We were lucky to catch up with Joshua Stout recently and have shared our conversation below.

Joshua, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

The biggest professional risk I have ever taken, by far, was quitting my office job when my wife was 6 months pregnant, to pursue art full-time.

In August of 2019, I left my job with the Chamber of Commerce in Cincinnati, OH to become a full-time muralist. I had several murals in the bag that I had done on the side, but finally felt like I had enough walls lined up, that I had some runway to give it a go for at least 6 months.

I made the leap and have not looked back. With that said, it has not been easy. I could not have done any of it without my wife who gave me her full support (even when she was about to give birth to our daughter). Not only did I have a child on the way, but COVID hit 6 months into my new career. It was hard for a lot of my clients to justify spending thousands of dollars on art when they had to furlough half of there employees. Thankfully, my wife was still working and because I started my own LLC, I qualified for PPP. This got me through and allowed me to keep pursuing art full-time.

I just recently completed my 48th mural and there have been more highs than lows. My wife and daughter are the best and the reason I love doing what I do. Having a job that makes me happy, I like to think translates into being a better husband and father.

Joshua, 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 got into art pretty late in life. While I had always done creative things in my spare time, I was 34 when I made the leap to full-time muralist.

Previously, I worked for the University of Cincinnati for 8+ years. That work was truly soul crushing. Seeing all the seedier sides of academia at a Collegiate level was, in a word, gross. I knew I would probably die in that job, unhappy, and earlier than I should, so I took a leap and started working for $11/hr at a place that made static and animatronic figures for WB, Disney, and Universal. From there, I got a job with ArtWorks Cincinnati, where I managed and curated the light-based installations and parade for BLINK Cincinnati (which has grown into one of the largest art events in the world). I left ArtWorks and worked with the Chamber of Commerce for a couple of years before starting my own business, Makeshift Mammoth which is dedicated to public art.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

All of my tokens are fungible.

I think there are artists that pursue it in a manner that is truly creative, like Tristan Eaton, but I think he may be the exception to the rule. I feel like a lot of people used it as a cash grab, but also a lot of artists put a lot of time and money into it with the expectation that they’d sell, but they just didn’t have the audience for it.

I knew it was something I didn’t want to pursue when every Tom, Dick, and Harry in sales that knew I was an artist, starting messaging me about how I should make an NFT.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My main goal is to spread public art to unexpected areas. To add a mural to an area that is often neglected when it comes to the arts. To show them that they are welcome into the fold as well and to expose them to creative outlets. I recently got to paint the first mural ever in my home town and I hope it is a catalyst for more art there in the future. I want my art to be truly inclusive and not feel like it is only for a select few.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.MakeshiftMammoth.com
• Instagram: @JoshuaStoutArt (www.instagram.com/joshuastoutart)
• Youtube: Search Joshua Stout…there may be a couple of things on there, haha.

Image Credits
All of the mural photos were taken by myself: Joshua Stout My Personal Photo was taken by Chad Dolan who would just like to be credited as: Chad Dolan @UndergroundVisual