Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jason Parker. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jason, appreciate you joining us today. Getting that first client is always an exciting milestone. Can you talk to us about how you got your first customer who wasn’t a friend, family, or acquaintance?

My first client (as a muralist) was a friend / former co-worker. I worked as an instructor (mentor) at an outdoor / adventure based therapeutic boarding school for boys . The job required me to live on campus for week long shifts . Campus was fairly secluded being a converted 1940’s era boy scout camp on the top of a mountain .
I always had a sketch book with me to pass time and sometimes would teach an art class .
The chef / nutritionist for that program liked some of the art that she would see in my sketch books .
When we had both moved on from that program I was contemplating my next career move and she was opening a taco spot . She ( Chef Co , or Mama Co ) asked if I would do a small mural for her shop.
I made a little bit of money , and had the most fun creating the mural , so I decided that was my new path.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have always been mechanically minded , from an early age I had a habit of taking things apart to see how they worked . I came from a blue collar family , I was surrounded by tradespeople and my early years were spent on a farm so I learned DIY ethics early. My dad was a tinkerer and I have always been a doodler .
I think my acquired mechanical skills allowed me to make up for the lack of any raw natural artistic ability and allowed me to figure out method , technique and improvisation in my artistic work.
Many of my artistic skills came from necessity and problem solving . I played in bands from the the age of 15 and this learned to screen print to make shirts , posters and flyers for my band I learned to cut stencils as a crude form of printmaking . This also helped me hone my design skills .
Learning to make the most out of very little helped develop my style . I learned to love simple but bold designs, strong outlines and clever use of color .
I would realize many of my major artistic influences were born from the same necessities. Vintage arcade cabinets (typically painted with stencils kits) , punk and indie band t-shirts and logos usually bold images with minimal colors. And early skateboard graphics , usually screen printed . For the same reasons I would be drawn to the litho and screen print work of Warhol , the bold simplicity of Keith Herring , and the technique of Shepard Faireys earlier works. My studio work tends to predominantly be based on very large single layer stencils .
I started painting graffiti at age 13 , and so much of my influence comes from graffiti culture , and to this day spraypaint is my preferred medium , although I use whatever method needed to get the image in my head created.
Most of my life my day job has consisted of carpentry , construction . Repair or maintenance: this gave me a bit of an advantage making the leap to mural painting.
Many people do not realize that mural painting is very much related to construction and large scale production projects. Understanding plans and elevations , large scale layout , heavy equipment, ladders and scaffolding, Job site and project management, relating and communicating to other subs and trades , working at heights , and working in extreme elements are all part of the job and process . Most of which were acquired skills by the time I decided to attempt to paint murals professionally.
If anything sets me apart , I believe it is the many diverse skills I have acquired and how I have learned to apply them.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

As I was about to make the transition to full time artist , I experienced a roller coaster of events that had me doubting my decision. After living away from the area for a very long time I had moved back to the Charlotte area where I had grew up to be close to family.
The move initially was to be temporary while I decided my next move. After meeting a few people in the local art community, I decided it was time to take a bigger step in my move towards an art career.
I spent months building a body of work for my first local solo art show .
I wanted to go big , I hired several bands , bought a large bar tab for my guests and had a door prize / raffle . Nobody showed up , other than the bands and a few close friends . It felt like a huge failure. I was seriously doubting myself for several weeks . However by the time the show closed , I had sold four paintings .
Selling a few paintings gave me the energy and drive to regroup and try again.
I was without a studio at the time and having to work either on the patio or in the living room of my tiny studio apartment.
I went to work on a new batch of paintings and went on a huge street art campaign, I would go out three nights a week exhausted from my day job spending hours stenciling and wheat pasting all over the city .
I set up a solo show at my friends small gallery . It’s was grittier and more grassroots and suited to my vibe . I took a note from my DIY past and printed tons of posters and fliers and put them everywhere and blasted it on social media . I kept it simple and got beer and pizza sponsors (PBR and Dominoes) .
When the show opened it was a packed house , and at the time was the highest turn out and highest grossing show at that spot.
It was a great success and that was the push for me to quit my day job , leave my tiny overpriced apartment , acquire a large studio / warehouse outside of the city , and never look back.
Shortly after I would get my first large local mural , and a few months later my first full building mural outside of my local market .

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I have learned several hard lessons on my journey . All the way back to my community art shows/sales , and through all my solo shows and higher profile events : The paintings I have sold are rarely the ones that I thought would sell . Often when pitching designs to clients , my least favorite design makes the cut.
The lesson is , art is in the eye of the beholder. I learned it’s important to keep experimenting , refining , evolving, and even sometimes devolving and returning to the drawing board. In a sense all artists are designers and all designers are artists , we learn how to make things appealing , balanced , cohesive. But it’s much harder to pin down the X factor , the particulars that make an image speak to someone on a very personal level .
I tend to believe if you create enough , and you create from the heart , or at least with the best intentions, it won’t always be fantastic, but you will learn something new , and eventual you are bound to hit gold.
For the same reason I think it’s important to occasionally show our failures , and always be open to criticism or feedback. We tend to be our own worst critic, sometimes the work we reject or dislike will really speak to our audience, and that can be a great learning opportunity.

Contact Info:

• Website: Tinkerbirdcreative.com
• Instagram: @jbird.the.vandal
• Other: TIKTOK @jbird.the.vandal

Image Credits
Brooke Brown