Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jay Golding. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jay, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

I would say overall I’m happier as a business owner for the mere fact that my business is tied to my practice and lifestyle as an artist. It’s definitely not an easy profession to be in and once in a blue moon I do think about what it would be like to have a “regular job” before I snap out of that thought and remember why I don’t have a 9-5. The last time the thought came to me it was mostly related to financial stress and feeling like a failure for not being more stable in my finances. Then I thought about how unhappy I was when I did work a regular job and how all I could think about was my art and doing that instead. My biggest takeaway from this moment was to embrace the cycles of life and stay the course.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

A little about me, is that I was born in Kingston, Jamaica. I migrated to the U.S. at the age of 7 and have always had a love for drawing and creativity. Throughout elementary all the way to high school I dabbled in drawing but my mind wasn’t set on art as a career path until I decided to major in Fine Arts at Kean University. I graduated with my BFA in Studio Art in 2015 and soon after became involved in mural making in the Newark arts community in NJ and ding art shows locally and in New York City. Aside from showing and selling my original art and prints, I occasionally offer live painting services, portrait commissions and sell merch such as shirts and other clothing with my art printed or painted directly on them. What sets me apart from other creatives is my own personality and story being incorporated into my work. I think that’s the case for most artists who are consistent in their practice.

The main thing I want potential supporters to know about my work is that my goal is to inspire the viewer to connect deeper to themselves as well as to share pieces of myself.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson I had to unlearn or rather learn from is to be selective with whom I give my time and energy. The backstory is that I was on a creative trip to California some years ago with a group of other artists, most of whom were musicians, including my cousin. To make a long story short things didn’t go as planned and although we had many great moments, there was a lot of drama and manipulative actions taking place. I gave four months of my time to a plan that was never fully realized due to infighting and even had a fallout with my cousin during the process. The upside to all of this is that even with the unpleasant moments, things turned out great in the end and these situations were a catalyst to even better situations to come.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

When I was in college, I was first majoring in Graphic Design, and to this day I’m not exactly certain why that was my decision. After taking some design classes I quickly realized this was a terrible mistake and made the shift the Studio Art as a major. That was one of the best pivots I had to make in life. Before this moment another pivot I made was switching from Radiology, (a choice my mom made for me right out of high school) to Liberal Arts major when I attended a community college.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jaygolding.art
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaygoldingart
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/golding.jay
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaygoldingart
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jaygoldingart

Image Credits
Jay Golding