We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mary Jo Karimnia. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mary Jo below.

Hi Mary Jo, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Flocking and foiling are two new media I’ve taught myself over the past year. Flocking involves shooting tiny colors particles onto an adhesive surface to make a velvety texture. Foil comes in shiny, colored sheets that I apply using a sticky surface. I experiment, inventing my own application techniques. Currently, I’m sourcing images of rock formations from vintage postcards and embellishing them with beads, foil and flocking to creative multi-textured surfaces. The results are somewhat like an elevated paint-by-number that is nostalgic and dreamy and makes the viewer want to reach out and run their hand across the rich surfaces.

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

I am an artist and arts administrator and I own a studiohouse with Bolivian artist Keiko Gonzalez in Memphis, TN. My arts practice is multi-disciplinary and my current obsession is with nostalgia, vintage landscape postcards and unabashedly decorative surfaces. I collect, scan and blow up hand colored mid century postcards of rock formations and other landscape images, mount them on panelboard and apply tiny translucent beads, shiny foil and velvety flocking to the surfaces. The result is a fine art paint-by-number feeling that examines nostalgia through a contemporary lens. In addition, I am a founder of and the Residency Director for Crosstown Arts where I manage the distribution of resources and spaces for visual artists, writers, musicians and videographers from Memphis and elsewhere via a yearly application process. Residents of Crosstown Arts receive a private studio space, a live space (if needed) access to events and to resources and tools in Crosstown Arts’ maker space for 3 weeks to 3 months. In the neighborhood nearby I purchased a 1920’s house with Keiko Gonzalez in 2019 and spent the pandemic rehabbing it into the Studiohouse on Malvern, which includes workspace for the two of us as well as sometimes guests. We host open house shows and I run the Front Porch Window Gallery which is a small scale gallery that is viewable 24 hours per day. Through these roles and my personal commitment to enriching the local arts community by volunteering and organizing gatherings I maintain a rich and fulfilling arts life.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Almost all households have a budget for arts, entertainment and giving to charities. If you decorate your home or go to a concert you have choices. Buy from locals when you are at home and locals elsewhere when you are on vacation. Decorate, be entertained and give at least part of that money to local artists, musicians and arts enabling organizations like Crosstown Arts and TONE Memphis. Art does not have to be expensive – there are options at every single price point. You can invest with a local gallery, buy an original print or artwork by reaching out to an artist directly or through craft festivals, local gift shops, online or buy a piece from the kid down the street. If you haven’t purchased original work before, commit to finding a great piece for $50 or $2000 – whatever is within your budget. Once you start to collect and immerse yourself in the arts scene you will see that your resources can make a difference and maybe even encourage that kid down the street to pursue the arts. Your spending matters – divert some from the big box stores. Make conscious decisions. Cities need a healthy arts ecosystem along a vast spectrum. It’s a simple matter of figuring out where you and your spending can fit in.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I didn’t have a studio outside of my home until I was in my 40s. I made artwork wherever I could find space – in the dining room, attic. I managed to rent a small space for 5 years then In 2019 I found an older, neglected house in a neighborhood near my job. I bought it with Bolivian-based artist, Keiko Gonzalez. Over the course of the pandemic I transformed it into a studio for myself and Keiko with several areas to host shows and a live space where Keiko stays when he is in Memphis. We had our first Studiohouse Openhouse in March 2023.     

Contact Info:

• Website: maryjokarimnia.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/studiohouse_on_malvern/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maryjo.karimnia

Image Credits
All images are by me, Mary Jo Karimnia