We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jahmai Brown a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Jahmai thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
During my struggles with school, art was my escape. It was the one thing that came easily to me. I looked forward to art class because it was fun and relaxing to create things. As a result, my love for art grew even stronger. I continued doing art in middle school, and the more I practiced, the better I got. My middle school art classes were more serious, and we began learning about art history. We read books about artists, and I even began reading books about art on my own time. I was also creating more and more art at home. My god brother loved to draw as well, so we often did it together. We would look up YouTube videos on how to do graffiti, and we had to use Sharpie markers for everything. I would also print out pictures of Jordan shoes and draw them. In school, whenever we did projects, I would always try to do a poster or drawing or something that incorporated art. I began showing my art to my parents. They really encouraged me to keep going with my art.
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?
In the heart of North Omaha, behind Skeet’s Ribs and Chicken on 24th St, lies a mural. This mural, painted in vibrant shades of yellow, blue, and brown, depicts the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African American men from Omaha that fought in World War II. It is a proud moment in Omaha’s history. This is also a proud moment in my life, as I helped paint this mural. This mural symbolizes my passion for art and for helping the community, two things I plan to continue in my future. My passion for art began in elementary school. Many of my classmates complained about art class, but it was always my favorite subject. I didn’t even know anything about art or what I was doing yet, but I knew that I loved to draw and paint things. My art teacher, Mr. Parker, taught me everything I know. We started with basic shapes, patterns, and all of things we needed to build a foundation for a deeper understanding of art. Not only did Mr. Parker teach me about art, he’s the person who told me I was good at it. I began to realize that not only was art something I enjoyed, it was also something that I had a natural talent for. As I got into late elementary school and school got more and more difficult, I began to struggle academically. During my struggles with school, art was my escape. It was the one thing that came easily to me. I looked forward to art class because it was fun and relaxing to create things. As a result, my love for art grew even stronger.
I began to realize that to create a career out of art, I needed to go to college, and to go to college, I needed good grades. In elementary, I struggled and wasn’t as focused as I needed to be, but middle school is where I began to work hard in all my classes, not just art class. I continued working hard into high school, and my grades kept improving. It felt good to do well in school, which is something I never thought I would be able to do. I eventually got a 3.8 GPA and even made Honor Roll, which I consider one of my greatest achievements. All this success in school leads back to my love of art. It was not only something I enjoyed, it inspired me to do better in all aspects of my life.
High school led to more opportunities to create art and get better at my craft. My elementary art teacher, Mr. Parker, works at North, so I got the opportunity to learn from him again. I was so excited; it was like my journey was coming full circle. I had him my freshman year, but then sophomore and junior year, I had Mrs. Anderson instead. I was upset at first, because I wanted Mr. Parker again, but eventually, I got used to Mrs. Anderson. She was harder on me and pushed me to be better. She would nitpick my colors, textures, and shading, which was frustrating sometimes, but it also felt good when I saw how much better I got. I got Mr. Parker again my senior year, and he also noticed how much I had improved. I am so grateful to have worked with both teachers.
Another opportunity high school brought was finally being old enough to get a job and make money. Since I love art, I really wanted to find a job where I could make art and get paid for it. That turned out to be easier said than done, but I still found some jobs that I really enjoyed, such as working for the Omaha Boys and Girls Club, where I worked with kids, or the Hope Center, where I filmed videos that were shown on a local television station. But the chance to do a job that involved art finally came in the summer before my senior year. I got a job with the FLIYE Arts program. FLIYE Arts is a company started by Aaryon “Bird” Williams, a local artist here in Omaha. It provides many services, such as art workshops, writing art curriculum, motivational speaking, and commission artwork. Clearly, I could learn a lot from working with this company.
The summer that I worked for FLIYE Arts, we were commissioned to paint a mural in North Omaha, behind Skeet’s Ribs and Chicken. People were mad at first, because we scraped off the mural that was already there. However, once we began painting the new mural, and people saw that we were painting the Tuskegee Airmen, they became excited. Our community is very proud of our history, so the idea of having the Tuskegee Airmen depicted on a mural was appealing to many people. It felt good to work on something that I knew was going to improve my community and make everyone proud. In addition, working with Bird was very inspiring for me. Here I was, working every day alongside someone I looked up to so much—someone who was using their art to not only make money, but to make a positive difference in the community.
Painting the mural with FLIYE Arts turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened me. I was so proud of myself for taking part in this project. It was cool to see how excited the community was as well. We held a huge grand opening for mural, where we held a ribbon cutting and had food, music, and performances from local artists in Omaha. It was crazy that people were coming up to me, thanking me, and telling me congratulations. We even got to be featured on the news for painting the mural. I consider this one of my greatest achievements. We worked hard on the mural, and it was so rewarding to see how much people appreciated it. It also gave me a taste of what it would be like to create art for a living, which I want to do for the rest of my life.
Art has truly made such a difference in my life. In the future, I hope to continue creating art and make a living. My knowledge of art has grown so much since when I first discovered it in elementary school—now I am interested in not only drawing and painting, but music production, photography, graphic design, and even apparel design. Using these skills, I hope to start a business that not only makes money but is also a positive force in the community.
There are a lot of causes I care about—such as helping people find healthcare, feeding the homeless, and donating to the Boys and Girls Club, shelters, churches, and other groups that help people in need. If I can use art to raise money for these causes, it will make our community better for everyone. Art has positively impacted my life in so many ways, and now it’s my turn to give back and use art to positively influence the lives of others.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
My objective is to create an interview series of professional photographers to bolster personal brands in the industry. Conduct three pre-recorded interviews with professional photographers. Research photographers who have a style that fit the event and begin reaching out to photographers to create a list of photographers to interview. Create a schedule for interviews, Compile a list of questions/subjects for interview, and Create a video compilation of interviews to show at the event. My initiative would be to create instagram slides, create small clips of videos to be able to post on social media, and create a longer video to use afterwards and edit all 3 interviews to be ready for multiple social media usage Increase professional photographer network to expand brand outreach that would target low ses school populations in various states. Next I will want to create a list of photographers and tage their accounts then reach out to the photographers to reshare their videos. Increasing professional photographers network to expand the brand outreach that would target school populations in various states like Omaha Nebraska and Kansas City Missouri. Utilizing the hashtags and having photographers to repost the videos on their accounts & other social media. Telling the photographers to have people they know repost on their social media accounts.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
I create works in various mediums, always including bright colors and engaging patterns and textures. I like when my work is interactive and draws the viewer in through things like lighting. My work is a process based on exploration of colors and gathering non- traditional art materials. These include items such as glitter, spray paint, magazines, and tools.
Each piece is different. I work to determine if anything is missing in terms of color, texture, material, or depth. I use found materials, because in some way it gets the viewers’ attention. They may recognize something in the piece and wonder how it was used in the piece as a whole. It allows them to interact and examine detail with the piece. I also gravitate to bright colors for my pieces to get the viewers’ attention. I choose one color and build off of that. I like to have cool colors interact with a warm or a hot color, for example. The contrast between them draws you into the work. Similarly, in my drawings, I want to have colors bounce off of each other. I try to pick one to two colors to start with and then determine which colors will play well with them. No matter the color combination, I want the viewer to take one look and say, “Wow, this is beautiful!” In order for my work to have a scene of life and create order, I want the viewer to interact with the pieces. My work simply requires that the viewer have an appreciation for examining and looking closer at art. I want it to be accessible to anyone from art critics, to someone walking down the street who doesn’t know anything about art. I think this is important, because it makes art accessible to everyone.
I aim for my work to be a creation of my own ideas, stemming from trying new things that other people don’t do often in their work, to something that would blow people’s mind in a sense of attitude, power, and color. In addition to using a lot of color, I like to add texture with fabric. Depending on how I install my fabric pieces, I may include instructions on how to install the pieces (for example, sometimes there are specific folds). Some works are flat and don’t require as much information. The work Piano Strings (58″x 75″ 9.5″) requires specific steps, as the strips of fabric lay in a specific pattern. It isn’t just hanging them over a string. A lot of my sculptural pieces can be installed on the ground; few require hanging. They are a combination of large-scale and smaller pieces.
A lot of my work relates to my family. For example, Nana’s Basement (75″ x 34.5″ x 10.5″) was based on my Nana’s actual home and the memories it holds for me. The titles of my work may cause viewers to look deeper and ask questions. For my piece, We Bleed Red (65 x 55″), I spray painted wood and plastic all red. The plastic gave a different texture and looked like blood dripping from the wood. On the surface, it’s obvious the color and material represent blood. If you look deeper, you could apply it to a struggle or how we’re all the same underneath. While my work may not always deal in political or social subject matter, it is important for me that I represent the variety of work BIPOC artists can make and produce. I want viewers to see that not all of our work has to be related to a cause or a political message; we are artists working in all kinds of ways with all kinds of mediums.
Contact Info:
- Website: Linktree: https://linktr.ee/JBdbrown12
- Instagram: Iamhaj._ / brownjahmai / Jahmai_brown_photography
- Twitter: JahmaiBrown