We recently connected with Benjamin Brockman and have shared our conversation below.
Benjamin, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
It always feels like a risk to put your work out there. Even if it’s just on instagram – no matter how hard an artist works to compartmentalize their work from other aspects of their life, it’s hard not to feel a little exposed. I’ll spend hours with something, just me and the work, and in that time, it feels like an intimate space. No one is watching you or directing you except that internal compass informed by whatever you’re inspired by or whatever you’ve experienced. To put that out there in front of everyone is always a little scary, but it’s part of the thing we do as artists.
Risks are essential to growth as a person, for me. Anytime I feel stuck I know I’m just growing up against a wall that I need to push through. I get bored easily, so it happens a lot, and I change lanes a lot to avoid burning out. The greater risk than shifting from project to project, or medium to medium, even subject matter – is that I fear I will get bored before I finish a project. I have loads of projects that aren’t finished as evidence that this happens regularly.
A couple of years ago I started on an Inktober project to illustrate the Major Arcana Tarot cards. I knew it was a challenge and I could fall flat but even though it took me until January to finish the 22 cards – I stuck it through. Now I’m finishing the deck, 70-something drawings. So doing something scary is usually worth it in my creative world.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
I’m an artist working in traditional printmaking methods, primarily relief and intaglio, but also screen printing. I also have training in painting, drawing, film and video production, puppetry and theatrical production. I studied printmaking at Oklahoma State and The University of Minnesota. I taught undergraduate printmaking classes on a graduate fellowship in Minneapolis for two years until graduation in 2012. The following year I was awarded a Jerome fellowship in Puppetry Arts in 2013 and had a three night run of my live show at In the Heart of the Beast Theater and a one night group show at Open Eye Figure Theater. My first solo exhibition was at a pop up for The Midnight Brigade in 2014, and a second followed shortly after at The Nomad World Pub with support from Altered Aesthetics. In 2016 I was granted a solo exhibition of drawings at Ambiente Gallery in Northeast Minneapolis.
I was a core member of North Star Printmakers Studio from 2013-2019 where I designed and instructed community classes and introductory printmaking methods. As a member of North Star I was active in the North East Minneapolis Warehouse Arts District and showed routinely with the North Star Coop as well as the Otherworldly Artists Collective. I have run my own online business selling small hand-made goods such as t-shirts, paintings and relief prints since 2016.
I have worked in behavioral health as a Volunteer, Care Coordinator, Peer Support Specialist, Recovery Coach and Artistic Behavioral Health Specialist in the greater Twin Cities Metro and Tucson.
My family and I relocated to Tucson in 2019, just before the pandemic,and since then I have been showing in small curated exhibitions at Cube Colony Artist Studios, as well as larger groups shows at Steinfeld Warehouse Community Art Center and regularly at &gallery on Historic 4th Avenue Downtown Tucson. Since relocating to Tucson I have created several temporary, private and commercial murals, and have focused on creating small hand made prints for sale in my online store.
My work revolves around themes of environmental devastation, and the regrowth of nature in the wake of human displacement. My imagery tends to include apocalyptic imagery combined with symbols and figures that represent hope for the planet after people. My small works for sale are often depictions of endangered pollinators or other regional animals and insects that draw my attention.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
I’m compelled to make art by some force I’m not sure I understand – but I don’t worry too much about the why. I think people get into creative jobs, hobbies, interests for lots of reasons and I think everyone who does it long enough, and tries to carry it out into the work far enough, will be met with resistance and frustration at times. I don’t necessarily think it should be that way, but culturally we aren’t in a place yet that values creatives for what they really are, and we force them to be slaves to trends and responders to cultural shifts rather than the genuine progenitors of change. I say this because the act of creativity is perfectly safe and preserved when done for genuine reasons, but when money and stature come into play there’s an enormous amount of frustration.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I’m still doing it. That’s the story.
Just like any other endeavor – the cards are stacked in favor of the artist who comes from money or whose personality or identity is also marketable. It is also the artist who is struggling to break through – to get more eyes on their work, who is most vulnerable to exploitation. Artists at any level of experience should never work for free – yet it is frequently assumed that they will because they need the “exposure.” I have gone for this on many occasions and almost always felt gross in the end. My time as a creative person without much income or my creative efforts is extremely valuable.
If I’m not going to make money on something – unless I really believe in it, and WANT to do it for reasons of creative growth, interest, or practicality – it’s better for my soul, and more empowering to my muse to use that time making something I want to make.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.benjaminbrockman.com
- Instagram: @thesacredtrust
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheSacredTrust
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-davis-brockman/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/atangsula
- Other: Etsy: www.etsy.com/shop/TheSacredTrust Patreon: www.patreon.com/benjaminbrockman
Image Credits
All Images property of Benjamin D. Brockman