Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam Sprague.
Hi Adam, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I spent a lot of time with my grandparents growing up. My grandfather was a retired Green Beret who took up gourd carving. I remember his studio always smelled like dry gourds, hide glue, and paint. I loved sneaking around and looking at all the odd objects he had up there; animal hides, swords, books, records, et cetera… I would sneak in and mess with the tools while he was out. My grandmother worked an office job and would bring home stacks of green-and-white striped printer paper, always encouraging me to draw. My dad was a musician and spent a lot of time recording and playing at home. My mother never discouraged creativity or made me feel like it was less valuable than any other pursuit. So from an early age, I understood that making things is a basic human activity. Some kids grow up thinking baseball or hunting is a normal part of life. For me, it was art.
My older sister is probably my biggest influence. She’s seven years older than me, and when she went to MassART in Boston, I was fascinated. I hadn’t even known that art school was a thing until she went. After high school, I went straight to MassART and studied Studio for Interrelated Media for two years. It was a mix of performance, installation, and multimedia. It was a highly permissive environment, yet there was a particular dominance of theory at the time. But I felt directionless and I had a lot of growing to do. I left MassART, lived life as a Boston street rat earning minimum wage, and started teaching myself to paint.
Eventually, I escaped the cold weather and came down here to Atlanta. I kept painting and ended up making a little bit of income with it. When the pandemic hit, I had to rethink everything, and that’s when I decided to go back to school. This year I had my senior exit show at Georgia State and earned a BFA in Drawing, Painting, and Printmaking, along with a BA in Art History. I would love to teach painting if I get the chance. I hope my experience can be an example that your education doesn’t have to be something that stops in your mid twenties.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, it hasn’t been a smooth road at all. I’ve done a lot of job hopping and moving around. I’ve felt very uprooted. I think this is a common experience for millennials and gen z. In order to keep moving forward we’re forced to constantly reinvent, pull up stakes and look for whatever opportunity we can find. I’ve worked in food service, farmed organic basil, pruned grapes in a vineyard, worked in shipping, painted houses, and did all the kinds of freelance you can do. I fixed computers as a Geek Squad agent. I tried off-the-grid homesteading once but that relationship didn’t work out. No matter what happens, as long as you keep waking up in the morning you just have to keep going.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Though I do a lot of different things, I think of myself as a painter first. I think like a painter, and that thought-process infiltrates everything I do, even if it’s sound, performance, or sculpture. Most of my ideas come from my unconscious mind. I draw inspiration from my dreams and ideas that come to me during meditation. I also experiment a bit with divination in my creative process, looking for synchronicity but not necessarily randomness.
I have ideas about how to make work that is authentic to me and I try to stick by that. In my mind, my art already exists and I’m just extending it into our shared reality. I don’t care at all to have a particular ‘style’ or aesthetic. What’s important to me is faithfully extending the idea into space. As long as I’m doing that, I’m happy.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
My advice is to abandon social media. These days it’s all dead internet anyways – just generative garbage, fake stories, and grifters. It isn’t good for your head and it’s probably even worse for networking. An artist needs to get out and find creative people in the real world. Show up and participate. When I started saying ‘yes’ to people, my life changed for the better. Keep trying and you will find your people. Remember, time passes whether you are doing something or not.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.spreggo.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spreggo/
