We were lucky to catch up with Ian C. Hess recently and have shared our conversation below.
Ian C., appreciate you joining us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?
I’ve always drawn. Earliest drawings of mine are scrap booked by my mom starting around 2 years old. Drawing always helped me focus my thoughts. In grade school I’d get called out by the teacher for having my head down & laughing: “Ian! Are you paying attention?!” I’d tell them exactly what they were just teaching back to them without pause. “Oh… well make sure you’re taking notes!” I drew monsters, creatures, & battles all the time inspired by Spawn, Dragon Ball Z, Digimon, Pokemon, Gundam… you name it.
Fast forward to middle school & I’m trying out my 1st Art Class. There’s a hand drawing competition & I give it my all. To my own dismay, my piece gets 2nd place & I remember thinking the 1st place drawing was worse in every way. It made me think the Arts were bunk but always continued to draw along the side of my school tests.
Fast forward & my girlfriend at the time is telling me about an Artist that I remind her of. That Artist’s name is Greg ‘Crayola’ Simkins. He drew & painted like me only infinitely better. She told me that was what Simkins did for a job. I couldn’t believe it. I thought basically either you’re Picasso or an asshole. Artist wasn’t something people did with their life, it was something that was a relic of the past to be studied! Not a profession you could dedicate your life to let alonea gig that could pay the bills. This led me to find other Artists such as Jeff Soto, Chris Berens, Alex Pardee, & Ashley Wood that solidified the dream.
It took until the end of High-School to find out I could be an Artist, in many ways by chance. Despite a life-time of drawing, I simply didn’t know it was a serious life path. It sounds stupid now, how could I not know? Some part of me thinks – what if a professional Artist told me to dedicate the time to becoming a full-time Artist earlier? How would it have changed me? How much better could I be now? Yes, I do wish I started earlier. Ah well, c’est la vie!
Ian C., before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
A little over a year after I graduated from college with a Painting & Printmaking degree, I was met fortuitously by an opportunity that would determine my entire career. Through a series of unlikely events, I stumbled upon a little 1000sqft. dusty, dingy, studio space. This studio with a creepy basement & located smack dab in the middle of the Richmond Arts District would go on to become founded as Endeavor Studios. This impossible, little opportunity prompted me to message some of the most talented Artists I worked alongside in my Painting & Printmaking degree.
Together, it ended up being 3 weirdos: Eli McMullen, Christina Wing Chow, & myself – curating, creating, & exhibiting Art shows for what’s known as First Fridays here in Richmond. The first Friday of every month – all the galleries in the city open up with new shows & events that set the streets of Richmond alive. Our collective space gave us not only a studio, but a gallery space for ourselves & the many disenfranchised Artists of Richmond. From solo shows, performance nights, music shows, theatre, mural shows – you name it! In our time there, rapidly switching our area from studio space to exhibition, we hosted over 250 Artists, put together over 50 First Friday shows, & collaborated with a dozen businesses – all on our own dollar. Despite our renown reaching to New York & Portland, we were never sponsored, almost completely ignored by media outlets, & faced hundreds of hurdles / setbacks that we always met head on. Although the members changed, for almost 5 years we met every single First Friday with a new show & in turn were blessed with Art careers that still define our lives to this day.
Endeavor Studios became a must-visit for the massive crowds of First Fridays until a land-lord sold the place from underneath us in 2018. Thanks to lease contracts favoring lessees in Virginia, we were able to continue our stride for another 10 months doing our biggest shows ever! Throughout this time, I often asked myself & the team – “do we go big or do we go home?”
In that time, I came across a smaller, kind of wonky building that was built in 1859 (& somehow hadn’t burned down in the twice burnings of Richmond). It was 6 blocks down from our studio space & was right at the technical start of the Arts District on Richmond’s central nervous system: Broad Street. Amongst many discussions, arguments, & problem-solving I was able to purchase the property (with a ton of help, mind you). The front of that very building is now Richmond’s only locally owned Art Supply Store called SUPPLY! I currently live above this space & may have lost a lot of my precious privacy, but my business has offered me possibilities I never imagined. SUPPLY offers a multitude of mediums for the working Artists of Richmond, features a new Artist every single month, has done all kinds of events (from blowout stencil painting events to graffiti crew reunions) & is quickly approaching it’s 2nd year anniversary!
Amongst the many hours spent running a small business, I still maintain my professional career as an Artist painting & have now exhibited in Rome, Venice, Portland, Philadelphia, & Amsterdam as of this year. I still manage to sneak in murals, weird one-off projects, & put together exhibitions for First Fridays! I am fully steeped in the colors of trade & it constantly means work (or depending how you’re looking at it – play) & very long hours! There’s quite a few projects currently underway including creating Richmond’s 1st Public Art Park & upcoming exhibitions. For the first time, in a very tangible way, I’m truly beginning to see the fruits of my many labors. It’s a rarified time & it’s caused me to be practicing more gratitude than ever. The work rarely seems done but thankfully I love what I do & don’t plan on stopping!
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Often there’s a fine line between complaining & talking about overcoming difficulty. I’d always err on the side of never complaining. After all I am in the Arts – not offshore drilling, roofing in summer, or mining for Lithium in 120 degree weather. So, it’s always healthy to keep perspective; I still have my limbs & my sanity!
Nonetheless, here’s a few anecdotes:
1) At the start of Endeavor I had 3 other jobs just to be able to continue Endeavor Studios. I was a white water rafting instructor, a host for Paint Nite (teaching Bob Ross rip-off paintings to crowds of 40+ drunk ladies), & working intermittently as a general contractor. These jobs were brutal & fun in very different ways but gave me enough space to pour my soul into the Arts. Selling work in one of our exhibitions was always the biggest blessing, even if the patron didn’t know the extent of it.
2) Sometimes it’s not just what’s going on that’s difficult but what’s not happening. Art shows require attention. Without it, did it even happen? Being in Richmond & being an alumni of the biggest college here – to be entirely ignored by them month by month for years despite my insistence always came across as a missed opportunity – on their part as well as ours. The college’s assistance in any way could’ve made a massive difference to Endeavor Studios. All the greater considering the 3 of us were graduates from the same program of the same college. The same went for other galleries & news media outlets. Getting good press can be a miracle. Yet still, we never stopped.
3) My very 1st customer at SUPPLY was an incredible Swedish Artist who goes by Bust. Due to a series on unlikely events, an open mural request got handed to Bust unknowingly that it would be directly behind Richmond’s newest Art Store shortly before its grand opening. Bust crushes the mural in 3 days using the spray paint from the shop. 3 months later the owner of the building the mural was done on, Josh, was given a cease & desist letter to remove the mural from the side of his house (which he owns) or face huge fines from the city. Josh came to me & asked if there’s anything we could do. We decided to fight it. After creating a petition that blew up to 3,000 signatures, Josh & I using the platform of SUPPLY gathered the troops to fight the takedown of the mural at City Hall. The room was packed to the brim with even more people on the ZOOM call including Bust, his team, & his fancy Swedish lawyer. After rousing speeches by the community & a speech I wrote that went over my allotted time – we won. The start of the meeting went from “how do we take this mural down safely” to “how do we keep this mural up as long as possible?’ It was a beautiful moment that shows the need to fight for what you believe in or lose it to the sludge or bureaucracy & formality.
4) Currently, I’m working to build Richmond’s 1st Public Art Park. The amount of shut downs, hurdles, & hoops I’ve had to jump through have been staggering. Almost 2 years of work & it’s finally getting close to fruition! There was a vital moment where a certain influential department head told me directly to ‘give up’ with wide, glaring eyes. This person has a lot of sway in the city & gave me every reason to not continue. Whether it be stubbornness or resilience – the battle continues to this day & has now produced my most recent venture. A non-profit entitled Little Giant Society. With any luck – the park will be up & functioning not too long after who ever is reading is done reading this!
There’s countless stories I’d probably never share publicly that have only strengthened my resolve. On this journey, there is a price & whatever that price is I’m willing to pay it to see it through.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
The threads of my missions can be found in my previous answers but to be specific: Selfishly, I’m on a journey of mastery. To truly see just how far I can push my craft. To see what it’s like when not a single ounce of potential is left & all of it realized in its fullest capacity. What it’s like to ‘leave it all on the field.’ I don’t want to ever guess what could’ve been & without a shadow of doubt: know that I gave it my all. For my work to be alongside & share camaraderie with the best of the best. In that, I think some form of a noble death – at the end of my days would be earned.
I have an intense fondness of Richmond & feel deeply the generosity of a reciprocal community in my years here. This simultaneously contrasts the amount of times I’ve been rejected, denied, or blocked out from institutions in so many ways – I feel a calling to create a space for the forgotten & neglected Artists. The special ones who truly love what they do & excel but haven’t found the studio space or the gallery that can give them the chance to shine. Endeavor Studios gave me that chance for years & it changed my life. I know this opportunity can do the same for others. I plan on doing a much grander version of this in the years to come. This mission is becoming more solid with every passing day & I can’t wait to share more about this!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @ian.c.hess @supply.rva @little.giant.society
Image Credits
Benjamin White