We recently connected with Jeremy Wheeler and have shared our conversation below.

Jeremy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

For around 20 years, I defined myself as a happy artist despite having day jobs to support all of my creative endeavors (poster art, DJ’ing, event planning, comics, etc.). Now that I’m celebrating six years as head of Marketing for the A2AC, I find myself happier that I’m not working 80 hours a week between my art and a regular job. The privilege of having a leadership role and not having to rely on my art is not lost on me, though. It’s good to remember that all of my artistic endeavors got me to where I am at.

It’s one of the reasons that I care a lot about artists’ mental health. The hustle lifestyle can make for some amazing experiences, but it does take a toll, personally and professionally. With rent increasing across the board, many artists need to keep afloat by means other than their art, which creates a lot of stress that, many times, is on top of the stresses that we put on our own work as artists. It’s good to check in with oneself and weigh artistic opportunities and how they’ll affect your day-to-day, personally and professionally. Basically, it’s okay to say no.

Jeremy, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hi, I’m Jeremy. I’m the Marketing & Creative Director at the A2AC (Ann Arbor Art Center), one of the oldest arts organizations in Michigan, celebrating its 115th birthday this year. I raise awareness for everything the org does, including art classes, camps, public art initiatives, fundraising, high-class exhibitions, and local artists featured in our shop. Over the last 6 years, I’ve marketed 60 exhibitions, 31 pieces of public art, multiple $100K crowdfunding campaigns, and over 1000 art classes for our community.

Art-wise, I’m a mid-career visual artist with a varied background in comics, pop culture editorial illustrations, DJ’ing, event promotion, and poster and record cover art–both for bands, my own events, and licensed movie properties. My home is in Ann Arbor, where I’ve helped put my mark on the city through branding (Vault of Midnight, Lo-Fi), illustration (Ann Arbor District Library), and events, most notably, The Bang! Dance Party (with co-creator/good bud Jason Gibner and a team of decorators/set builders), providing high-energy, themed mixtape (like, on actual tapes) dance nights for 18 years, mainly at the Blind Pig.

Since the pandemic and the close of The Bang! in 2019, I’ve done a 180 and dove into watercolor portraiture, embracing soft artistic styles rather than pop art ones that helped put me on the map. Recently, I have dove head-first into custom LEGO builds, winning both the Master Building Adult and Chief’s Awards at the 19th Annual AADL Lego Contest. Check out my Muppet Theater build on Instagram.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Your resources will always be low when working in nonprofits. My Marketing team was two when I was hired, and then cut down to just me over the pandemic. This forced me to come up with new systems and workflows to make things work at a time when our organization’s offerings keep growing. This transition was not easy, but the hard work over time has made it feasible to manage the workload and even be able to hire contractors for special projects.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

That life won’t improve once you get past the *next* big thing you’re working on. It maybe works as a mantra, but if you’ve embraced the hustling lifestyle, there will always be something *else* on the horizon. As someone who has thrown over 150 events over two decades, I know this line of thinking well and have been let down enough when it hasn’t come true that I take a healthier stance when things get too busy.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jeremywheeler.com/
• Instagram: @jeremywheeler
• Linkedin: @jeremywheeler
• Twitter: @jeremywheeler
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jeremywheelerart