We recently connected with Jon Marro and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Jon thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
I’ve been an artist my whole life. From my parent’s getting divorced, to global events – art is how I sense make the world. Most often I don’t even know how I feel about something until I make art about it. When September 11th happened – it burst my worldview bubble pretty drastically and I began having what I’ll call “visions.” What was interesting was up until that point, all of my ideas always came to me as a single image. I’d see them mostly fully formed in my head, and then I’d set out to draw or design them. After 9/11 – the visions seemed to be part of an inner cinematic story that was attempting to tell itself through my soul (even sharing this feels, at some level like a risk!). Because I was an artist who mainly did design and illustration – not filmmaking, I would write the visions down in my journal or a word doc – and continue on with my life. “The Film” as I dubbed it, became a project that I’d get to “one day.” “Filmmaking is expensive and I would need a full on production studio to bring these to life.” was the common rhetoric I’d hear my inner critic say. Cut to March of 2020 (nearly 20 years later) when Covid hit. I happened to be passing through my friends farm for a long weekend when the lockdowns went into place. 2 weeks turned into 2 months turned into me staying there for 6 months. There was a moment there, especially in those early days of the pandemic with so much uncertainty, it felt like the whole world stopped. It gave me pause and I realized I could step off the hamster wheel of my life. I had been waiting for “one day” to magically arrive, and in one sense it did. That same inner vision nudged me to begin “The Film”. It said, “Start where you are and with what you have.” And so I did. Rather than use fancy film equipment, I shot it using my iPhone and over the next two years recorded Zoom calls. I am currently making the worlds first ever “Provocumentary.” To follow the call and trust those visions is equal parts exhilarating and maddening, but completely fulfilling. I feel alive, aligned and in creative communion with my soul. I can’t recommend listening to those “inner whispers” enough and seeing where they lead you.
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?
My Life is about: People experiencing inspiration, creativity and connection and from the time I could hold a crayon, I was drawing. After an idyllic childhood surrounded by the mountains, lakes and rivers of Vermont, I attended the Maryland Institute College of Art, where I attained a BA in illustration and an MA in Digital Art and Imagery. After graduating, I started doing design work as a side hustle from being a barista, making gig posters for my friend’s bands at local bars and cafes. This eventually lead to larger and larger clients (Jason Mraz, Dave Matthews, Maroon 5, Madonna and many others) and from there I followed my own energetic interests carving a unique niche for myself in the health and wellness, activism and entertainment industries.
My award-winning work has the unique signature markings of a seasoned traveler in liminal spaces. I always try to infuse each piece I create with color, wisdom and a shamanic sense of wonder that dances between the mystical and the mundane.
With 20+ years of experience as an Artistic and Creative Director, I’ve worked from start-ups and non profits to Fortune 500 companies to Grammy Award Winning Artists and was even commissioned to draw a portrait of His Holiness the Dalai Lama for his 80th birthday.
I really believe that solutions to any problem can be found through triumphs in imagination and a willingness to view the situation from a different perspective. I currently live in Vermont and am the founder of Worlds Within Enterprises, a Creative Agency and Production Studio that brings big, bold visions to life through multimedia storytelling.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
Being an artist is not just the romanticized version of a wayward daydreamer throwing paint onto a blank canvas in a NYC loft or a troubadour traveling across Europe with a backpack and guitar case or a writer sitting at typewriter in a cabin in the woods. Those aspects could be part of the journey, but more often than not, I’ve found being an artist is filled with TEDIUM. It is a day to day struggle to show up at your desk or in your studio to hone your craft, wrestle with the muses and the demons of doubt and bring the formless into form. It takes an otherworldly form of discipline and willingness to stare straight into the madness, magic and mystery of life and dare to create it what it may show you.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
The best way I can describe it is, my greatest task is to fulfill the desires of the other worlds. Wherever ideas and inspiration come from, that magical muse-like, imaginal world – I am in service to that. My mission to help people connect, commune and collaborate with the unseen vibrancy that makes life, alive!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jonmarro.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonmarro/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonmarro/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/JonMarro
Image Credits
Headshot photo by Kassandra Thomsen