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Sed ut perspiciatis unde.
SubscribeWe recently connected with Jerry Kirk and have shared our conversation below.
Jerry, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?
I am generally happy to be an artist. There are many frustrations, particularly those that involve making money off of my art and dealing with rejections, but I feel a certain amount of spiritual contentment in knowing that I have talents that are somewhat special and that allow me to express my innermost thoughts and feelings in ways that others can relate. I did, for man years, work 9-5 jobs in service of others but they were mostly positions that utilized my creativity and that made them tolerable. I much prefer working for myself as there are no constraints on my creative output and the business choices all mine. What I couldn’t do then and can’t do today, however, is turn off the artistic side of my brain so that I can fully relax at the end of the day and just enjoy family and life and think about things that don’t relate to making art. My switch, unfortunately, is always on.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a visual artist and writer and use both terms with confidence. In my career as a creative I have had many different jobs and projects that deal with all aspects of the visual arts, including being a painter who works in styles that include realism, impressionism and expressionism. I have also published cartoons, illustrations and even photographs for different clients. In the more commercial realm I have worked as a graphic designer and art director for ad agencies where I created graphics for various commercial products in both print and video, designed websites and was part of the visual branding strategies for several corporate clients. As a writer I have published poetry in many different publications over the years, self-published my own collection of poetry and drawings, as well as a couple of children’s books and written various articles for online magazines. I also wrote the narration for an award winning documentary that I produced. I began my art career right out of high school as an editorial cartoonist for a local newspaper before studying commercial art for a few years in college. I then went on to work as a graphic artist and illustrator before teaching myself to paint at the age of 30. In my current incarnation I have eschewed graphic design for fine art and focus now primarily on selling and exhibiting my paintings while occasionally publishing cartoons with a political or editorial slant. What I am most proud of as a visual artist is being an integral part of the evolution of a bonafide art scene and district. Beginning in 1991 I was part of a group of fellow artists who opened two galleries in a run-down area of Charlotte, North Carolina that eventually came to be known as, through our marketing efforts, ‘NoDa’, (North Davidson Street Artists), and that thrives today as an entertainment epicenter of the city.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Very early in my career, after studying art in college, I tried to make a go of it as a freelance illustrator. I did this for a couple of years while also making ends meet working as a waiter and bartender. Eventually the freelance jobs dried up as their wasn’t a big enough need where I was living so, frustrated, mostly broke and not wanting to work in restaurants the rest of my life, I made the crazy decision to enlist in the Air Force. I did my duty for four years in a non-art-related position and then was admirably discharged. What waited for me was a commercial art world where, while I’d been serving, desktop publishing had taken over most of the traditional skills that I possessed as an artist and so I was forced to go back to school and learn computer graphics in order to get a job in my field.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
I think that what most non-creatives don’t realize is how consumed we creatives are with all aspects of our creative selves. For me, personally, I can attest that almost all of my thoughts center around ideas for art and that most of my free time is spent actually making art. It is both a job and hobby and most certainly a lifestyle. When not thinking directly about ways to create I am thinking about how to make a living with what I create. When not actually creating I am updating my website or posting art related content to my social media as a way to promote what I do. It is a way of thinking and living that I think is very different from how non-creatives function; at least the ones that I interact with.
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