Check out Jack Michael’s Artwork

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jack Michael.

Jack, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
My story is a strange and meandering one, but I’ll try to distill it a bit.

My family and early life set the tone for my studio practice. I’m the granddaughter of a rocket scientist and the daughter of a trash man. I was born and raised in the Appalachian Foothills of North Georgia. I lived a very rural life. My family valued Nature and hard work and resisted “the tyranny of convenience” (and they still do, as should we all). My dad and all of my uncles were bikers (not the kind that wear tight shorts). My mom made quilts. My parents (and I) have worked long hours in factories and landfills. I went to college at Sewanee, and it changed my life (thanks for the scholarship, all). I’ve been homeless. I’ve high-fived celebrities. I was involved in (very) radical conservative politics for a while, but now I’m just a strange brand of liberal that only former conservatives can be. I used to be in ROTC. I have a healthy mistrust of authority and hierarchy. I’m a doomsday prepper and tattoo collector. I’m the co-founder of a women’s motorcycle club. I’m a feminist. I’ve read more books than almost anyone I know. I love punk rock and pre-1970s country music. I believe learning is sacred and education is broken. Ethical humanism is my religion. I have a green thumb, a hard nose, and a soft heart.

All this history and weirdness rolls up into me being an artist that is very concerned with slow living, manual labor, gendered economies, Nature, and “low” art. My art practice is not separate from my life. Everything that I do – whether it’s weaving a painting, scribbling on a napkin, or riding my motorcycle across the country – is art.

We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I don’t subscribe to one medium in my art-making. I use what I need to use to say what I need to say. Overall, my work is about 30% weaving, 30% painting, 30% printmaking, and 10% installation. I hand-weave my own canvases and paint on them with natural and acid dyes. I make silkscreen prints, relief prints, and copperplate etchings that explore the visual language and body movements inherent to weaving. I’m planning a woven installation this summer to install on a fence at the Mexican border in Arizona.

I’m inspired by the labor intensity, gendered history, tactile intimacy, and meditative nature of weaving (good)…but also its ties to Industrial Revolution history and the subsequent über-capitalist invasion of the American economy, psyche, and natural environment.

If nothing else, I hope that when people see my work that they perceive how labor-intensive it is, and that they feel a longing to touch it (even though they probably won’t be allowed to). I hope that they can feel the time, focus, and love that goes into it, and that it inspires them to shrug off “the tyranny of convenience” and get back to your own personal version of “slow living” in tune with the cycles of Nature. If they linger long enough to discover other layers – about the gendered history of painting versus weaving? high art versus low art? the canvas as a woven object historically dominated by men? – then color me grateful. 🙂

What do you know now that you wished you had learned earlier?
Find your voice – don’t seek popularity or convenience. The easy path is rarely the right one.

Trust your instincts. Turn off your plugged-in chatter brain and listen closely to the gentle nudges that come in the quiet moments.

If you’re questioning whether or not to pursue an MFA – DO IT (it will change you forever), but don’t go into a bunch of debt for it (stay hungry, not starving).

Put something in your sketchbook every day – no excuses. Words, collage, drawings, whatever – but do it. Learn to say no. Read a lot and genuinely listen to people, especially strangers. Art is an output. Ya got to have input. Most importantly – live slowly. Unplug. Savor the angle of sunlight. Feel your breathing. Understand both your smallness and your grandness. Take your time. We can’t take anything with us, so while you’re here, be HERE.

Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I recently launched a Patreon, and anyone who contributes can feel good (and get cool stuff) for supporting work that fights the patriarchy, harmonizes with Nature, embraces manual labor, and promotes slow living.

My work is best experienced in person, and I have pieces in several shows opening in Arizona this summer, and in Atlanta this fall and winter – much excitement! And people are always welcome for a studio visit by emailing me: jackmichaelstudio@gmail.com.

In the meantime, folks can tune in to my Instagram (@luckyhandpress) from May 13 – 21st to see my 2,800-mile solo motorcycle trek to Bisbee, Arizona for my artist’s residency at The Central School Project (May 25-June 25), and then follow my trip back to Atlanta (June 26-July 3). My Instagram is DEFINITELY the best place to see my work online. I’ll also be blogging my trip and residency on my website, jackmichael.art/sketchbook. And as soon as I FINALLY get my work professionally photographed, folks will be able to see my work on my website as well.

Contact Info:

• Address: Georgia State University
  Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design
  MFA Studios, 6th Floor
• Website: jackmichael.art/sketchbook
• Email: jackmichaelstudio@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luckyhandpress/
• Other: http://www.patreon.com/jackmichael

Image Credit:
Jack Michael

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