We recently connected with Joshua Brady and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Joshua, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Narrowing it down to one meaningful project is kind of tricky….I have at least two such projects happening right now simultaneously! Let’s talk about the series of ongoing sketches I’ve been slowly adding to that I call my “Grief Sketches.” My father died very unexpectedly the morning of January 4th 2021. It was the first day of school after returning from Christmas break and just as my first class was walking into the Art Room I received news that I had to get home which was only a few miles from where I teach. Just like that, everything changed in my world.

Having never really experienced death and grief previously I was left in this very strange mental space which I can only describe as The Gray Area. I felt detached from everything and just kind of removed from all experiences. Although my mom and my fiancé Jenn were by my side I knew I needed to find something to help myself sort my sadness and grief. So I began journaling. Journaling proved to be the panacea I needed but also provided the clarity to start sketching my thoughts on grief.

Held tightly under the weight of grief, I noticed our society doesn’t really talk much about grieving, sadness and/or mourning. Of course there are plenty of books, podcasts, etc out there but they aren’t as readily available as say the newest Tik Tok trend or breaking news. I wanted my sketches to reflect the intimate feelings of grief I was having but I also knew I wanted to share them. I needed to share them. I wanted others to know they aren’t alone in their pain. As death affects the entirety of the planet I wanted to create visuals that people could see and read and think “that’s exactly how I feel” so others in the midst of grieving (hopefully) feel less alone and isolated.

The sketches are relatively simple and are accompanied with captions. In that manner they function much like their own journal entries. The drawing and writing is extremely personal yet highly cathartic for me and knowing that the works will be shared provides a sense of freedom. The high degree of vulnerability involved with sharing my grief journey feels very much like a release from the oppressiveness and isolation that can afflict the grieving. Some day, off in the future I would like to collect enough sketches to eventually turn them into a book.

Joshua, 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?

I’ve made Art-specifically drawing- for as long as I can remember. My parents always kept me supplied with Art materials and my grandparents, comic books and cartoons kept my young imagination in a vibrant state of technicolor. Fast forward to college where I studied Art and Education and fell in love with oil painting. After graduating I secured a job as an Art Teacher and have worked that since. During summers and weekends, I still create my own works and jokingly refer to myself as “Moonlighting as a professional artist.”

Nowadays I work most often in mixed media, always experimenting with new materials and styles. I take pride in spontaneity and that people who follow my Art never know what’s coming next. I think that’s my own personal authenticity that I’m proud of-I make what I want for the pure enjoyment of it. I’m of the opinion that Art and Artists shouldn’t follow any rules except their own.

: Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

There is. But it’s actually super generic and cliche. I just want to keep getting better at things. Drawing, painting, thinking…I view it all as “practice.” I’m not really making a painting, I’m just practicing my painting. That’s not actually a drawing, I was just practicing my technique and how to convey the message. There’s less pressure for perfection when you view your works as practice.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Art should have a message…..kind of. College was all about making Art that said something. Art had to have meaning and have a message. I fought that back then. I realize now that I fought it because I hadn’t learned how to think critically enough or had enough life experiences to dedicate the effort into marrying Art and my passions. As an adult I’ve slowly been perfecting that while simultaneously unlearning it! Meaning, Artists still need a release. After spending weeks on a realistic painting depicting the relationship of humans and animals as sentient beings I need to make a mess and slop paint all over something into a silly, incoherent mishmash to unwind from the precise focus of the previous painting. For me, that’s the Artistic version of cracking a beer at the end of a long work week.

Contact Info:

• Website: Dirtyhandsartworkshop.com
• Instagram: Dirty_hands_art_workshop

Image Credits
Photos are mine