We were lucky to catch up with Jacob Shaw recently and have shared our conversation below.
Jacob, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
Art didn’t come into my life until my Junior year of High School. I always had a nack for drawing and being creative, but I didn’t really dive into it until I had a pretty serious neck injury wrestling. Art wasn’t even on my radar, when I got injured all my future plans got completely stripped from me. I took an art class thinking that would be easy while on pain killers and my teacher completely changed my life. She helped me get a portfolio that got me into college and eventually lead to me becoming Artist.
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
Long story short, I completely lucked out in my career as an artist. I got a degree in Studio and after school I became a program engineer. I knew enough from my graphic design courses to get me by in that field and that eventually paid off my college. While working there I kept up with my paintings and doing commissions on the side. Then I met my wife and quit the programming job to move into the city of St.Louis and work in a restaurant. I always waned to try that out and so I did. Once the late nights caught up with me, I dove by into my art and took a Job at a local frame shop. That’s currently what I do now and it goes hand in hand with my art. Knowing how to build a frame from scratch is a dying art in my opinion and it gives you such an edge as an artist. I really use to struggle with what am I an Artist or and Art Framer and the truth is I love both and I am both.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect is the freedom of having the opportunity to share with others. The first thing I want to do when someone comes over to our house is take them straight to my studio and show them what I’ve been working on.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
I think the best thing society could do and I think it’s happening already, but it’s to let people show off they skills in their daily jobs. There’s a stereotype that if you’re an artist that you have to struggle and be poor until you make it in a gallery or something like that. I make a living from custom framing and selling paintings which is a more traditional art career but having a creative take in the corporate environment could really be a strength. Also, if you got a portfolio of 12 good piece that all go together, you could market that group of work in a million different ways. Don’t let society limit you to a certain way of life as an artist. You have to be just as creative in life as you do being creative as an artist.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jacobshawart.wixsite.com/artworkanddesign
- Instagram: jacobshawartwork
Image Credits
These are all done by Jacob Shaw