We caught up with the brilliant and insightful James McClung a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
James, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
I became interested in making art my focus soon after high school. My senior year art teacher Mrs. Young always encouraged me and made a big impact. So, I continued to paint consistently after graduation. After about a year I brought some of my pieces back to the school to show her what I had been working on. She expressed to me to pursue art with everything and to never give up. Over the years, having the opportunities to produce shows with local coffee shops then onto various galleries, I found myself immersed in the process. In a way that it was felt like it was never finished. Halfway through one project I would be brainstorming what would be next. I feel that when you find something in life that you cannot detach from you should continue to pursue it as long as you can.
James, 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?
I began creating art professionally in my early twenties. First starting out with having shows at the local coffee shops in Redlands, CA. During this time there was a movement of younger business owners who reached out to me to create art for them. One of them was Parliament Chocolate. I was commissioned to create their branding from the ground up. This opportunity opened other doors to work with other businesses outside of my town. Which also turned into working on murals and more. Over the years I was creating work with my unique style to give a visual voice to the brand I worked with. One of the projects I’ve worked on that I am most proud of is a mural for Raaka Chocolate in Brooklyn, NY. To this date it is the largest piece I worked on. This opportunity came from the relationship I had with Parliament Chocolate. The process and approach was a great experience. Conversations with the owner of why we chose the content, and the flow of the mural really resonated with me, which turned into a beautiful outcome.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
With each of my collections or shows I aspire to create an atmosphere for the viewer to feel like they know what it is like to be in that space they are looking at. The majority of my pieces come from destinations I’ve traveled to over the years. That being the Southwest, Amsterdam, India and more. Currently, I am working on capturing the Inland Empire in southern California, which is where I am from and live. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic my travel plans got cancelled. I was going to visit Japan for the first time back in April of 2020. So, the direction of my work turned inward. I felt it was necessary to focus on where I am from, and to show the on going resilience of locals working against the odds to make their businesses thrive within a land being overtaken by a corporate world such as Amazon warehouses.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
Here in the area of my hometown within the I.E. there is a huge community of artists who are working diligently every day to create work and make their voices heard. We would love to see more galleries in the area give wall space for these works to be shown. However beyond that, I feel like there is a need for more locally owned art supplies businesses. The one we have that is a local spot is Urge Palette in Riverside, CA. They do an amazing job with giving artists in the area a community and support. We need more of this. Growing up I was a skateboarder. There was a lot more skate shops open back then. It would be amazing to see more art supply shops open in the area much like how a skate shop felt back in those days. It wasn’t just a place to go make purchases, but it was a place a young person connected with the community and felt encouraged to thrive.
Contact Info:
- Website: jamesmcclungart.com
- Instagram: jmsmcclng