You’ve taken a pretty unusual route through creativity, from visual arts and photography to playing in bands, teaching drums and eventually building a career around your artwork. When did you first realise you had something creatively worth pursuing?
From a young age I was always interested in art and being creative. I would draw all the time and even won awards at local shows.
The first time I sold a photo print was a defining moment. That realisation that someone valued something I created and wanted it in their home on their wall was huge. Putting that aside, I would be creating art just for myself regardless of pursuing it as a career. I can’t help myself…
Where does an idea usually begin for you? Is it something you see, photograph, hear, sketch, or does it sometimes appear once you’re already working?
Honestly I think it’s all of the above. I think about what I could create all the time. Can’t switch it off. Inspiration can be found anywhere. I definitely find it in music and from other artists. But I also absolutely love to just play. Start with nothing and turn it into something. Experiment with different mediums, programs and tools. Sometimes I have a clear vision of something I’d like to create and sometimes I just see where the moment takes me.
When you’re taking photographs, what makes you stop and take the shot? What are you noticing that makes one moment more interesting than the next?
I think you develop an eye. I’d like to think that every individual artist is in search of their own visual language. Wanting to share their unique view with the world. Or capture a moment that won’t be repeated. I’m looking for something that fills the frame in a beautiful way. Or a moment that I feel I can get creative with.
You take a lot of photographs that never become finished artworks. What makes you come back to one particular image and start experimenting with it?
One of the things I love about manipulating photos is that you can take a photo that might not seem all that interesting as it is, but then turn it into something creative or surreal or abstract… I have often created art from photos that I took years earlier and just suddenly found some kind of inspiration around it at a later time. Often it’s because you have new skills or tools that you can use and it fits in with what you are experimenting with now.
Once you start working on an image, how much of the final piece is planned and how much is discovered along the way?
It varies a lot. As I said earlier, sometimes I have a clear idea and take a photo for a specific purpose or plan. And sometimes it is fun just seeing where it takes you. I also love the happy accidents that can come from just trying things.
Your finished work can look completely different from the photograph you started with. How do you decide what to change, what to keep and when the image is finished?
Again, I think it is just a feeling or an eye thing. I think most artists would say that sometimes it can be difficult to know when a piece is finished. I try not to overthink it. If it looks and feels right to me, it’s done.
What role does experimentation play in your work? Do you deliberately try things that might fail, or does the experimentation happen naturally while you’re making something?
It plays a huge role. It’s what I love to do the most and has led to me finding my own visual language. If I didn’t mess around with a bunch of different editing programs and apps, I never would have found some of the visuals that have become signatures of my art.
When a band gives you a song to create artwork for, how do you translate something you hear into something visual without simply illustrating the music?
I feel like I’m saying this a lot, but it’s probably more of a feeling than anything. I love trying to tie in something from a key lyric or theme. There is usually some direction and collaboration with the band/artist too. It all becomes a melting pot until you find the thing that feels right.
Working with another artist brings another person’s ideas into the process. How do you handle those moments when their vision takes the work somewhere you hadn’t originally imagined?
It’s one of the things I absolutely love about collaborating with other artists. It definitely takes you places you wouldn’t have gone on your own. I feel like I’ve been very fortunate to work (read play) with so many amazing artists that have pushed me to lift my game. Some of my favourite artworks that I have made have been collaborations.
After years of making photographs, artwork and design, what are you still trying to figure out?
Everything. Ha!
I think it would be a little sad and quite arrogant if you thought you had it all figured out and just did the same thing over and over. I want to keep learning, pushing myself and doing things that I haven’t done before. I have any number of weaknesses in what I do, especially in the design aspect of what I do. I also feel I have a lot to learn on the business side of things too. Keep learning. Keep doing. Keep creating. Keep going!
