paula hathaway
Tattoo Artist and Painter, Paula Hathaway.
Gallery Opening: June, 2023
Photos by: Kai Diaz | Nikon 28ti, Kodak Porta 400
JOEPIE
I am always exploring new ways to express myself through art, whether it's through traditional techniques or modern technology. I believe that art is not just a product but a process, where I am constantly learning and growing as an artist and as a human being.
@_JOE_PIE_
Mark Warren Jacques
A brief interview with, Mark Warren Jacques.
Insta @mwjstudio
Website mwjstudio.com
Shop mwjstudio.shop
Music https://open.spotify.com/artist/1JcMJoca5yWgHcqe32ErIK?si=m2eU3E7lSAeBkVF4RtuPkw
Who are you and what have you been creating lately?
My name is Mark Warren Jacques, human, X and Y chromosome carrier, artist, musician, 37 rotations around the sun. Lately, I’ve been playing with oil paint, which is something new for me, and making a lot of music which is always fun.
Where are you from and how does it influence your art?
I was born in Columbus, Ohio then moved to Circleville, Ohio, a small rural town, when I was seven. I grew up on a farm playing in the woods and that sense of freedom and a connection to nature influenced my creativity immensely. As a teenager, we moved back to the city, of Columbus, and I started skateboarding and doing graffiti which also dramatically influenced my sense of individual style and creativity. After college, I moved to Portland, Oregon, and got a taste of the PNW vibe, which at the time (circa 2005) was liberating and inspiring. I fell in with a group of artists and really devoted myself to making paintings full time which led me to San Francisco for a few years where I was able to establish my work and in turn support myself exclusively with my art. I also spent a couple of years in NYC, and LA, and I even took a crack at Paris for a time before landing in San Diego. All these places informed my art-making and worldview in unique ways.
What is your creative process?
I don’t really have a set process that I follow. Inspiration might strike at any time so I just sort of go with the flow. One thing I love about being an artist is the freedom to work at any time and on whatever I want. There are times of extreme productivity and other long stretches where I don’t feel like painting at all, sometimes I force it and the outcome is awesome, then other times I'm super inspired, working all time but can’t get anything to turn out, so I’m really not sure what the process is. I know many artists that feel this way. Sort of like we are antennas of art, sometimes the signal is strong and other times it's nowhere to be found!?
What piece are you most proud of?
I’m not sure I have a “most proud of piece”. Art seems to be a natural extension of my being so I suppose I’m proud of all the work I’ve created over the years. Maybe just the fact that I keep at it is what I’m most proud of. There have been times when it was very difficult and seemed utterly foolish to continue, yet the path always revealed itself when I opened my heart to it. I still don’t quite understand why art is so important to us as humans, like what it actually does for us. On the surface it can seem very trivial, but then there are these inspiring moments of explosive beauty that connect us in ways that nothing else can, and those moments make it all worth it.
How do you define success as an artist?
Success in all of life is in the eye of the beholder. Personally, success is defined solely by my desire to continue, to wake up every day and make something happen creatively or otherwise, just to keep going, ideally with a smile on my face and love in my heart.
Tait Hawes
A brief interview with our featured artist.
Find More Work from Tait: Sons Studio | @sons_studio_art
Who are you and what have you been creating lately?
Tait Hawes. I'm currently spending most of my time working on a large 48"x72" portrait commision in oils and then I rotate through other ongoing projects like paper mache vessels that are time capsules of past memories and people, a series of charcoal drawings of my friends and watercolors and blind contour drawings for our Sons Studio shop.
Where are you from and how does it influence your art?
I grew up on the seacoast of Southern Maine and New Hampshire, specifically York and Portsmouth. The sites, smells, memories are very clear. I reminisce a lot. The architecture, landscape and seasons have definitely stayed with me and inform my work through texture and color. There are a few specific ideas that have been percolating recently. One of them is about lying in the fields of Kittery Point as a boy with the smell of stink bugs on hot, humid summer days. Some of my work is about my relatives from that area as well. There's a vessel I just finished about my Great Grandfather Papi and Uncle Eddie's shed in Sandwich, NH.
What is your creative process?
Ideas come at random times. I dictate the thought as clearly as I can into a note on my phone or doodle it in a sketchbook amongst hundreds of other random notes and hope I read it. It's weird how the ideas I can feel so passionate about at one moment can lose all of their power when I read it again later. The truth for me is that one idea will snowball and permeate until I can't escape it anymore and I have to take action. I also love keeping a messy studio so everything is within arms reach at any moment. cross-pollination is key.
Right now, with the portrait, it's this ongoing struggle to "see" it. Every session leaves me either blinded or with hyper clarity. Lights and darks, colors, hues, tones. Chasing, chasing, chasing.
Other pieces are fun jammers. Blind contours with surprises. Watercolors with mistakes that are crucial.
The paper mache is like sensory therapy and the materials I use have a context of their own so they're mega rich with meaning.
I also make these large concentric circle paintings with mixed media I call "Sons" that are abstract expressions filled with color, texture and energy. Those are a process unto themselves.
What piece are you most proud of?
My large oil paintings of my boys.
How do you define success as an artist?
Every time someone wants a piece of my art I feel successful. Something I've made has connected with them and that's a good feeling. Also, when I've completed a painting or creation and can look at it a few months later without wanting to change it. That's success too.