can remember calling you and saying, which one was it? And you’re like, it’s whatever they think it is.

Kathleen Arthur

Yeah, it’s up for interpretation. But you know, my intent was that the lady simply ran out of gas. And she was on her way, she was on a trip because you could see her standing on a suitcase. But about half the people see it completely opposite way that she’s a scorned lover and she’s going to burn something down.

Tom Heath

Yeah, it was it was interesting because we got both of those perspectives and people would talk about that like, oh, she just broke down and needs to gas. And I was like, oh, no, this there’s an intent behind here.

Kathleen Arthur

She’s she’s it’s interesting to hear people’s interpretation. Oh,

Tom Heath

it’s beautiful that you put that out there in a way that gives them that opportunity to do so. So we are a pleasure to have you in this evening. If you want to see more of her work, you can head over to the TucsonGallery.com and check out what we have available for like High octane is still there for reproductions, although the original is gone, as well as many of her other works. But how do people find you and follow you? Are you on social media? Do you have a website? I

Kathleen Arthur

have Instagram, karthurart, and I have a website, karthurart.com.

Kathleen Arthur

And so those two ways are the best ways on social media to find me. All

Tom Heath

right, and if you want to see some of the work, you can head down to the Tucson Gallery, 300 East Congress in downtown Tucson. And get here quick, because the originals seem to go pretty fast. But we do have a lot for reproductions in different sizes and formats on our website, tucsongallery.com. So really appreciate your time today and look forward to the rest of the evening here.

Kathleen Arthur

Yeah, I’m looking forward to it. Thanks for having me Tom. It’s been fun.

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 Conger 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 thetucsongallery.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.

Event Photos

Transcript (Unedited)

Tom Heath

Well here we are again with another installment of Meet the Artist, part of the series at the Tucson Gallery inside of the Proper Shops at 300 East Congress. We are in front of the Hotel Congress, we’re next to the Rialto Theater, you cannot miss us and as you know every week we have a different artist come in and talk about their their craft and meet the the adoring fans across Tucson that love them. And as part of that, we always get their agreement to do a little bit of a podcast. And tonight’s a little special because we have a different type of artist, the only musicians that have anything in the gallery. So we are blessed to have the duo here that is known as Ryan Hood, Ryan Green and Cameron Hood. So gentlemen welcome.

Ryan Green

Thank you. Thanks for having us. Meet the artist. Heck yeah. Thank you. I think we, I think there’s qualified thanks to you, Cameron, thanks to your art degree.

Cameron Hood

Yeah. My graphic design background.

Tom Heath

There was something to that because it wasn’t just an album. It was a book. It was a whole thing. It was like, all right. Plus, people know this. You’re my favorite band. So I’m like, they’re in. But that’s the other reason. When

Cameron Hood

I was going to the U of a here. I knew I wanted to be a musician being bands But I was like, I don’t know that that will work. I should have a fallback degree. So art was what I picked Thank you. You know, it’s so much more reliable. That’s good. Actually

Tom Heath

your parents were excited about that. Okay Well, he’s got art to fall back on, right? That’s awesome. So we’ve done an interview before on the other podcast, Life Longstreet Car. That was,

Ryan Green

I mean, when Under the

Tom Heath

Leaves was just coming out, so that was what, two years ago?

Cameron Hood

That was, yeah, 2021. Yeah, 2021. It was April 2021.

Tom Heath

Yeah, And I remember we were dealing with COVID requirements. You’re about to have a concert and and your big advertisement was the tables were appropriately spaced apart.

Cameron Hood

It’s crazy how much things have changed and so happy to be where we’re at right now.

Ryan Green

So where are we? Are you back on the road? You’re touring? Yeah, it’s starting back up this year. And we’re actually, this summer, planning to finish writing and begin recording a new album. And the touring is kicking back up. It’s a little slower for us than it is for, you know, Taylor Swift and Jason Isbell. I feel like the top tier artists are kind of getting the getting the first choice of fans out in the road. But I don’t feel like people are fully attending shows as much as they used to still yet. So we’re a little, we’re getting there, but it’s a, it’ll probably be a, how about half the pace this year as it was pre COVID for us.

Cameron Hood

Taylor’s getting all of the, uh, the arenas, you know, and so they’re not, they’re all booked. We can’t book the arenas like we’d like to. Cause she got them. Yeah. It wasn’t

Tom Heath

for Taylor Swift. You guys would be the arena band of the 21st century here. I’m sure the, uh, the, the festivals though, is that still a big thing for you? I know pre COVID you were doing, you were like all across the country, like in New Hampshire and everywhere else. Yeah.

Ryan Green

A lot in the, in the Northeast, a lot is where we used to live is a big area for us. So yeah, that’s kind of getting back going to everything changed for us. Also we switched our booking agency that we used to be with went under during COVID. They retired from the biz and so we’re sort of landed with a new booking agency now and a whole new thing beginning there. So that’s still in its infancy and this won’t be a particularly busy summer. We will be up in Michigan and Wisconsin next month and some stuff like that. I think Durango, Colorado, we just added something there. Cool.

Tom Heath

How does that work when you have a new booking agent? Do they have to get to know you all together?

Ryan Green

Yeah. It takes time. What’s interesting is you don’t really know if it’s working until about a year and a half down the road, because things get booked kind of far out. So we meet, we play some showcase, we go to some events where we’re showcasing for presenters, people like Chad Herzog here at Arizona Arts Live, folks like him around the country with their series and go to see acts at these showcases. And so we’ve gone to those and we’re presenting and our agent is pitching us at those. And we also have momentum from beforehand, so people are coming and asking and booking. But as far as new stuff, it takes some time to build into that new scene with the new person, but everything seems good so far. I’m just thinking of the movie, Blues Brothers, when

Tom Heath

they’re out trying to find gigs and they show up and they’re like, excuse me, man, what kind of music do you have here? And they’re like, Oh, we got both kinds country and West. Perfect fit. Perfect fit. All right. Yeah. So they changed their set a little bit, but they did just fine. I

Cameron Hood

think for us, we’re, we’re, we are kind of getting the engines going back up again. But it’s also, we’re, we’re kind of playing a long game with our band. And so right around the time COVID hit, we had already planned to take time off the road because we were just getting kind of naturally, I don’t want to say burned out, but like at the end of whatever that chapter was of going hard and touring and we needed to lay low. But that’s not even the first time that happened. That’s like probably seven or eight years before that, the same kind of thing happened where we’d just been going hard for a long time, and there was a natural breaking point where we got off the road, we kind of reassessed, and then we slowly kind of felt our way back out, like you step into a cold ocean, you kind of like make your way slowly. And there’s a metaphor that I really like, which is that I’ve gone to the ocean with some friends and I’ve seen some people be like, all right, I’m going to get out there. It’s going

Cameron Hood

to be cold, but I’m a dive in and they go do it. And then they burn bright and they burn out and they get out and they go lay on the beach. And I’m this sort of person who’s sort of like waddles out there very slowly getting used to it, but I often stay a lot longer. And I think that that’s true of our band too, that we’ve found ways to kind of naturally rest and power down and then slowly sort of power back up and find our sea legs again. And so we’re kind of in that process now. There’s kind of a breath of our band and in and out, and we’re kind

Tom Heath

of like starting to breathe back in again. Is that is that sort of a natural thing or does one of you step forward and say, look, I need a break or does he do a sort of both look at each other one day like, yeah, I think this is time. I

Ryan Green

think the first time it happened, you know, so we’ve been playing together about 20 years and the first time it happened, you know, seven years in or so, it was just exhaustion. And it was, we didn’t really know, it just sort of snuck up on us. We weren’t sure we wanted to keep going. And after some time off, we realized we did want to keep going. And then we had, so I think this last season, we sort of had the foresight to say, Hey, you know, we planned it a year and a half out again, because gigs get booked pretty far out. We told our agent, Hey, in 2020, we want to take clear. You plan the break, not going to break. You didn’t plan COVID, right? I want to make sure there’s still investigations into that. So edit that out, please. Uh, yeah, we, uh, we, we planned it to take the second half of 2020 off the road. I don’t remember which half.

Cameron Hood

Yeah, first half of 2020. And

Ryan Green

then it turned out everything shut down anyway. So we were already in a good spot because we were not touring at the time that happened. So yeah, now we kind of, we know, we’ve outlined, you know, that’s sort of, when we started as a band, we thought, you know, the secret is not breaking up. All the, all bands break up. We’re just going to stick with it. And it’s, you know, we’ve had to learn a lot of skills, personal skills and how to cope and also interrelational skills with how to, you know,

Cameron Hood

communicate, stay friends. Yeah.

Tom Heath

I mean you’re on the road a lot And I would imagine you’re not in the Taylor Swift motor coaches all the time.

Ryan Green

We don’t yet have separate buses. Yeah. No. Instead we share a Kia. No,

Cameron Hood

that’s 2024 is the plan for the separate buses.

Tom Heath

I’m sure we’ll get you there at this, uh, this podcast. Yeah. We’ll be, uh, we’ll be supporting you. So you, you mentioned you’re working on a new album. You’ve been together for 20 years. How many albums have you created in those 20 years? I’m

Ryan Green

going to guess seven or eight.

Cameron Hood

Yeah. Seven or eight, something like that. Let’s let’s listen to anyone. We’ll count them. All right. So we got sad and happiness forward. Yup. The world awaits. After night came sun. Yep. Start somewhere.

Ryan Green

Yearbook yearbook

Cameron Hood

on Christmas

Ryan Green

on Christmas under the leaves, under the leaves was eight. Yeah. And then there

Cameron Hood

was a kind of a best of, well, we won’t count

Ryan Green

that. So

Cameron Hood

eight studio. So we’re writing our ninth right

Tom Heath

now. And you cannot imagine the riveting radio it is when we’re counting on our fingers. So that’s hopefully the video will come out.

Cameron Hood

We know what makes really good art folks. We know you can tell. So

Tom Heath

we have eight albums and how far are you in the number nine?

Ryan Green

Well, writing-wise, I mean, We have nine songs in different stages right now. So some are written, but even when they’re done being written, there’s a big, you know, once you know the chord structure and the melodies and the lyrics of the whole thing, there’s still the big question of how you want to perform it, arrange it, what key it’s going to be in, who’s going to lead sing it, where you put harmonies, whether you’re going to flesh it out with some strings or bass or drums or things like that. There’s a lot of questions like that, so there’s quite a lot to be done still, even on the ones that are mostly written. But we at least have a framework of nine, and it’s possible another couple will make it in there as well. And

Tom Heath

under the leaves, It was really important that you had the companion book that went with that. That was kind of a unique piece. So you, you, you explained kind of

Cameron Hood

what that. Yeah. Well, we knew we wanted to make vinyl this time for the first time. I’ve actually been making the, uh, the album designs large enough to do vinyl for a long time. Cause I’ve had the secret hope that we would get into vinyl, but this was the first one we actually pressed. So we wanted to have a book that was the same size that could go with it. And we always work with this photographer, Taylor Noel, that we love working with. We basically kind of go, we want to feel like a little bit gritty and like maybe a little bit of light leaks and color. And then he’ll sort of like scratch his chin and go, there’s a certain kind of film that was produced in the late nineties only by this one company. If you shoot it on this particular kind of camera, we can get exactly what you’re talking about. So he’s this really good blend of technical know-how like artistic eye and then he’s just personal. He’s like, makes the process easy. So we always want to work with him. And he just shot a

Cameron Hood

bunch of stuff. There’s some of us, I think it was actually all in Mount Lemmon, a couple different shoots on Mount Lemmon, and some kind of B-roll type stuff of the leaves and capturing that kind of fall feeling and some stuff of just us. But

Ryan Green

it’s also the chance to like the written segment of the book, which is this chance to talk about the songs, which we’ve never gotten to do before.

Tom Heath

Right. It’s so interesting because you, I mean, you, you hear the lyrics and you sort of understand, but now the book really gives you the motivation or the thought process as to where you were.

Ryan Green

Yeah. And we each wrote an essay essentially for each song, if I remember correctly. So there’s both of our approach to it. And many times mine is

Ryan Green

more about maybe the musical decisions made the production decisions and maybe the emotions conjured up by it And many times Cameron’s is about the message and the this sort of intention of the song.

Cameron Hood

It’s really interesting because I’m a I’m a four on the Enneagram for any of our Enneagram listeners. That’s like a very artistic, individualistic feeling type. But I realized that in our band, I’m completely the thinker and Ryan is absolutely the, the keeper of the emotions of the band. So he, he’s the one who’s sort of closing his eyes and going in and trying to pull out an emotion and spell it out with chords and a melody. And I’m the one going, wouldn’t it be cool if we could say this, or if it meant this, or if we use this symbolism or this metaphor, but I’m very much stuck in my left brain in that sense. And Ryan is very good at living in his right brain and pulling out his emotions. Something I’m appreciating more and more as our band goes on,

Tom Heath

the differences between us. After 20 years, I mean, I’m sure these are revelations that sort of comes gradually over time. And I guess the music sort of starts to reflect that? I think so.

Cameron Hood

I think we’re respecting each other’s gift like way more than we ever have. There’s room for him to do all that he is and there’s room for me to be and do all that I am. And we’re stepping on each other’s toes less, honoring the other’s gift even

Ryan Green

more. I think that’s a thing as we get older, right? We just sort of start to like, you understand that you can’t change people, right? But you could change yourself and you work on yourself and you start to appreciate what people bring. And instead of us trying to, there’s probably more of a tug of war in the early albums of Push and pull and ideas and now it’s very much realizing, you know Like you said what each other’s strengths are and saying hey you do that. I’ll do this there’s plenty of room on this track and and it feels really good to feel respected and appreciated by him and I think vice versa. So it’s kind of amazing that growth is still happening. The last album was the first album, Under the Leaves, that really was written with that kind of balance where really for the most part, Cameron wrote all the lyrics for the most part, and I wrote all the music for the most part. And it was a balance we’ve never done before.

Cameron Hood

And our music is more Musically interesting than it’s ever been now So that’s like something that my ego just finally like let go of I think it was just like the best melodies are coming from the guy over here, you know to my right and Well, I guess

Cameron Hood

But in the many thousands of hours that we’ve spent on stage, Ryan is to my right and I know that I can count on him for good melodies and good chords. And I think I’ve just sort of embraced that now. I’m like, let me piece my thoughty, wordy ideas to your melodies. I

Tom Heath

just realized because I’ve never seen you in this way because it’s always Ryan Hood because you’re left to right and you’re backwards here so this is why there might be some anxiety with this interview.

Ryan Green

Yeah, Cameron does structure it. That was his idea at the beginning to have a stand on that side of each other so that it read Ryan Hood on the stage from the from the from the audience perspective left to right.

Tom Heath

So this might be too personal if it is. We’ll just cut it out. But I’m curious, like you do so much work together, you tour together. Like what’s the off time? Are your families close? Or do you just like need your break from each other? Well,

Ryan Green

we do live, we do live like one mile away from each other, which is pretty cool.

Cameron Hood

Yeah. I think the answer is both. I think we have plenty of time apart from each other when we’re home, but we see each other at least once a week. I’m over hanging out at his house and hanging out with his kiddos and stuff.

Ryan Green

Yeah. Well, and we, at some point around that middle part of, after that first kind of break sabbatical in our career we our touring model shifted to being Instead of going out we I mean there was a point where we actually went out We’d go up months at a time. You know, it was it There’s one time we went out for four months straight, where we never came home in the four months. It was just nonstop touring. That’s way too much. Don’t suggest that for anybody. Even if you had a bus, I don’t think that would be pleasant.

Ryan Green

We shifted to doing shorter runs and coming and going more. So instead of still doing maybe the same amount of shows a year, but instead of doing it all packed into a short amount of time, go out and do five shows, come back, go do seven shows, come back, uh, you know, maybe fly to the Northeast on a Wednesday, play Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, fly back Monday. And because we’re an acoustic duo, and it’s just the two of us and thanks to Southwest Airlines letting us take our instruments on and check in a bunch of bags for free. You know, we can do those sorts of runs. And anyway, long story short, that gave us some separation because we weren’t together all the time on the road. We’d go do shows, we’d come home. Even if we’re home for a week, we’re much fresher when we go back out for the next set of shows. We’re telling jokes on stage. We’re interacting with each other in a way that’s really natural and fresh. We’ve experienced some bit of life away from each other. So we have something

Ryan Green

new to bring to the table. When we’re together all the time, it gets dry on stage. And we try to pride ourselves on that kind of spontaneity on stage.

Cameron Hood

I think you, kind of the heart of your question, if you think about your husband or wife or partner, traveling with them, and then you think they are the person that you book your tickets with. Then you go to the airport with and then you spend your whole plane ride with, and then you book your car with, and you do your drive with, and then you load into the place that you’re going to be and you do your work together and you try to be both creative and have a good business sense together. And then you’re still together when you go eat dinner and then you’re together at the hotel room and then you get up in the morning, like there’s, I’m exhausted, right? Just listening to it. We all naturally need a little bit of, you know, of break of breath, I guess, you know, to come back to that metaphor again and it keeps it fresh, you know? So there’s just a little bit of room to come and go and to have something

Ryan Green

to bring. Even like, you know, splurging and getting two hotel rooms. It’s like, that makes a big difference, you know? It’s like, all right, that’s our little separation time. He can get up at six o’clock and go for a walk. I can sleep till 8.30, you know, whatever, whatever we both need. I love how good you’re making me look here.

Cameron Hood

Like I get up early. So healthy.

Tom Heath

I am for, or stumble in at 6.30, 10

Cameron Hood

o’clock. Exactly.

Tom Heath

A lot of these festivals, I just recently started getting involved with the Tucson Folk Festival as a volunteer and I’m getting to see a little bit behind the scenes, but there is a really tight sort of connection between artists, even artists that haven’t necessarily met, that they just seem to coalesce around these festivals. After doing this for 20 years now, are you sort of in that position where people are coming to you like, Hey, what are some tips? How do we, how do we keep this fresh? We’re brand new. I mean, are you in that role yet? Or as

Cameron Hood

far

Ryan Green

as sort of mentoring

Tom Heath

bands or something, either mentoring them or just, you know, being recognized as, you know, 20 years is a long time to be performing.

Ryan Green

The element is I feel like some, I don’t know, when you’re in, when you’re new in a band, it’s just hard to, you like, know everything, you know, I can’t imagine myself in our early years, even like, I can’t imagine myself, a young version of myself wanting to go to some band and even, and I, so it’s tricky. It’s, it’s a little bit trial by fire, but we do, we’ve done workshops at places before like that. Some there’s sometimes festivals where musical getaways where you were artists will lead workshops. And we’ve done things that touch on that, where we’ll talk about how to lift each other up on stage, not put each other down, and ways that that’s healthy for a show,

Tom Heath

but also for the duration of your band. Yeah, I would imagine if you get a little snarky on stage that that would carry over very quickly off stage. Yeah.

Cameron Hood

Yeah.

Ryan Green

We’ll go ahead. Well, I was guilty of that in the early… We used to street perform when we first started. And that’s really like… It’s hard. And there’s times when it just goes awry for whatever reason. I don’t know. Someone’s making fun of you or something and you’re just like not feeling good about it. And I would get insecure and often sort of cast blame. You know, he’s more of the, he’s the bigger personality on stage. And so I’d kind of deflect and be like, come on, Cameron, like

Cameron Hood

if it went wrong. Yeah, it was me.

Ryan Green

And, you know, I learned that I’ve learned since then.

Cameron Hood

I know you’ve taken some improv classes, Ryan, before I’ve taken some classes at unscrewed theater here in Tucson. And the whole big thing with improv is that you always say yes. And so whatever the other person is bringing, you affirm it and you add to it, you don’t go, no, that’s dumb ever, ever, ever, ever on stage. You’re always honoring what the other person is bringing. And then even if you disagree or want to go a different direction, you say yes to it. And then you lead the direction you want to go. And It’s just like, I think the whole thing becomes more of a love fest. We’re modeling how do we treat each other with dignity on stage. What I like about your

Ryan Green

approach to that, Cameron, is it’s bigger than just us two. He sees it as anybody. It could be the sound man. We’ve all been in a show where maybe there’s feedback or something, sometimes there could be a tendency for the artist to throw the sound person under the bus. Be like, hey man, can you get that together or something? Those sorts of things start to make everybody feel a little unsafe, I think. My favorite story is when we played the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival and we were doing a little side stage set at the Lost and Found tent. People who run the Lost and Found tent couldn’t go watch any of the shows. There was a person in that tent who was a fan of ours and said, will you come play a little 15 minute set here? So we were doing one in there, like 20 people unplugged and it was next to the big row of porta potties at the festival and the cleaning crew for the porta potties pulled up right as we’re doing our set and started vacuuming out the porta potties and you could hardly breathe. Everybody’s eyes were watering. It was so intense. And I got, I got all grumpy, you know, I was just like, Oh, of course, right during our set, this has to happen. What do you go, Cameron, Of all things. And then Cameron, the song ends and Cameron looks at the crowd and goes, can we all just take a minute to appreciate how lucky we are that these folks are here doing this for us so that we can have clean toilets. They’ve showed up to clean them all out for us. And in 20 minutes, we’re going to have shiny, clean toilets. And it shifted my everybody went from, you know, rubbing their eyes to just like, oh, yeah, that’s awesome. Wow. They’re cleaning those. I don’t you know, I’m grateful for that. And it was a it’s my favorite, you know, example of not throwing somebody under the bus. You lift them up and suddenly everybody feels safer and more included.

Tom Heath

Yeah. Well, before we wrap up here, I should announce that I think this podcast is now sponsored by Southwest Airlines, the friend of the musician traveling cross-country. We’ll try to get some money for that later. But album number nine, is there a tentative release date? Or are we just this early into it?

Cameron Hood

Like 2023? Don’t make any promises.

Ryan Green

Yeah, I won’t. You know, We’ll see how quickly we can get it going. And maybe it happens by year’s end. It’s probably more realistic to think it’s, you know, the early spring of next year. But if We could, if it goes great, I’d love to put it out by the end of the year.

Cameron Hood

That’d be amazing. Yeah. We, we meet every week for, you know, a few hours to write and, and make sure that we’re moving things forward, but we just doubled that time. So we’re, we’re starting to move into a time where we’re going to be devoting more and more time of our week to making sure that this is moving forward. I love all these songs. Good melodies, good ideas in all the songs. So I’m pretty psyched on it.

Tom Heath

All right, well we’ll prepare ourselves for a 2024 release and maybe get a Christmas present a little early for one of your Christmas shows. Well, gentlemen, thank you very much. It’s Ryan Green, Cameron Hood, they form Ryan Hood. They are our Meet the Artists feature tonight. If you want to listen to any of our other podcasts, we’ve interviewed now 15 plus artists. You can check them all out on the tucsongallery.com website in the media section. And also, you want to get on the events calendar so you can find out when all these artists are going to be live coming in and doing their meet and greets so that’s all on the Tucson gallery.com and Jonah once again excited to have you here thanks so much and I’m looking forward to the next album and maybe seeing you live here soon in Tucson.

Cameron Hood

always good to be with you Tom.

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 meetusangallery.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.

Event Photos

Transcript (Unedited)

Tom Heath

Welcome back to yet another exciting installment of Meet the Artist. Sponsored by the Tucson Galleries. We’re located in 300 East Congress. The building is called the proper shops. We’re across the street from Hotel Congress, across the street from playground and Rialto theaters. Our neighbor so you cannot miss us. We have each week a different artist come in and talk about their craft and meet with some of their fabulous fans. As part of that, we always get an agreement from them to host these podcasts or work. On these podcasts, which we host on our website. You can find out all the information at thetucsongallery.com, past episodes, upcoming schedule, as well as all the cool work that our artists have. And speaking of cool work, a cool artist we’ve got Suzanne Villella. Am I saying that right?

Suzanne Villella

Yes.

Tom Heath

I want to call it Viea, but it’s Villella.

Suzanne Villella

Villella. It’s Italian.

Tom Heath

It’s Italian. See, we’re fancy around here. We got everybody represented. Welcome to the Tucson Gallery.

Suzanne Villella

Thank you. Happy to be here.

Tom Heath

So, for those that don’t know, Suzanne just got started. She’s only been doing this for a couple of weeks. Just kidding. Of course. You’ve been even in the art world for a while.

Suzanne Villella

Yeah, I had my first show in 1997.

Tom Heath

Oh, my gosh.

Suzanne Villella

Yeah.

Tom Heath

Is this a full time gig for you then? Are you able to sustain yourself off of your art?

Suzanne Villella

You know, I would love to, but I’m not at that point yet. But that’s a massive goal for me. And we moved around the world with the Air Force, so I really had to recreate myself 13 times. But now that we’re settled in Tucson, I think it’ll be a lot more doable here.

Tom Heath

How long have you been in Tucson?

Suzanne Villella

Almost five years.

Tom Heath

Okay. Yeah. So I would assume it’s hard. You build a reputation and you’re like, okay, we’re moving.

Suzanne Villella

Exactly.

Tom Heath

And were you in different parts of the world or was it always the United States?

Suzanne Villella

We lived in Europe for four years. My husband lived in Asia for a year. We’ve lived in Alaska. We’ve lived from the east coast to the west coast.

Tom Heath

So when I look at your art and if you want to see the art, you can head over to the website Tucsongallery.com to get a feel for what she’s doing. But this has a very Southwest feel to it. This screams Tucson and Arizona. My guess is that when you were in Europe, you weren’t doing cowboys in Cacti, were you?

Suzanne Villella

No.

Tom Heath

So your art kind of evolves based upon where you’ve been.

Suzanne Villella

I think it is wise to paint for your audience. And I loved I was super inspired in Europe by our travels. We went to 28 countries, took a lot of pictures, sold a lot of work overseas. That was very European based. But here, there’s so much inspiration around us, surrounding us. I went to U of A. I studied art at the U of A. I loved it. I loved the color of the desert and the sunsets and everything around the Southwest.

Tom Heath

So the U of A stint was prior to are you a Tucson native or are you born in the area?

Suzanne Villella

I grew up in St. Louis.

Tom Heath

Okay.

Suzanne Villella

And went out to U of A to study art. My aunt was a very renowned Scottsdale artist and really encouraged me to look at U of A and ASU and I fell in love with Tucson. So that’s how I ended up at U of A.

Tom Heath

Smart. Smart move for you. Good move for Tucson. So then you end up traveling the world as part of commitment to the Air Force.

Suzanne Villella

Yes.

Tom Heath

And you come back to Tucson. So this is why I think your art seems so natural to me. Then it’s not like you’re learning our style. This is who you’ve been interesting. And with the art you’re doing now, do you see, like, influences that you pulled in from other parts of the world?

Suzanne Villella

Definitely. And I actually was really influenced by teaching.

Tom Heath

Okay.

Suzanne Villella

I, along the way, would teach children and adults artwork, painting and different types of work. I started as a watercolor painter. My first show in 1997 was strictly Watercolor but large desert botanicals.

Tom Heath

Okay.

Suzanne Villella

But using different products and materials throughout my teaching kind of led me to the collage that I do today.

Tom Heath

Yeah. It’s stunning. And again, it’s hard to really describe it. I always have trouble trying to describe on the radio the art. But I can tell you the little hint that I am just learning is you have to look deeply into these pictures because you embed really cool things that just appear to be elements of the subject, but they’re really their own sort of entity.

Suzanne Villella

Yes. I love surprises and having that as part of my work. I don’t know if you remember Highlights magazine.

Tom Heath

Oh, yeah.

Suzanne Villella

Remember hidden pictures? Those really are what I love about my work. People sometimes don’t realize there is paper under my paint. And then they look closely and they see a map of Arizona, which people tend to love. Or if I do a Pete about a piano, they’ll see music notes.

Tom Heath

So the one that I saw with the map so you painted on a map. You didn’t, like, paint a map? You painted on a map.

Suzanne Villella

Correct. I use all sorts of papers. I’ve used pages from old textbooks, old maps. Maps are great to work with. They really work with the medium that I use. But people love finding where they live on a map and they love that discovery. Like, oh, there’s a map of the United States in this piece.

Tom Heath

Yeah. It was pointed out to me. I wasn’t observant enough to see it on my own. But then I thought that was just you creating that. I didn’t realize that that was the foundation of what you’re that’s fantastic. The things you learn hanging out with artists here and meet the artist at the Tucson Gallery. I should get out more. And we are lucky to have you here. We really are. As soon as we put some of your work up, people walked in like, oh, that’s like Suzanne. They know you, and they know the other artists that came with you from LAN Quintada. And SOG SOG and tell us a little bit about that venture, because I think the three we have in our gallery now are you, Lori, Kay and.

Suzanne Villella

Kathleen, arthur and Tamara and Sanda.

Tom Heath

We had Tamara first.

Suzanne Villella

Yeah, she’s how we found you. And then Lori, Kay and I spied on you all one day when you were closed. We were at lunch downtown and looked in the windows and thought, this looks like a really cool place to get involved with.

Tom Heath

But let’s talk about that venture, because that in and of itself, it’s kind of like we’re this little gallery, like we aspire to be. What you’re doing at LAN Quintada and Sock, like, you’ve got this thing figured out. You’ve been doing it for I mean, they’ve been up there for years.

Suzanne Villella

So it’s the Southern Arizona Arts Guild, and they have a gallery at LAN Quintata, and we have about 330 members in the guild and a little over 100 in the gallery. SAG has been around for 21 years, started by a wonderful woman named Diane Loving, who simply put an ad in the newspaper saying, does anyone want to get together creative people? And she had 40 people show up to that breakfast.

Tom Heath

Wow.

Suzanne Villella

And that’s how it all began 21 years ago.

Tom Heath

And your model is a little bit different than ours because your artists, they work. They’re in the gallery, right?

Suzanne Villella

Yes. We volunteer shifts. We still pay commission. You still have to be juried in. We still pay rent, but we volunteer shifts because it’s a not for profit organization, and that’s the only way we can stay in business.

Tom Heath

So they work up there. We buy them drinks down here. So we’ve got a little bit of an advantage over that. But I just love the fact that you saw this and wanted to be a part of it, because that means so much to Tony, Ray, Darren, myself, the partners in this, that someone with your background and experience saw what we were doing and thought it was worthwhile to really make a significant investment with your working here.

Suzanne Villella

Well, I love the space. It reminds me so much of the European architecture that I just adored when we were overseas. But the space is big. It’s the warehouse feel. I love the whole vibe, and I love what’s happening downtown. The restaurants, the people, the energy. It was not like this when I was at U of A. And look what is happening in Tucson. It’s incredible. And I want to be a part of that.

Tom Heath

I feel the same way, and that’s part of why we’re doing this. And our mission, which we talk about quite often, is to expose the world to the talent that we have in Tucson. We’ve got some big names that a lot of people know, but we also have names that a lot of Tucsonians know that the rest of the world doesn’t know yet. Being in this gallery now, we represent 25 some artists in the gallery. It’s a small space. We don’t have a lot of work from each of them. But it gives us that chance to really highlight to the people that are staying at the hotels or passing through. And they’re here for a couple of days and they’re just, oh, my gosh, this is fantastic.

Suzanne Villella

It’s so cool. And it doesn’t hurt that there’s a bar in here. It does not hurt that there’s and there are other vendors in this area in the proper shops and it’s just a phenomenal space and idea.

Tom Heath

We’re not paying her for this, by the way. This is not an endorsement. This is just her true emotions and feelings about how cool we are.

Suzanne Villella

Well, I think downtown is just so vibrant and booming and just coming back to life. I really wanted to be involved downtown in some way, shape or form. I love the vibe.

Tom Heath

And your work fits in perfectly with the gallery and the vibe. Are you still doing teaching? Are you working with kids and adults on classes?

Suzanne Villella

I just started offering some classes again.

Tom Heath

Oh, yeah, perfect timing. How do we find out about that? Do you have a website?

Suzanne Villella

They’re taught up at the Southern Arizona Arts Guild Gallery and you can go to their website. But I’m more than welcome to host a class here at the Tucson Gallery as well. I think that’d be super fun. Or private parties. A lot of mine are cork and canvas and the cork means you’re sipping on wine while you’re painting or cork and collage or wine and watercolor or cork and wine.

Tom Heath

If you don’t have any artistic skills there, you go. Sit there and drink and watch other people do it. That’s what I would do.

Suzanne Villella

I love the fact that most people leave feeling successful.

Tom Heath

Well, that could be the cork.

Suzanne Villella

Sometimes that goes downhill.

Tom Heath

Being involved with the guild then. Are there opportunities for artists? How do you get involved with the guild?

Suzanne Villella

Well, you have to apply online to become a member. We have student memberships for $25. We have family memberships. So if you’re married or have a child that is an artist, you can get a family membership for 75. An individual is $50. You just apply online and it gives you a lot of opportunities. You still have to jury into the gallery. But we have exhibitions all over Tucson. We have shows, we have pop up events, we have education, we have programs. So there’s a lot of opportunity for networking, which is so important.

Tom Heath

I’ve heard that from a few artists. There’s one we interviewed not too long ago. You can find the podcast on our website. Julie Bonner and she said that’s the thing that a lot of artists don’t understand is how important it is to network, not just from a business standpoint, but from an artistic standpoint. And she sees artists sometimes shrink back when they hear the word networking. And she said it’s been so valuable for her and her career in expanding how she works and how she sells.

Suzanne Villella

I could not agree more. I didn’t have a guild moving around. I would find a gallery to represent me for one to three years, and then I would have to move. When I moved here and joined a guild, I was learning things. Every time I’m around the other artist, I learned something. Whether it’s technique or how to frame your work or drings and wiring and networking, what exhibitions are out there. I think what the art culture needs to really think about is we’re not competing with each other. If we really communicated, networked, supported each other, how strong the art community will.

Tom Heath

Be, I think the competition sometimes gets caught up in the profits. And what you’re doing through SAG and what we’re doing through the gallery, it’s about exposing the art and bringing the artist out. So it doesn’t matter where they get that exposure, as long as it’s out there, we’re all happy and successful with that.

Suzanne Villella

Yeah. No, I think it’s super important. And also one of the hardest things for artists to do, really, is talk about their work. So when they’re having an opportunity at the Tucson Gallery, they are having the opportunity. Like tonight, I’ll get the opportunity to talk about my work with complete strangers. I’m a little more introverted than you would probably expect, so that can be challenging, but that’s what we have to do to share our work with the world. And it’s a great skill to have.

Tom Heath

If you haven’t been to meet the artist. Events, they’re very casual. It’s not a program. Typically, the artist certainly could, but a lot of times it’s just a cup of coffee, a glass of wine, and 510 minutes of conversation and occasionally some hugs and tears, because people get to meet someone, they’ve had their work on their walls for a while and they finally get to meet them. So it’s fun. And if you are an artist and you’re introverted, don’t worry, because we have Tony Ray Baker who is not introverted, and he will connect you with everyone in the room very quickly.

Suzanne Villella

Yes, he will. Everyone is so friendly down here, and I’m just so grateful to be a.

Tom Heath

Part of this and then for someone getting started. So, 1996, you had your first show in 19?

Suzanne Villella

97.

Tom Heath

97. So 96, you’re painting in 97. You’re showing that artist today. What are they experiencing? How do they get to skip the 13 country tour? How do they get from where you were to where you are.

Suzanne Villella

Well, I’ll tell you, a really interesting opportunity for emerging artists in Tucson is at the Little Gallery at the DeGrazia Foundation up on Swan. The little gallery was head DeGrazia’s original studio. And now in the winter months, they let emerging artists you have to apply, and the applications are typically in February for the following winter. But they let you have that space for two weeks. And it is a wonderful opportunity. And even like joining a guild, there’s a watercolor guild, we have fibers guilds, there are ceramic guilds, there are a lot of guilds to get involved with. And those always have programs for emerging artists. And that networking is so important. I was in an artist panel in Phoenix a couple of weeks ago and an older artist said was talking about how art has changed, an opportunity has changed in art. And she started talking about, well, I can just get online and look for exhibitions and apply, and I can be in online exhibitions. But I think, yes, there’s more opportunity out there online, but you have to be with the people too. It’s so important to join a guild. Like I said, I learned so much from our artists. Every day I learn something new when I’m around other artists.

Tom Heath

Yeah, just being in this gallery, as someone who does not have the artistic background, I’ve got the love for the art, but I don’t really have the understanding of it. It’s amazing to me doing these podcasts and talking with the artists, what I’m absorbing as a bystander. So if this was my career, my path, you could really be soaking it all up. So I get that. And it’s interesting because so many artists I ask, what do you tell the up and coming artists? And it seems to always be about finding that fit where you can grow. It’s not about technique and style. I mean, all that seems to come naturally. It’s getting that passion into a point where you can do it in a way that sustains you enough that you can continue to do that passion without taking so much time to earn a living on the side.

Suzanne Villella

Right. Also, in speaking with other artists for emerging artists, you can learn so much about techniques and materials. And one thing that’s really cool about Tucson Gallery and other galleries, especially like SAG, where the other artists work, there we have to learn about each other, and that is part of the networking. But then we can really talk about each other’s work. And so I’ve learned a lot about metal. Like, you guys have a ton of cool metal pieces down here. I could probably tell you more about that just from my experience with other artists that do metal.

Tom Heath

And by you guys, she meant we, because she’s part of the gallery down here too.

Suzanne Villella

Yes, happily. Thank you.

Tom Heath

I get that. And we do the Meet the Artist nights. It’s always fun because other artists show up and it just feels like a little celebrity event here. It’s always fun to be a part of that and somewhat associated with it. Well, Suzanne Villella, a world traveler, u of A, grad back home, bare down, creating beautiful southwestern Tucson, Arizona style of art. Check her out on the Tucson Gallery’s website for what’s available for reproductions. She also has some work in the gallery. And you, are you leaving any of your originals with us tonight? Or are you going to take those off?

Suzanne Villella

That’s up to you guys.

Tom Heath

All right. So we might have some originals on the wall for a very short time, I am sure. How do people follow you, though? Are you on Instagram and all that?

Suzanne Villella

I am on Instagram. I’m also on Facebook and I have a website.

Tom Heath

So instagram. And Facebook? The same thing.

Suzanne Villella

Yeah.

Tom Heath

And your last name is V-I-L-L-E-L-L-A.

Suzanne Villella

Correct.

Tom Heath

A lot of L’s and vowels. Very Italian, right?

Suzanne Villella

Yeah.

Tom Heath

All right. Well, Suzanne, just another one of our beautiful artists here in the Tucson Gallery. Again, every week we have a different artist share their story as part of this podcast. You can check them all out on our website. It’s thetussonggallery.com. And the series is called Meet the Artist, also on Spotify. And I’ll be on a few other outlets here in the near future. And while you’re on the website, check out all of the artists building out a really nice website with merchandise available for reproductions and shipped automatically to you. And we also have wonderful original work and some things you can’t get on the website in the gallery that sell itself. So come on down, explore and definitely get on our events newsletter so you can find out when the cool people like Susanna are going to be here.

Suzanne Villella

The newsletter is amazing. It is so informative. So definitely get on the newsletter list. And Tom, thanks for having me.

Tom Heath

Once again, not a paid endorsement. Thank you.

Suzanne Villella

Thank you.

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 Meettusongallery.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.

Gallery

Transcript (Unedited)

Tom Heath

All right, here we are once again at the Tucson Galleries inside of the proper shops in downtown Tucson, Arizona. We are right across the street from hotel congress, and we are featuring local artists with gifts, merchandise, and original artwork. It’s the place to go if you’re looking for something Tucson art related. And as part of our mission to expand the reach of our artists and make the world aware of how fabulously lucky we are. In Tucson, we do meet the artist events every Friday, and they are casual events where you can come in, have a glass of wine, cup of coffee, and chat with one of your favorite artists in town. We call it Meet the Artists, and as a favor with all of those artists, we ask them to record a podcast so we can keep our stories of this oral tradition of art alive through the gallery. And today, we are blessed with the presence of Enavique Aldana, who is very well known here in Tucson for many things, but recently became an artist. So, Enlavique, welcome to the show.

Enrique Aldana

Thank you, Tom. I appreciate it.

Tom Heath

Your story is pretty interesting because you have a really big philanthropic part. You’ve been out in the community doing lots of really wonderful things, and then one day you decided you were going to take that energy and turn it into something beautiful and became an artist. You just woke up and said, I’m going to be an artist today.

Enrique Aldana

Yeah, that’s pretty much what you all.

Tom Heath

Right, that is the end of our show.

Enrique Aldana

Thank you for joining us for Good night, everybody.

Tom Heath

Maybe you can elaborate a little bit on that journey for us.

Enrique Aldana

Yeah, so as Tom mentioned, I’m very involved in my community. I’d love to give back a fundraiser for Arizona Public Media, but I also have separate passions outside of that, and I like to serve on different boards. And most recently, I was serving on the board of youth on their Own, and they were looking for catalog items for their holiday catalog. And I’ve been taking photographs for many years, and my daughter said to me one day, dad, what are you going to do with these photos? I said, I don’t know. Admire them. And then this idea came that maybe I would create some note cards for youth on their own to help them raise funds. That became my first project. And it went splendid. I mean, it turned out really nice. Fast forward a month or so, and I approached Ben’s Bells, who I really like, their mission of be kind and spread kindness. And so I approached them to see if I could create some note cards for them, and they said, absolutely, and so I did.

Enrique Aldana

So they have their own line of note cards created by yours truly. No cards. And then after that, my daughter and I thought, well, what if we create just a separate line completely? And so tucson is known for what I call icons and oddities. You may be familiar with the McDonald’s dinosaur. The Tiki on Fourth. The lumberjack on Stone Avenue. So my daughter and I took about two months just on the weekends, and we decided to go photograph these icons and oddities and I created a library of them and then turned them into note cards. And it’s just been a wonderful experience making art, creating art, selling art. And now being here at the Tucson.

Tom Heath

Gallery, he had to think where he was for a second. I’m in so many places. Being here at the fabulous Chicago Downtown hotel. Wait a minute, I’m in Tucson?

Enrique Aldana

Well, no way. I’m here with Tom.

Tom Heath

You went from not producing any art to being prolific. Every time I look at your Facebook page like, oh, I just new release. Oh, look, new release. Just put this out.

Enrique Aldana

Yeah. I think it’s a creative outlet for me and it’s necessary for me to rejuvenate my being and my spirit. And so I keep on expanding my line. It’s gone from note cards to posters to puzzles. Now I have tote bags. Now I’m printing prints on metal and it’s just been the community has supported my work and I feel invigorated by their support and so I continue to create and it’s just been an amazing journey. And then I have people like you, Tom, who, when you were putting the idea together of the Tucson Gallery, for whatever reason, I mean, it must have been lacking for artists, but you called me up and said, hey, do you want to be part of this? And how could I say no? A, to you, but B, to be in the company of the amazing artists that you currently house here at the Tucson Gallery. I’m very blessed to be a part of that and I don’t take it lightly. And I really enjoy what you’re doing and what we’re doing together.

Tom Heath

You kind of glossed over it a little bit, but I think it’s fun how the name of your company is Yours Truly Note Cards. And how did that come about?

Enrique Aldana

Yeah, so I was trying to think, like, what am I going to name my note card business? And I had a list of crazy names, none of them of which I liked. And one day a friend of mine said, hey, wow, this is amazing work. Who created it? And I said, yours truly. And the light bulb went off and I’m like, I got it. That’s the name of my art business.

Tom Heath

Here yours truly note cards. And now, like you said, posters, puzzles, metal prints, just quite a collection that’s growing. Your stickers have been quite popular in the gallery. They’re very iconic. Tucson or Arizona Images.

Enrique Aldana

Thank you. The community we live in, as you know, is just beautiful and amazing. And so I pay homage to my community through my work. I love to be inspired by the sights and sounds and scenes around us. And so a lot of my work is really replicated from the things that I see around me, and stickers seem to be doing really well, and that’s a lot of fun. Yeah.

Tom Heath

You’ve been doing this for how long now? When did you create your first note card?

Enrique Aldana

It’s been a little bit over a year now, in November of a year and several months ago. And again, it was youth on their own that kind of spurred this on. And I had the idea, and it’s just been something that I’ve been doing on the weekends now and just really enjoying it.

Tom Heath

And you’ve gotten some good press, I’ve seen in several magazines, local magazines have been featuring you.

Enrique Aldana

Well, it’s that saying it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. So I’ve been featured in Tucson Guide. There’s a new publication in the foothills that came out, a friend that wrote a blog who included me in that.  It’s just been amazing to see my name in print. And again, I surround myself with amazing, beautiful people, and they like to support me, and I I support them back.

Tom Heath

So do you do you see a future where this becomes your Monday through Friday gig, or is this you always see it as sort of an additional to what you’re doing.

Enrique Aldana

Well, I love what I do for Arizona Public Media. Again, I’m there.

Tom Heath

That’s right. Your boss might be listening. That’s okay.

Enrique Aldana

They can listen.

Tom Heath

I’m not going anywhere.

Enrique Aldana

Awkward. No, I really enjoy my job and what I do, and I hope to retire, and this is a hobby right now, but maybe upon my retirement, I take it more seriously and consider myself an artist and just continue to do what I’m doing on a full time basis.

Tom Heath

And you had the I don’t say the luxury, but maybe it’s the luxury of someone that you know and trust, your daughter, that sort of pushed you into this. But you had these photos for years. What kind of guidance can you give to someone that is out there that takes a lot of photographs, doesn’t quite know what to do, but doesn’t have someone in their life that’s given them that encouragement?

Enrique Aldana

Yeah, I’m glad that you asked that, because I think it’s been a great learning experience for my daughter, too. Because becoming an artist is not just creating the art, right. But you have to somehow create a buzz. You have to hit the streets to talk to people to see if they’re interested in selling your wares. You have to deal with the manufacturers of the pieces, the printing companies, cellophane wrappers. Cellophane wrappers, packaging. I mean, you go from soup to nuts, right? Creating your logo, creating your website, creating the business. It takes time, but this is the way I look at it is if I can do it, you can do it, too.

Tom Heath

I don’t think that’s the best advice well, I did it, so it can’t be that hard.

Enrique Aldana

No, it takes a little time and a little hustle. Actually, my work is located throughout Tucson. Now, there are seven or eight different vendors that will carry my work and I’m blessed that they liked it enough to want it.

Tom Heath

When you hit the streets, how do you approach I mean, we approached you because we wanted you in here, but I’m assuming you’ve had to some of the classier places you might have had to apply.

Enrique Aldana

Well, I guess my work speaks for itself. I let that do the talking and I take my artwork and I tell them that it’s available. I try to speak to the merchandisers or the people that buy the merch for their shops and I’ve been fortunate enough where they’ve liked what they’ve seen and then it’s just a negotiation how many and again, they’ve been really accepting of me and my work and have embraced my work and I can’t thank them enough.

Tom Heath

And your work has progressed. As you said, you started with the Tucson and the icons and oddities, but now you’re doing a lot of nature photos and things of that quality.

Tom Heath

What’s that transition? Is it just something you walk out that’s pretty. I’ll take a picture.

Enrique Aldana

Yeah. Again, I mean, walk down any street in Tucson and there’s always something that will catch your eye. For me, it’s the desert. I just love when I first moved to Tucson, I’m like the desert. Everything’s going to be brown and it’s quite the opposite. There’s so much color and intrigue and it’s just amazing to walk the streets. Lots of things catch my eye and I photograph a lot of things, but it doesn’t all translate into my artwork. And so I just think we live in a very vibrant, diverse, beautiful community and there’s no lack of

Enrique Aldana

material to photograph and it’s just amazing.

Tom Heath

Well, even though there’s no lack of material, then you go crazy and you put boots on bowls and things like that. You’re creating your own icons and oddities.

Enrique Aldana

Well, funny you say that. If you’re in the gallery, you’re going to notice some metal prints. This was inspired by Andy Warhol where he photographed some Converse sneakers and put them on a vibrant background. And I really liked the look and I thought, well, how can I take that and make it my own? And so I added a bouquet of daisies coming out of the sneakers and then photographed them in a way that to me made sense and then put a beautiful color background and then you print it on metal and with a very glossy look and it just is very unique. And to me it’s beautiful.

Tom Heath

But even before that, you were taking these icons and mixing and matching them. Are you still doing that?

Enrique Aldana

Yeah, I am. I find it funny if you take the dinosaur in front of the McDonald’s on Tinkerberty and Grant and then you mash it up with the lumberjack off of Stone. It just makes for an interesting image when you’re seeing a dinosaur and a lumberjack kind of dueling it out. So that’s a lot of fun. The other photo I have that I mashed up was the Tucson cactus off of Grant or Miracle Mile area. It’s iconic. And I have the horse from El Corral jumping the cactus. And then I used the starburst from Lucky Wishbone on Broadway, and that’s representing the sun. So here you have this horse jumping a cactus under the sunlight, and they’re just icons from around Tucson. So I call those my mashups.

Tom Heath

Yeah, they’re definitely fun. How do people see your work follow you if they’re not in the gallery? That you got Facebook? Do you have a business page, a personal page? How do they get a hold of you?

Enrique Aldana

Yeah, if you go to on Instagram. On instagram yours truly. No cards, rather. And then my website is yourstrulinocards.com. Or you can come into the gallery, the Tucson Gallery here at the proper shops, and you’ll get a glimpse of my work here too. Or you can just contact me directly. I would love to partner with more nonprofits to create ways to help them raise funds. And I have some ideas, so I’m always open for collaboration.

Tom Heath

Always has ideas. Always has ideas. I don’t know if the man ever sleeps because he’s always coming up with something creative. But Enrique, we really appreciate you being in the gallery. I appreciate your time today. And if you’re out there listening and want to get a hold of him, you can reach us to the gallery on our website, thetucsongallery.com. In case you have any trouble finding him. While you’re there, you can look at the art we have available for him and all of our artists. What we have online are reproductions and merchandise in the gallery. We carry mostly originals, and of course in the case of Enrique with Photos, they’re of course reproductions, but sometimes we have different versions in the gallery than we’ll have online. So you want to check them both out. And while there, you can listen to meet the artist podcasts and go back and listen to all the others that we’ve had on and sign up for the newsletter so you can learn about all these cool events and show up and maybe

Tom Heath

meet one of these artists yourself and get to know them a little bit better and get this understanding of Tucson’s history through their eyes.

Enrique Aldana

Sounds like a great idea. And thank you, Tom, for hosting this and for starting this business model of showcasing beautiful artwork from our local artists. It’s wonderful. And thank you for including me.

Tom Heath

I appreciate that. We’re still calling it a model. We haven’t made any money yet, so it’s not a business model yet.

Enrique Aldana

So you’re a nonprofit?

Tom Heath

Well, we’re not intentionally, but we started intentionally to have a very favorable split for the artists and we knew it was going to take some time and we’re doing just fine. I’m teasing, but it’s a labor of love on our part. And just like yourself, I love Tucson and this is our way of getting back. I don’t have the talents that you have artistically, so I’ve got to do something else and promoting you is the way I can do it.

Enrique Aldana

I don’t know about that, Tom. I think you’re very talented.

Tom Heath

All right, before this bromance gets any worse, we’re going to wrap that up. But tune in. Check out the website for Meet the Artist podcast. You can also check us out on Spotify and Enrique. Have a fantastic meet the artist event.

Enrique Aldana

Thank you. I appreciate it. And everyone, stay creative.

Speaker 3

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 thetussonggallery.com for more information about our live events, listen to other Meet the Artist podcasts and check out the wide selection of of art gifts and other items created by Tucson’s modern, thought provoking and forward thinking artists.

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Media

Transcript (Unedited)

Tom Heath

All right, it’s time for another installment of Meet the Artist, a production of the Tucson Gallery. We’re located inside of the proper shops at 300 East Congress Street. Cross the street from Hotel Congress, a couple doors down from Rialto Theater. You cannot miss us. Retail in downtown, all local artists. More information on our website, thetucsongallery.com.com and of course, every week we have a Meet the Artist event where they come live, they chat, they do presentations. Sometimes they just have a drink, but it’s always fun to get them in here and talking. And as part of that, we record a podcast, and that collection is available on our website as well. And today we are joined by I don’t even know how to describe the number of jobs this woman has, but I’m just going to say her name. And then we’ll do her intro because her intro is going to take the entire time. But we have the Julie Bonner with us today.

Julie Bonner

Thank you. Happy to be here. Today is going to be a good day today.

Tom Heath

Tonight, it’s all going to be fun, the whole day. And so we’re recording this and then it gets played back. And I know some of the things you’re doing, they’re probably going to happen before this actually airs, but you got some cool stuff coming up. Like, you’re doing a huge presentation in a week, aren’t you?

Julie Bonner

Yes. For the Public Relations Society of America. It’s pretty epic.

Tom Heath

I think this might be the fanciest guest we’ve had.

Julie Bonner

That Joe Pagac pretty fancy too.

Tom Heath

I don’t know. He dresses like a hot dog. It’s not fancy. I’ve seen more and more of this where you are out doing presentations because let’s set the stage here. You’re an artist. You make wonderful paintings in our gallery. You’ve got a tremendous line of merchandise. You’re a creative director, you’re a consultant, you’re a speaker. You do all of these things, and you help artists make money, and you’re just like everywhere. How do you manage all of this?

Julie Bonner

I think 8 hours of sleep. I think if I don’t sleep 8 hours, then it all falls to pieces. So I’m going to say good sleep.

Tom Heath

Last time I saw you present was at Ten West.

Julie Bonner

Oh, yeah.

Tom Heath

You were doing something there with branding.

Julie Bonner

That was great. That was really fun. Awesome panel about branding.

Tom Heath

And then this event you have coming up with that acronym you just used. This is like a larger convention, though, right?

Julie Bonner

Yeah. It’s the Western District National Conference. And I’m talking about design for communications, which is to me, super exciting. Anytime I could talk about design and art and help educate others about that makes me pumped up.

Tom Heath

All right. And I definitely get that sense. You really have this glow about you when someone gets it and they sort of change how they do things and they understand what you’re saying. You can see you’re like, okay, check that wife saved one person. Now who’s next?

Julie Bonner

I saved one person from Papyrus and Comic Sands.

Tom Heath

And I was the person she saved. Comic Sands, just so you know. So let’s start what happened first? Were you a creative designer or were you an artist first? What came first?

Julie Bonner

Or did they honestly being an artist? So when I was three is when I exclaimed to my teacher parents that I wanted to be an artist. And my dad, who’s a math teacher, was like, what does that mean? I don’t understand. I can’t compute. So I’ve always been an artist and always drawing, painting, and art class was always my favorite in school.

Tom Heath

Okay, so three years. And at what point did you start really sort of looking at art as a ways to make an income?

Julie Bonner

I would say my first paid creative project was I was a senior in high school in New York, and a local pizza place needed a logo.

Tom Heath

Okay.

Julie Bonner

And so I designed a logo and they’re like, hey, can you paint can you paint it on the window? And I said, sure. And then they said, do you know anyone that wants to work in the pizza place? And I was like, yeah, I could use some extra money. So I ended up working there too, and delivering pizzas. So it was like a win win.

Tom Heath

That seems like the typical Julie job. I’m going to do your marketing and graphic design. I’ll do all of your artwork and yeah, I’ll deliver your pizzas too.

Julie Bonner

Yes.

Tom Heath

Fantastic.

Julie Bonner

Delivery was my favorite part. Like driving in my Volvo, playing my rock music. So fun.

Tom Heath

How did you get from New York to Tucson?

Julie Bonner

Oh, jeez. An old relationship. But I stayed because I loved it so much. So this was 20 years ago.

Tom Heath

Wow.

Julie Bonner

So I feel like a Tucsonian at this point.

Tom Heath

I think so I’ve been here a little bit longer than that and I feel like Tucson ish yeah, Tucson ishan.

Julie Bonner

Yeah, maybe I’m Tucson esque.

Tom Heath

There you go. Not quite a native Tucson, but they’re long enough. I think now that there are adults in the world that were born in Tucson that have been here less time than me. I think I count.

Julie Bonner

Yeah. 1% hundred.

Tom Heath

So you started like, freelancing then, and then you got a job doing doing this, like a full time job.

Julie Bonner

Yeah. So I actually decided in high school to study graphic design. And so I went to college at Drexel University to study graphic design and play tennis for Drexel D One. And so four years of education and design, and I got to hone some fine art skills there too, so it was really fun. And then from there got a job as a graphic designer in house over in Philly.

Tom Heath

Okay, nice. And then I know when you moved to Tucson, the first project I saw you working on was the Desert Dwellers Flashcards. Oh, I think that’s the first time I really got to know you. But that was really like a project for your son.

Julie Bonner

Yeah. Desert Dwellers came about when Syver was about one and so I was teaching him the alphabet and using books and I was like, some of these are boring and maybe we can have something that features our local wildlife because I’m a big animal lover. And so came up with the idea to create a set of flashcards of desire animals from A to Z but also combining my passions of painting and education and so that’s where the concept came from.

Tom Heath

How old seaver now?

Julie Bonner

Oh my gosh, seaver is twelve.

Tom Heath

All right, so I’ve known you about eleven years then I think you’re just kind of getting that launch. Maybe you just put that out to the public somewhere after that. So what does A stand for in your desert dwellers?

Julie Bonner

In my set it’s Anna’s Hummingbird all the way to zebra tail lizards.

Tom Heath

So Anna’s Hummingbird is the name of the hummingbird?

Julie Bonner

Yeah.

Tom Heath

I didn’t know that. I gave you a hard time because I’m like, okay, I don’t understand. Okay, this is really cute, but A like you really stretch to get Anna’s Hummingbird. I thought Anna was like a person used to the name in there and you’re like, no, that’s the name of the bird.

Julie Bonner

Oh yeah.

Tom Heath

See I’m learning too. They help adults as well.

Julie Bonner

I actually try to include like fun facts and stories that even as an adult we don’t know, try to make it really fun. And also of course it’s pretty hard to get a whole alphabet. Like X was tricky, but a big goal of mine was getting birds, mammals, reptiles, like arachnids, as diverse as I could in 26.

Tom Heath

And if you haven’t seen these, they’re flashcards with a beautiful drawing on one side and then the alphabet letter and the story on the backside.

Julie Bonner

Yeah.

Tom Heath

And then some of your drawings then I think you’ve actually turned into larger prints and you offer those just as standalones, I think.

Julie Bonner

Yeah. So the original 26, they were acrylic paintings I actually showed in the Madeiris Gallery years ago. Wow, you are fancy. But look at this. Now I’m in the Tucson Gallery. So this is exciting. And then took that and that’s some of the things I promote is like how can you use your art and create other products and art gifts from that? And I credit also. Diana moderis was a mentor of mine and she is amazing at business and understanding how to sort of work the wholesale retail scene and how to expand and so I’ve learned a lot from her and continued to make prints and greeting cards and posters of my art.

Tom Heath

Yeah. Your philosophy is very much what we were striving for when we had the gallery is how to continue to make money after you’ve created the original work. And there was no question Tony, Ray, Darryl, my business partners in this, we were all immediately like, yeah, we need Julie involved from the beginning to really kind of help bridge that gap. Because your mind works differently than a lot of others, because you have the creative side, but you also have that analytical business side that must be come from your dad and the math, maybe, but you bridge both gaps. We see people that are heavily on one side or the other and they struggle.

Julie Bonner

Yeah, it can be hard. So one thing was years ago, I was thinking that I wanted to start my own art business. So for ten years I actually ran my own graphic design business. But right before I decided to go back to school and I earned my master’s in business. And that was to help just make me feel more comfortable, just sort of understanding the business side of things more. And so I love doing that, doing both of those sides. But to artists, those don’t normally come naturally and so it can feel really weird to promote yourself, to market yourself, to put yourself out there. But I think we’re creating here at the Tucson Gallery like a really nice collective and supporting artists, helping artists.

Tom Heath

And it’s interesting because we’ve been doing these meet the artists for a while and the artists approach the promotion of their event a little bit differently. But again, no one’s done it like you where you made them create your own drink. You’re out here creating events, you’ve got talking points and everyone else just shows up and they’re going to have like a glass of beer or something. And you’re ready, you’re like, bring it on. I’m going to use this opportunity to teach people.

Julie Bonner

Yeah. No, I’m excited tonight. I hope to help up and coming artists, give them some tips about how to connect, maybe how to promote themselves, and some other things that maybe you don’t think of right away. But they’re really not that hard. As long as you just start small, it’s not too much.

Tom Heath

Yeah. Because this is airing after the meet the artist fence. Some people may have missed it. What are a couple of those tips? What are some of those things that you might want to impart to this younger generation, or not even younger generation? This newer artist getting into the field.

Julie Bonner

Yeah. Anyone that’s creative and has been thinking about, like they’re a maker, painter, designer, photographer. One of the things that I talked about earlier was sort of combining my passion so with the flashcards. It really was a passion project. So art, animals, education, helping my son, so it was everything wrapped in one. And then when you design something or create something that really speaks to you, you do it with so much heart and so much you create a really quality product and then what happens from there is other people see that and you get hired to do more of the same. And I know that Joe had done that with his mural on stone. He created something that was his concept, not a client concept, and it helped show the general public, like, hey, I can do this. Prior to that, most people knew me as a graphic designer, and I was known for logo and identity design, but not necessarily fine art. So it was my way with the flashcards, was showing people I’m a fine artist too.

Tom Heath

Yeah. I think the authenticity that comes through really creates a really solid product, both artistically and commercially. And you mentioned earlier with Diana Madeiris, you found a mentor in that. A lot of these artists, they talk about someone in their life that gave them that spark or that courage. How do you find a mentor?

Julie Bonner

What’s funny is I admired her work and her business sense, and so I actually went to the gallery, and I know she was hiring for sales positions, and so I just went in, and I was like, okay, maybe I’ll be a salesperson here. And so we got talking, and I wasn’t the best, but it got us sort of chatting, and so it worked out where I got her advice about sort of wholesale and creating my art and some feedback on some of my paintings, and then I helped her with some graphic design and some event promotion. And so I really figured out how it could be a win win for both of us. So I learned a lot. So I think if you just kind of put yourself out there, I’m not necessarily a salesperson, but I went in, I was like, okay, I’d like to connect with her. What can I do? How can I help? And so that’s one way I think people can approach someone else to possibly learn something from. Maybe there’s something you can help them with too.

Tom Heath

Yeah, I think that’s a really good point. Some of the conversations we’ve had in the past, the conversation is why I was lucky to find or I was fortunate to be in this situation. But even though they consider themselves lucky, the artist put themselves in that situation, it was intentional, and they ended up attracting what they needed. They might not have known right away, hey, I’m going to have Dinah Madearis as a mentor, but you knew going in, I want a little bit of what she’s got. I’m willing to give something and hopefully get something as well.

Julie Bonner

Yeah, really. I mean, I’d say go for it, and the worst you hear is no, and it’s okay.

Tom Heath

Yeah, sometimes hard to hear that, but trust me, you hear it long enough and you get used to it.

Julie Bonner

You do enough art markets, and you can get used to every kind of thing.

Tom Heath

So let’s talk about some other things that you are doing, because I know this is not art related, but it’s kind of like a tangent because you just recently with your husband, Jeff, who’s got products here in the gallery. You purchased a home as an airbnb, and then you went in and arted it up. You got all kinds of like you went crazy on that house.

Julie Bonner

This was really exciting. So we turned the home that we were living into airbnb, and decided on a theme. So it’s called Bike Haven. And I think having a theme for whatever you do really helps hone in kind of your decor, the style, the mood, and who you want to attract. And so not only do we have bike art throughout, and I painted five murals throughout the home, so I try to differentiate each room. So when this is on Verbo or Airbnb, you can see this is the primary bedroom, this is the mountain room, this is the sora room, this is the prickly pear room. And so I did murals on each wall of different colors. And then it was just so fun. I really loved painting, and especially it was kind of cush versus with some of my friends, like Joe, Ignacio, like, they’re outside and it’s rough. I was in AC and then Syver and I watched some Saturday Night Live together. And so it was like a really fun, enjoyable process. And what’s great is we’ve been booked since October, and now I’m using that creative

Julie Bonner

marketing brain to figure out how will we survive summer, because it’s our first summer with the airbnb. So I’m trying to put together some ideas right now.

Tom Heath

I remember when I was talking to Joe about his advice, and he’s like, get air conditioned, first floor projects. None of this outside scaffolding things. I think it’s fun. And it’s again, just another way that business and art sort of meld together for you and not always the most obvious ways. Yes, and then you are a big part of Creative Mornings, so we got to talk about that.

Julie Bonner

Yeah, I’m going to bring that up in the talk later, too, because another thing I advise is just networking, and some people hate that word or hate when you say that just because of the connotation of like, you got to go around and talk to strangers. But sometimes there’s things you can go do where you find really like minded people, like Creative Mornings. And so creative. Mornings Tucson. This chapter started four years ago, but it’s an international free talk. So there’s chapters all around the world, and it’s based on a theme every month. And it’s a 20 minutes talk. You hang out in the beginning, and then there’s a talk on a certain theme, and then you hang out a little bit after. But it’s so fun and it brings out all the creatives. And we also like to say everyone’s a creative, so it’s once a month. So if you go on Creative Mornings Tucson online, you can check out each talk. It’s just so fun to be a part of. And it’s like one Friday a month. I just love being there. And, you know,

Julie Bonner

me too, from doing. I always handle the 32nd pitches. So it’s also opportunity for people with exciting news to give a 32nd pitch about what’s happening in the community.

Tom Heath

Cool. Yeah. I’ve been to a few other fun, and they’re informative every time I’ve gone. I’ve made at least one connection that helped with a radio show or with a gallery or something to that effect. And I can’t always go, but I do try to make a point of when I can get in there. Are you still doing your podcast?

Julie Bonner

No, not right now. Although I really love what was your.

Tom Heath

Podcast that you were working on?

Julie Bonner

It was like creative community. And so I interview different creative entrepreneurs in Tucson to learn about what they’re doing, but also the business side of their creative business. So I may be starting something in the future to be seen.

Tom Heath

She’s got a little grin. Like I might be starting something. I can’t say or deny at this time, but keep an eye on my website.

Julie Bonner

Yeah, it’s coming soon.

Tom Heath

Yeah. So how do people follow you? Like your social media website?

Julie Bonner

Yeah. My personal brand or for my art is Julie Originals. So on every social media? Instagram instagram facebook. And I’m on LinkedIn too. But Julie Originals Julie?

Tom Heath

Not Julie’s.

Julie Bonner

Yeah, just Julie.

Tom Heath

Julie.

Julie Bonner

Julie Originals. Oh, and you know why I do that?

Tom Heath

Why?

Julie Bonner

Because when I was little, I used to make custom greeting cards for my friends, and I always would sign the back, Julie Originals. So this is like a brand since I was very, very young.

Tom Heath

Oh my gosh. You’ve been meant for this life.

Julie Bonner

I think so it’s going pretty good.

Tom Heath

So if you’re a young artist out there, creative designer. We didn’t even talk about her education because she teaches at Pima College and does so much. If you’re out there, take her advice. Seek out a mentor, maybe seek out Julie Bonner as a mentor and figure out what you bring to the table to help her.

Julie Bonner

Because I could need some help.

Tom Heath

You get under that tutelage and you can really build a big brand, and Julie can help you do that, but you got to bring something to the.

Julie Bonner

Table for you know what I would love help with? What do you want? I’d say this is even in my advice is that part of being an artist and selling art gifts and stuff is communication with your retailers. Communication and continuing to check up. And as you get busy, that’s one thing that gets hard. So help with someone reaching out, like helping me with emails or that kind of thing is perfect.

Tom Heath

I will tell you because I have the book, the book that I wrote, it’s only out in a few places, and I just assumed they would call me if they needed some, and no one called me. So then I kind of reached out and like, oh, yeah, you can bring some more in, we’re out. I didn’t know.

Julie Bonner

Yes, I think there’s a misconception.

Tom Heath

I mean, I wouldn’t have bought them.

Julie Bonner

All, but I think the one reason I also made the flashcards is that I was in sort of a service based industry, so I was in graphic design. And so for everything I did, it was always sort of like a new project, new project. And I was like, let me try my hand at doing a product as well. Well, one thing is, it’s great once you make the product, but something that everyone understands is like, you have to continually promote the product after you make it. And so not everyone realizes how much work goes into that. And so whether that’s connecting with the retailers, checking do you need more, finding new retail opportunities and seeing how you can help them promote what’s going on. So it’s a constant sort of communication exchange that keeps happening.

Tom Heath

So there you go, folks. If you are listening and you are looking for a mentor, julie may be available and she has a need. So if you think you can fill that need, we’re going to be doing mentor matching. That should be our next podcast. Mentor matching.

Julie Bonner

Yeah.

Tom Heath

But Julie, it’s always fun hanging out with you, appreciate all that you do for the community, love your work. And the Tucson Gallery would not be where it is without your input and kind of your insight as we got this thing rolling. So thank you for that.

Julie Bonner

Thank you. Happy to be here.

Tom Heath

Julie Bonner, I again don’t know how to describe her. Just extraordinary. So I’ll just leave it at the extraordinary Julie Bonner, one of our Meet the Artist events. And if you want to hear any of the other episodes with some of the people she referenced today, like Joe Patrick, head over to the Tucsongallery.com. Under the media section, we have all of our podcasts and you can also see the artist if you check out the artist page. If we’ve done a podcast, it will be listed there by their name, as well as all the works that we have available on our website for reproductions. Of course, if you want to see the originals, you got to come into the gallery down here at 300 East Congress. We’re currently open Thursdays through Sundays and by appointment Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. So if you just can’t make that weekend and you really want to get in here and do some shopping with the local artists, hit us up on the Facebook page or most likely the contact page on the website. But we’re on Instagram,

Tom Heath

Facebook and fabulous website, very interactive. But once again, it’s Meet the Artist. It’s the Tucson Gallery, and today we’ve been blessed with the time and attention of the Julie Bonner.

Julie Bonner

Thank you.

Tom Heath

All right, thanks all.

Speaker 3

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 thetussandgallery.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.

Transcript (Unedited)

Tom Heath

Welcome back to another installment of Meet the Artist, a production of the Tucson Gallery, located at 300 East Congress. We’re inside of the proper shops at the corner of Fifth Avenue in Congress. Yeah, we have a Fifth Avenue shop. We’re pretty cool like that. We are in downtown Tucson, and every week we bring in a different artist or I should say a different artist graces us with their time. And we have a simple meet and greet, grab a cup of coffee, glass of wine, maybe a beer, and a chance to have a casual encounter with some of our Tucson talent. And we’re very lucky to have them as part of that event. They always agree to do this little podcast beforehand, and we keep all of the recordings on our website. You can also find our schedule of events to see which artists are coming up, listen to past episodes of this podcast and find fabulous reproduction and merchandise from all of our gallery artists and many who are not yet in the gallery, just building out our virtual and digital galleries.

Tom Heath

Our website is thetussandgallery.com. And today’s meet the artist is a gentleman named Colton Swiderick. Did I say that right? Swiderick?

Colton Swiderek

Yep.

Tom Heath

Look at that. At that. Right off the bat. We’re off to a good start here, and he is known around here as the man of steel and stone, and I’ll tell you why. It’s because his merchandise is made of steel and stone. Colton, welcome.

Colton Swiderek

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Tom Heath

Tom, my first question is when I see someone like yourself that sort of mixes this heavy industrial stuff with artistry, what came first? Were you like a machinist or a welder, and then you got artistic, or were you an artistic person that likes heavy equipment?

Colton Swiderek

Man, I’m trying to figure out how it actually started. It’s been a long journey. It all kind of started where I had this giant tub of rocks that I bought from a guy here in Tucson, and I was living in La. At the time. And I went back to La. And I just kind of knew nothing about rocks. I just started selling them, hustling them on the side, and it just kind of grew from there. I got into wire wrapping, and I eventually moved back to Tucson, and I worked with a couple of local artists who worked with primarily stone but also steel. They did inlay and lapidary work and giant sculptures. So it started there, and the more I learn and the more I just developed my craft, I got into welding. So, yeah, I’d say it started with stone, but, yeah, it’s such an amazing thing to learn to weld, because originally I outsourced all the welding, and being able to just kind of have the control to start a project and finish it when I wanted to was definitely a privilege.

Tom Heath

And it’s one of the pieces of art to really fully understand we’ll describe it the best we can, but you need to go over to our website, look him up on our artist profile, and you see images of what we have available in the gallery. But it’s this really interesting combination of metal, steel and stones and beautiful gems and all kinds of just brilliant colors. So you started with rocks and stones when you said you didn’t know much about them, but clearly you do now.

Colton Swiderek

Yeah, I’ve learned quite a bit and I thought I was going to get into the jewelry industry. I have a degree in colored gemstones from the Gemological Institute of America. So I learned a lot about just the details about stones and where they’re mine and how they’re mined and their properties. But, yeah, I ended up not going that direction. I’m much more of a hands on person. So, yeah, it’s been quite a fun process of learning about stones because it’s amazing to think that these treasures are buried under the earth.

Tom Heath

How do you come up with the vision for a finished project because you’ll have such a collection of different stones into one particular, like a Lazy Susan or a wall pendant or something like that. How do you decide? Do you lay it out first or do you just do it as you’re going? What’s that process?

Colton Swiderek

I feel like, at least for myself, thinking about something kind of just gets in the way. I usually just start with 1 st and I just go from there.

Tom Heath

I love that thinking about stuff gets in the way. That needs to be like a motto on a T shirt.

Colton Swiderek

Yeah. I wouldn’t recommend that for financials or raising your kids or anything like that, but for art?

Tom Heath

Yes, we’re talking about art. We’re not talking about life skills, we’re talking about talking about art. It is beautiful, but it’s not just beautiful, it’s also a lot of it’s functional. You’ve got tables that are made of stones and engine parts. Where does that come from?

Colton Swiderek

Yeah, I love functional art. Stuff that you can use and enjoy. The family gathers around the dining room table and they can enjoy their Lazy Susan or the table, but the engine gears, I love the whole steampunk style. And I actually have a deal worked out with a few places in town where I’ll trade them art pieces from time to time and they let me dive around in their dumpster and their scrap piles, and I get to pull off gears that were part of a giant 18 wheeler engines and transmissions. So, yeah, it’s just fun medium to work with.

Tom Heath

Now, are you like a car guide? Do you know, like, all these different parts or you just like things like things you see and you’re like, no.

Colton Swiderek

Yeah, these gear heads come into my booth and they tell me exactly what it’s from and what gear Toyota is from.

Tom Heath

But it’s also pretty. Yeah. How much time would you spend on one of your larger pieces. We’ve got a table in here that’s got, like, 30,000 different stones in it and, like, a transmission of some sort from an engine. How much time do you put into something like that?

Colton Swiderek

I get that question so often, and it’s hard to say because I love bouncing around when I’m working. I can’t just work on one piece from start to finish. I have anywhere from five to 15 projects going at once. But for a big the table that you’re talking about, that’s probably about a month from start to finish. So many little steps.

Tom Heath

Yeah, I can imagine. When we have people that come in and look at it, one of their first thoughts is it’s like painted? We have to explain to them. No, these are just handset stones. And then you start to look at how tight everything is compacted. It’s clearly a work of excellent craftsmanship.

Colton Swiderek

Thank you.

Tom Heath

Any inspirations out there that you like? Do you follow people on social media and get ideas from that? Or does this all come from your own head? Or people talk to you and you’re like, hey, you should do this?

Colton Swiderek

Yeah. I mean, the actual inlay technique that I use, I was very blessed to learn it from my mentor, who’s you know, his name is Z. He works with Gerardo. They’re local here in Tucson. And he actually invented this technique of inlaying stones into a steel frame. I was very blessed to be able to learn it and get his blessing to go out and use that art technique. But as far as inspiration for new pieces, I try not to look too much on social media and different places for inspiration because I’ve been doing this for about nine years, full time for four, and I’m still trying to find kind of my own flavor of art and my own style. I think I’m starting to get there a little bit, but I’m really trying to just pull from within my own imagination, my own creative juices, some would say, to try to figure that out. So I try not to look too much. But I love looking at Adam here in the gallery. His work is just amazing. And I do love going to shows and just looking at other people’s art. It’s always

Colton Swiderek

encouraging to just see what people make.

Tom Heath

Yeah, it really gets me jazzed talking about Adam Holman. He’s a sculptor who works at Metal. He’s been a meet the artist. You can hear his podcast on the website as well. And I think he kind of feels the same way when he’s looking at your stuff. There’s a certain admiration of, again, this industrial sort of feel that becomes artistic. It certainly seems challenging when you’re working with something so rough to make it so not even delicate, but just intricate and complex and beautiful. Do you have specific stones that are like, this is my go to or do you work with anything?

Colton Swiderek

Yeah, anything. I love stones with color. There’s a joke we have in the rock business. When you see a stone that’s not very pretty, they call it lever. Right. Leave it right there. So, yeah, anything with color.

Tom Heath

Okay. And then there’s some that look like shells or fossils. Are you actually working with fossils in some of this?

Colton Swiderek

Yeah, I work with a lot of ammonite fossils. There’s a lot of amazing fossils come out of Africa.

Tom Heath

What is an ammonite fossil?

Colton Swiderek

Ammonite, they’re like if you look up a picture on Google, like, these crazy, like, nautilus shells with, like, a giant squid, like, coming out of the rear. And they used to propel through the water. Way back when.

Tom Heath

That was a creature?

Colton Swiderek

Yeah.

Tom Heath

Okay.

Colton Swiderek

Living organism and a creature swimming around the ocean somewhere.

Tom Heath

The things you learn listening to meet the artists, maybe everyone else knew that, but I’ve learned something. So you’ve taught me there, you’ve taught me today. And then I think you spend a lot of your not a lot of your time, but when you’re not working, you’re really doing shows a lot. How many shows do you do a year?

Colton Swiderek

Well, it’s changed. I have a baby boy. He just turned one.

Tom Heath

Congratulations.

Colton Swiderek

Thank you. Thank you. And before that, I would do you’re.

Tom Heath

Saying that changed your priorities a little bit?

Colton Swiderek

Absolutely. But before that, I would do four or five shows in Colorado. In the summertime, I had a cab over camper. My wife and I would load up and live on the road for two months, traveling around, doing shows. And then in the Tucson surrounding areas, I do maybe four or five other shows, maybe about nine shows a year. And now I’m down to four shows. I’m really trying to focus on getting into my art and galleries. Shows are a lot of work, a lot of traveling time away.

Tom Heath

You’re in Tucson, which has a really well known reputation for gem mineral and finding these beautiful stones. Is that something that keeps you here or you could work anywhere and you’re just here because you love Tucson?

Colton Swiderek

Yeah, no, I could definitely work anywhere. But very blessed with a lot of family here. My wife has she’s a Hispanic giant family. And they’re just so beautiful, their culture, they’re just so close and they just don’t really move away that much. So a blessing to be here and just have all the family. So that’s the main thing keeping us here. All right.

Tom Heath

You mentioned kind of being fortunate to get yourself into situations to learn from for some talented people here in town. If someone was interested in getting into your line of work and this is a passion that they have, do you any suggestions on how they get started?

Colton Swiderek

Yeah, it’s a good question, man. Where to start? I really think it just starts with intention and hard work. I’m a big believer. I tell kids all the time, if you apply yourself, if you have a passion in your heart, you should follow that passion. And I really believe that God puts something in each one of our hearts, and if we follow that and we work hard, that we can make a living out of it. I’m living proof of that, but, yeah, I’d recommend reaching out to some other local artists if you’re interested in welding.

Tom Heath

You’ve talked about being lucky to have the right mentors that have helped you with your career. If someone has got that passion and they’re just finding their way through their first box of rocks and they want to do more with it, kind of what what’s a path for them? How do they get started?

Colton Swiderek

That’s a good question.

Tom Heath

Yeah.

Colton Swiderek

I would say the first thing is to just

Colton Swiderek

put a passion in your heart. I’m a big believer that you should follow it. And one thing that may not always be fun, but it’s important in the process is just hard work, really applying yourself, understanding that it’s not going to come overnight. And another thing would be I’d recommend them finding a mentor of their own, reaching out. I think most of the time you reach out to an artist, a welder, someone who works with rocks, they’d be happy to show you a few things. And I think it also helps an artist grow themselves if they’re a mentor to somebody. So I think that’s just a real important part of the process. I’d say find someone to reach out.

Tom Heath

It sounds like you’re probably going to get some mentees out of this, then.

Colton Swiderek

Yeah, maybe. I don’t know if I’m the right person, but have you worked with anyone.

Tom Heath

In that capacity yet? I mean, nine years. Have you helped someone else get going?

Colton Swiderek

No, I’ve encouraged a lot of people. I’ve met a lot of people who are really into art, and they have a main job, and it’s their side thing. And I feel like that’s one of the scariest parts of being an artist is going from part time to full time. It’s such a leap of faith. Maybe that’s been my calling. It’s just encouraging people to take that leap of faith.

Tom Heath

I think that’s what they call a mentor, by the way, as someone that provides that encouragement and guidance to make decisions in their life.

Colton Swiderek

I never see him again.

Tom Heath

Why didn’t say you were a good mentor.

Colton Swiderek

Yeah.

Tom Heath

Well, if you want to reach out to Colton, you can find them on our website. But you also have your own contact info. Do you mind sharing that?

Colton Swiderek

Yeah. I’m on Instagram, Stone and Steel, Tucson. And I’m here at the proper shops featured in the Tucson Art Gallery. So you can come see my work here.

Tom Heath

When’s your next show? Are you going to do anything in Tucson coming up? Where you’re going to be?

Colton Swiderek

I am, yes. Actually, tomorrow Saturday, 15th and sunday the 16th at La Quintata. Soccer is putting on a show there, so I’ll be there, and then summer hits and yeah, not a whole lot of shows here in Tucson.

Tom Heath

Yeah, understood. I’m sure when January rolls around, you’ll be kind of busy.

Colton Swiderek

Yes, the gem show is definitely my biggest event of the year.

Tom Heath

Well, until then, if you want to check out his work, you can find him on Instagram, Stone and Steel, Tucson. And you can also head over to our website, thetucsongallery.com. You can see his bio and get an idea of the work that he provides into this community. And it really is a combination of just raw energy and just what you might just power. There’s just like power and grace in what you create, and it’s just beautiful.

Colton Swiderek

Thank you.

Tom Heath

Thank you. And while you’re over there checking out Colton, you can look up all the artists that we have here in the gallery, the merchandise that’s available online. We have many originals in the gallery, a lot of reproductions and gifted type items available on the website. And then, of course, you can listen to past episodes of meet the Artist, listen to all the other podcasts that we put together, adam Holman being one of those. It’s a fan of Colton’s. And probably the biggest thing is getting on our calendar and subscribing to the newsletter so that you can be informed of all the events that are happening. We do the Meet the Artist events. We also have a lot of different things. There’s music, wine tasting. We’ve talked about some fun interactive ideas coming up here in the next few months. So definitely want to get on the newsletter there. But, Colton, I want to thank you for your time.

Colton Swiderek

Thank you, Tom.

Tom Heath

Look forward to seeing more what comes out of that creation mind of yours.

Colton Swiderek

Yeah, me too.

Speaker 3

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 thetussonggallery.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.

Transcript (Unedited)

Tom Heath

Welcome back to another installment of Meet the Artist inside of the Tucson Gallery here at the proper shops in downtown Tucson. We’re located at 300 East Congress. We’re right across the street from the very venerable Hotel Congress and just a couple of doors down from the Sister Rialto Theater. Come join us. Every week we’ve got a different artists talking about their history, their art, and just answering questions and having fun. Grab a glass of wine, cup of coffee and enjoy. And then of course, we record these podcasts at the beginning before it gets a little too rowdy. And you can listen to all of this and check out our live event schedule on our website which is thetussangallery.com and today we are joined by the extremely famous and legendary. I use that word not lightly. Leslie Leathers. Welcome.

Leslie Leathers

Thank you, Tom.

Tom Heath

So as of today, as of the recording, you are currently on the cover. Well, your work is on the cover of Tucson Lifestyle magazine. Is that pretty cool?

Leslie Leathers

It’s pretty cool.

Tom Heath

Is this pretty exciting? Is this your first magazine cover? I was like, yeah, I had a.

Leslie Leathers

Back cover, but this is my first front cover. Okay. And local like the other one was from back east or something.

Tom Heath

Oh, so you’re not just famous in Tucson, you’re famous all over the United States.

Leslie Leathers

Yeah.

Tom Heath

Are you from Tucson?

Leslie Leathers

No.

Tom Heath

How did you end up here?

Leslie Leathers

I grew up in New York and I lived in this city till I was about 13. And then I moved upstate where I lived for till I was about almost 19. And then I moved to Tucson because I had family here and my friends were going to ASU and I wanted to be out here in the nice sunny weather. So that’s how I got here.

Tom Heath

So Arizona is sunnier than New York is what I’m understanding.

Leslie Leathers

Yeah.

Tom Heath

Okay. But there’s all kinds of art in New York. Don’t you miss that a little bit?

Leslie Leathers

I miss it, but I miss the cold.

Tom Heath

It’s a good trade off.

Leslie Leathers

Yeah. I love Tucson. I love the mountains. I love everything about it.

Tom Heath

So when you were in New York, were you a photographer then?

Leslie Leathers

Well, I did a lot of photography. I started in more like high school because, well, my first person that I dated when I was in high school, he was a photographer, and we did a lot of photography together. And I took photography in high school, and it was film, so it was cool because we got to develop our own film, and I loved that. And then once I had kids and everything, I kind of had to stop whatever I was doing and raise them.

Tom Heath

Those kids, I understand they have to eat every day and everything else, so you got to take care of them. Mom puts the camera away for a while.

Leslie Leathers

Yeah, I put it away and then when I picked it back up, I got wholeheartedly back into it. And I always loved animals. And so it was easy. It was easy.

Tom Heath

The nature of your photography then, is it all wildlife? Because that’s all that I’ve seen.

Leslie Leathers

Yeah, pretty much. I did some weddings at the beginning to start, and it was easy to get my equipment because for weddings I did, it was pretty good money. But then I realized it was not me. So I started hiking a lot and I went out into the desert a lot. And when my mom wasn’t feeling good, it was really good for me, therapeutic, and it was like my salvation. And I just got addicted to it. And I started out with hummingbirds and I had a friend that had nests at her house, and so that got me started. And then the rest is it just kept rolling.

Tom Heath

Well, you do all kinds of different wildlife that’s out there, but the COVID of Tucson Lifestyle is talking about your feathered collection and the birding here in Arizona. So putting some of your art into our website, I learned a lot about birds. Were you a birder before a photographer, or did being a photographer make you a birder?

Leslie Leathers

Photography made me a birder because I loved birds, but I didn’t love birds the way I love birds now. It definitely opened up a whole new world for me. And my backyard is like a bird haven. And so I can say I’m a bird lover, but I love all animals, even little teeny insects. And anything that has eyes and moves, I’ll shoot.

Tom Heath

You go hunting, it’s not like you just sort of happen upon a bird. You’re like, oh, I’m going to go to Madeira Canyon, because this particular bird has been spotted, right?

Leslie Leathers

Like the elegant trogan on the COVID That’s one of the top sought after birds in the country, and even sometimes the world, because people come from all over to see that bird. A lot of people will go down there and they never see it, but I’ve seen it many times. And you learn the calls for the birds and you can hear them and then you can track them as you it is it’s like a hunt, but you’re not shooting them with a gun.

Tom Heath

You’re shooting them with a camera.

Leslie Leathers

Shooting them with a camera.

Tom Heath

And the detail of your photos is just intense. In the gallery, we’ve got some of your pieces and people think it’s a painting. They can’t imagine that you could get that close to a creature like that. Are you that close, or is it the equipment that’s getting you in there?

Leslie Leathers

I have pretty good zoom lenses. The equipment is nice. I can also crop in. It’s a good camera, so it’s professional. And I kept upgrading, too, as I went.

Tom Heath

Equipment is a little bit nicer now than when you’re doing weddings.

Leslie Leathers

Yeah, and it’s cool because, like a lot of photographers, as they sell, they can upgrade their equipment. And so I had a really good year last year and the year before, I think I sold a lot of images to Hacienda as well, and so that was really good.

Tom Heath

So your artwork is hanging throughout Hacienda? Yeah, the resort, they have bought like 85 pieces or something for me, didn’t they?

Leslie Leathers

Yeah.

Tom Heath

Hopefully it’ll pay for a few camera lenses.

Leslie Leathers

That was very helpful for my current camera.

Tom Heath

Well, in addition to birds, I’ve seen coyotes and horses. Do you ever get yourself in a situation that’s sort of like, oh, this could be dangerous? I did. What happened?

Leslie Leathers

I actually got hurt. It’s probably about seven or eight years ago, I was going out to this lake that’s not it’s on the east side of town, and I was shooting these geese because they were there. Somebody probably just dropped them off. And one day I was out there and they trapped four of them and left one, and I felt bad. So I would go to this lake and

Leslie Leathers

I named it Lonely. So I’d go out and see it. I’d walk around the lake. Well, one day I went and I wasn’t really too familiar with how geese functions. And I was walking around the lake and this Lonely was following me and all of a sudden and I wasn’t wearing really proper shoes to be hiking around a lake. There were no tread and I actually had borrowed family members lens, so I was being really careful. All of a sudden I see this goose. He turns around and he gets out of the water and all of a sudden he starts flapping his wings at me and squawking and coming towards me. And I saw his teeth, which are not teeth, but they’re like teeth, and they were scary. And I thought he was going to attack my throat. So I pivoted. And when I pivoted, I started to run and I fell flat on my face and I fractured this bone here and I fractured on this side, I think. Oh my gosh, it was bad. And so I was alone and there was nobody around. So I called paul was working, so I called a very close cousin of mine

Leslie Leathers

and I said, you have to meet me because I can’t see. And he met me in the Safeway parking lot and took me right to the urgent care because he said, you are messed up.

Tom Heath

So once you hit to the ground, lonely left you alone.

Leslie Leathers

Yes. All of a sudden I turn around and I took off my jacket and put it over my eye because I had was bleeding. And all of a sudden I turn around and he’s going back in the water, like just what? I imitate birds sometimes.

Tom Heath

I can tell. Maybe he was just like, I’m ready for my close up, and smiling and trying to get your attention. Maybe that’s what it was.

Leslie Leathers

I think he was a bully. And it worked.

Tom Heath

I could see that. I think the very first work you had in the gallery was the Coyote Condo.

Leslie Leathers

Right.

Tom Heath

And that one is interesting because you were stalking, so to speak, this Coyote family for a while.

Leslie Leathers

Yeah.

Tom Heath

But they were watching back, too.

Leslie Leathers

There were 13 pups, and I actually originally saw it on the news, and so I went down there, and it was on the golf course at Randolph golf Course, right. Yeah. And so I went and I saw where they were and then went back the next night and just talked to some of the groundskeepers. They said they saw me with my camera, and they’re like, Go ahead, you’re fine. Just be careful. And so I went the second time, and I was alone, and I think it was the dad, because the mom was up on a hill with a couple of the pups, and the dad kind of growled at me, and I got a little nervous, so I just kind of backed up and left. So then the next night, I went back with a friend of mine, her son, big guy, and I felt like.

Tom Heath

I was tossing a bodyguard.

Leslie Leathers

So it was really cool. And I knew that they would come out. They lived in the drain holes, and I knew they would come out when the sun was starting to set. So I laid down on my belly, and I just kind of laid there and waited. And as the sun went down, they started coming out, and that’s how I got that picture. I took a lot of pictures that day, but that was a cool photo. I’ll never get that. I got something like it, but not like that.

Tom Heath

Yeah, and that’s something we have that you can check it out on our website, the Tucsongallery.com. You can see a version of the photo. It’s been cropped a little bit, so the one we have in the gallery is a little bit more full. However, the one online I think is really good as well. And it’s just amazing that you have six of the pups just sitting there in these drain holes, staring at you, and you aptly named it the Coyote Condo. So beautiful. So you’re out there putting your life at risk to bring these photos to us. This must be a passion of yours, then. This must be beyond just making a few bucks.

Leslie Leathers

I think it’s an addiction.

Tom Heath

An addiction? Okay. That sounds more appropriate.

Leslie Leathers

Yeah. It’s a passion, though. I do love it. And actually, I could wake up, I feel yucky. We all have a yucky day here and there. And I go out and I’ve got my camera, and then if I find something, it’s like, mentally and physically, I can’t think about anything but what I’m doing, and I feel good. It happened to me today.

Tom Heath

How much of the work is done with the camera itself? And how much do you do after the fact with editing the photos. Is that a time consuming process?

Leslie Leathers

Yeah, it is. It is. Just loading them and then just going through. Because in the digital world, you can take a zillion pictures. And I’ve tried and I kind of succeeded to not take a lot of pictures. I try to get the one I want within three to five shots because otherwise you could just snap all day and have tons of photos. And then you have to do the horrible work where you have to delete, delete, delete, which is a photographer’s nightmare.

Tom Heath

It’s just so much storage, too, that.

Leslie Leathers

You would need for I’ve upped my computer several times since I started this.

Tom Heath

So someone that is a wildlife photographer, someone that has this sort of inkling that they’re a wildlife photographer, but they’re doing weddings or they’re not even maybe into photography professionally yet. What’s kind of that bridge? How can they get to where they want to be? What are some of the things that you would advise them?

Leslie Leathers

Well, learn your camera, which I did. At the beginning, I was self teaching, and then I actually took a couple of classes with a local guy that I know that has helped me a lot. And then after that, the more I went out, the more I learned and the more I was able to navigate around my camera. It’s time. It’s just putting time in.

Tom Heath

Do you find yourself looking for things that people will want to see, or do you sort of photograph what you want and hope people want to see it?

Leslie Leathers

I think it’s what I want, and if I like it, it’s more important that I’m doing what I like and I love. And I don’t do it for others, really. I kind of do it because I get such a joy out of it. So it’s really for me. And then when people like it, it’s just a validation of, wow, sometimes it’s like you really like that. It’s hard to imagine, but it’s cool. And things keep happening, like covers of magazines and such.

Tom Heath

I guess someone likes it.

Leslie Leathers

Yeah, so that was cool. And I guess I feel kind of lucky that I’ve had that experience and just like, different things through the years, I’ve been kind of lucky.

Tom Heath

Is it seasonal? Because right now, if you’re watching the video feed of this, I’m like trying not to sneeze because these allergies are killing me. But do you have different focuses? Do you like to do things in the winter, or are you always spring? When are you out shooting?

Leslie Leathers

Pretty much almost year round. Even in the summer when it’s super hot, I’ll try to find something because it’s hard for me to not do that. But right now it’s migration time. Birds are migrating, and so it’s a great time to be out.

Tom Heath

So we’re recording. It’s April, so spring is a really good time, I assume, then, for birds.

Leslie Leathers

Oh, yeah, it’s excellent. And the winter is fun, too, because the further north you go, the better it’s going to be. So, like in Phoenix, even though it’s Phoenix and it’s warm, but in the winter, they get a lot more birds than we do here. So sometimes I’ll go up there and shoot up there and it’s great.

Tom Heath

Do you offer any type of workshops or lessons at this point?

Leslie Leathers

I have done lessons with people for Basic, like if they have a Canon camera, which is what I shoot. Through the years, I’ve had a couple, two, probably three people that I gave actually private lessons to, like, wear the.

Tom Heath

Right shoes if you’re chasing geese and that type of thing.

Leslie Leathers

That’s good story. She talked to him about it because I actually didn’t tell him the truth. I didn’t tell anybody.

Tom Heath

You’re talking about your husband?

Leslie Leathers

Yeah. And my cousin’s.

Tom Heath

Like you’re talking about the goose. Like, you should talk to the goose about his side of the store.

Leslie Leathers

No, I literally did not tell people the truth because I was so embarrassed that that happened. I told Paul that I fell and I was at Udall running because I used to run the track a lot.

Tom Heath

Paul, if you’re listening, spoiler alert. It was a goose. It was a goose. Where do people find more about you? Website. Are you on Instagram? Where can people see your work?

Leslie Leathers

Facebook under Leslie Elkinsleathers, instagram. Leslieswildlife and I have a website, Lesliesphotography.com, but I haven’t added to that so much. I feel like Instagram is such a great place for me to post and share.

Tom Heath

And if people are looking for any of the products, we do carry some work inside the gallery. We’ve got a handful of pieces. And we also on the website have a lot of your work. Translates really well. Not just to the art, but it’s also on fun things like tote bags and puzzles. Yeah, that’s kind of cool. And you just got some new mugs in, so your stuff is getting out there.

Leslie Leathers

Yeah, I want a tote bag. I think they’re really cool.

Tom Heath

We’ll have to work on that. We probably work at a discount. I think we get to the artist discount. Well, thanks for joining us. Thanks for what you’re doing in our community, and thanks for bringing these wild creatures into our gallery. It’s beautiful.

Leslie Leathers

Thank you, Tom. I appreciate this. I love being here.

Tom Heath

We love you being here. And if you’re out there listening, you can check out more of these artist events on our website, thetucsongallery.com there’s an event page, and every week we’re going to have a different artist talking. Sometimes they’re photographers, painters, sculptors, even possibly some musicians and others coming in. So if they’re an artist and they want to meet their fans, we’re going to do a Meet the Artist event. They’re always five to seven. Right now. They’re on Friday. Sometimes on Thursday. So check out the website in a real casual environment. Cup of coffee, glass of wine and we just get a chance to talk. Maybe sign some work if you’ve had it, or get a few tips on how to use your canon. Maybe that will happen. But all of this happens at the Tucson Gallery, 300 East Congress. We’re in downtown Tucson, inside of the proper shops and corner of Fifth and Congress. Love to see you and keep tuning into all of these Meet the Artist podcast as we’re collecting just a really

Tom Heath

good story of local artists. It’s fun to see this build out, so thanks for your time and putting up with all these silly questions that I’ve got.

Leslie Leathers

Thanks, Tom. Wonderful.

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 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 Meettusongallery.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.