Jamie
cut and appliqued denim
Jim Arendt
The year of 2013 will certainly be one that artist Jim Arendt will never forget. Jim lives here in South Carolina and is the Director of the Rebecca Randall Bryant Gallery on the campus of Coastal Carolina University. He is a devoted husband, father and a productive and prolific artist. Recently his work Jamie was selected Best of Show at Artfields in Lake City, SC which carried a prize of $50,000. Please check out the bio section of his website to read about his many other achievements.
Jim's current work focuses on figures made with denim fabric. There is currently lots of interest in figurative work in the textile field and many times it just doesn't work. I feel there is often too much reliance on the direct transfer of photographic imagery and not enough evidence of the artist's hand. This is not the case with his work. We didn't talk about his actual technique but you can see in the photograph of one of his work areas that it takes a lot of sorting, cutting, evaluating and hands-on work to find just the right piece of fabric to transform this humble material into his well-conceived objects.
The work is not only the representation of a figure but of specific people in his life.
Profile
Terry - When did you
begin to make art and was it a difficult decision for you to commit to art as a
career? Was your family supportive when
you were young?
Jim - Always! Drawing, making, and designing were always
part of how I entertained myself as a child. It echoed the work that engaged my family in the house, fields, and barns of our farm, and helped to pass the
long winter months when slush and mud kept us indoors. I always had plenty of pens and paper growing up, but I think my parents thought (or hoped) that my interest in art might be just a phase. However, while they might have scratched their heads at my decision to pursue it in college, they always supported and helped me. Now that I am older I can see how different aspects of my parents' own talents manifested in me. (My father was a bit of a Daedalus, always making and modifying around the farm. My mother provided windows into a wider world of culture and the arts, especially musical theatre, through movies and performances. I can still sing most of the Rodgers & Hammerstein catalogue.)
But art as a career? That’s crazy talk! Working class
boys should grow up to be skilled trades-people or preachers or anything
respectable that draws a salary. A career as an artist should have been the
furthest thing from my mind, but it wasn’t. I had the bug. I literally had to
beg on my knees to be let into art courses in middle school. I had little to
lose. Art conspired against me and lured
me into an ever tightening circle until I was blind to any other options. I flirted
with any career that would have let me draw, (architecture, drafting,
illustration; oh, your promised fruits were so tempting), but the freedom of
fine arts and the blending of life and work was the most tempting offer of all.
storage and work area.
Jim - Curiosity. I am a broad-spectrum enthusiast for many
different techniques and processes. I learned some metal-working from the
automotive culture I grew up with, and took classes in sculpture in undergrad.
I think I often feel less constrained by my training when I am trespassing in
other disciplines. It can be very good for experimentation! I have no idea
where the fences are anymore…
Ian
cut and appliqued denim
Terry - What spurred the idea
for your current series rendered in denim fabric? What other materials do you use in your work?
Ian - detail
Jim - I remember my father patching his jeans at night with
the sewing machine. In school,
this memory of thrift and pragmatism was one direction I
explored around larger themes of work and labor. To "make do", or
manage to get along with the means available, meant you solved problems
with the materials at hand. I wanted to speak to work and labor. Jeans
contain the work of growing cotton, the sweat to the garment-makers,
and the stories of the people who wore them out. It mixed well
with my own memories, and I could transform it through art into
something better. The qualities of the material and idea self-assembled after
that realization and forced me to begin working in denim. No
other material solved the equation of Content + Form = Time.
I usually work in long arcs that
involve me experimenting with various approaches to solving my (often
competing) problems of delivering meaning, visual appeal, and technique. I
believe materials have inherent metaphoric properties that if properly ferreted
out can reveal what they might most want to be. Currently, I’m developing work
in cement, leather, and motor oil. Of course, the problem of working in
multiple materials and techniques is that it takes time to learn their
vocabulary and to make sure that I am bending the things they communicate all on
their own and not only to my own ideas. I want to use them to reinforce my own intent, and
not bend them to my will.
Installation in solo exhibition at The Pickens County Museum of Art.
Terry - Does your work
usually begin with concept, process, material or something else?
Jim - My work has always been a way for me to communicate
and process my ideas. Although the means to accomplish that may change from
time-to-time, I’ve always used art as a vehicle to cast my world into solid
form.
Harper
cut and appliqued denim
Terry - You have had
great success with your work in shows that focus on textiles as a medium. What other type of juried shows and exhibitions
do you regularly enter?
Jim - I began building a “family” of work from the
outset of these pieces in denim just over three years ago. I imagined that
they’d be seen together and act both as individuals constructed in different
manners and techniques, and as a group, interrelated, but different from one
another, much like my own family. Currently, I’m focusing my efforts on
preparing proposals for solo exhibitions in college and university galleries in
an effort to share my work with as wide an audience as possible. I also watch
for opportunities that resonate with the artwork around its content of work and labor,
exhibitions specific to the human figure, and in specific geographic locations.
Exhibition at 702 Center for Contemporary Art, Columbia SC
Terry - As a teacher,
gallery director, husband and father, how do you schedule time to work?
Jim - If
any truism has ever held up it’s that art is NEVER made under ideal conditions.
I have to make time to make my work. I don’t have hobbies (sailing, beekeeping,
learning Spanish, and woodworking - sorry, you have to remain a fantasy.) I
also chose a wonderful partner, my wife and artist, Yvette, who has ensured
that I could do these things through her exhortations of, “Don’t you have work
to do?” We work together to make sure we both have studio time, that the kids
are read to, and that we enforce the discipline of work on each other. Once the
kids are in bed, it’s time for work: typically 9pm-1am. I enjoy long hours of podcast and audiobooks
and feel the best when I am working and being productive. I wish I could say that it
didn’t require some sacrifice on all our parts, but for us it is what normal
looks like.
Meghann - detail of upper torso - full figure can be seen in installation shot above
cut and appliqued denim
Terry - 2013 has been a
very reinforcing year for you regarding your work. As a recipient of one of the South Carolina
Artist Fellowships and the top award at the Art Fields Competition in Lake City,
SC, how will you factor in these events as you move forward?
Jim - This past year will be hard to top! The support of the
people of South Carolina in the form of these honors has opened many new and
exciting possibilities for me and my work. I’ll have to work hard to prove that
I am worthy of such honors and praise. Already it has opened doors to new
exhibition and teaching opportunities and interest from art professional
outside of the state. I hope that the faith South Carolina has put in me will
help me to carry news of our great artists afield to new venues and audiences. It really takes a whole constellation of different people to prop up the career of
any artist, and I have had many boosters who have helped me get to a position
where I could even dream of competing for both of these prestigious honors.
Meghann - detail of rivets
Terry - Do you belong and
participate in any art groups? If so
what is the benefit of the affiliation?
If not, how did you arrive at the decision to not join in this type of
activity?
Jim - Groups can be great ways to find out about
opportunities and exhibitions. While I prefer the 19th century
version of the tortured artist, you must engage with others to make things
happen. I’m a member of several professional groups, such as the Surface Design
Association, Association of Academic Museums and Galleries, American Alliance of Museums, and several internet based groups on the
local and national level.
As a result, an entire network of professional artists, venues, and
teaching opportunities is accessible. These groups often act as the first
notification of what shows, jobs, and opportunities are available. I’m able to
discover new artists and techniques and engage in advocacy for art related
causes that impact how our profession is seen and funded.
I developed many great friendships with other artists and found that
artists, together, are capable of creating fertile ground for our ideas to take
root.
Jim Arendt
You can see examples of Jim's work as part of Connecting Concept & Medium: South Carolina Fiber Artists at the Pickens County Museum of Art in Pickens, SC through November 14.
Thank you Jim!
Thank you for spending time at
Studio 24-7.
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