How Environments Shape Art
- Jessica DeMers
- 22 hours ago
- 5 min read
I always knew I wasn't like the other kids in school. I always felt like a foreigner growing up in the country I was born. However, I was absolutely certain of two things; I was going to be an artist, and I was going to get out of the country.
It’s not hard to notice, especially with all of the moving around I do, how much my environment shapes the way I work. I’m highly sensitive to the world around me, and that sensitivity seeps into the size, theme, and output of my art.
I don't mean to say that when I visit Japan, I paint a geisha or when I am surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea I paint about positive, sunny things. I mean that the energy that is in the people around me (if there are people around me), or how much physical space I have to work, or when I'm offered opportunities to exhibit and people support the work.
I’ve worked in all kinds of spaces:
in university classrooms,
a closet,
a bedroom in a shared house during Covid-19
a whole farmhouse,
countless kitchen tables,
a huge studio,
and now I'm currently working on a kitchen table in a studio apartment.
Would you like to see some?
Starting Strong
During university, I met "my people" - They were unconventional, open-minded, and obviously creative. I double majored in fiber/fashion & fine art/illustration, and the campus was my playground. The only issue was that it was only 4 years, so in my senior year, I applied for an opportunity to become an English teacher in Japan, and I bloody got it. It was a conflicted interest, because it wasn't art, but at least it got me a visa to get out of the USA for the first time in my life.
Konnichiwa, World!
Japan was different, really different. I was an Upper Michigan country bumpkin' landing in Tokyo, and an earthquake went off my first night while I was on the 26th floor of the hotel! My apartment was a small studio with tatami floors, and so to make room for a studio, I removed the doors to my closet and made one there. First thing I put in it was my sewing machine that I took with me as my carry-on luggage. I was part of an international exhibition while I was there, and made some clothing designs, but for the most part, I was depressed from the huge cultural differences and didn't create much. After 2.5 years in Nippon, I went on a sabbatical through Central America and then to the Canary Islands for my next teaching job.
From university, I completed my first big commission which was the making a kimono for a collector. I also participated in an international exhibition in Nagoya. I continued to use wood as a drawing surface. I also was able to collaborate with a great photographer, @stephenjackson_photography from risingupstudios.com to document my fashion designs.
Abajo y Arriba
I was from 2013-2019 in Tenerife, Spain. I went from a messy breakup from a 5-year relationship to meeting my future husband. It was exhausting, but it happened in the right order at least. Most of my energy was spent teaching English. Then, in the last two years I started teaching art classes! I loved helping students get creative, but I always felt the call to do my own art, so that's what I did.
I started with a makeshift studio in a spare room in a shared apartment, and then it moved to a kitchen table when I moved out. I was as broke as a joke while working as a student teacher intern, and used reclaimed wood to use as well as pressed flowers and stitched into scrap paper from the school.
Different Country & Career...but A Pandemic First
I got married in August 2019 and moved to England to start my new career in art. It had been so long and I knew it was going to take a while to figure it out how to find my feet, but I had a small studio in our big apartment, and support. I started life modelling again, joined the Reading Guild of Artists and had my first group exhibition in about six years, and then the pandemic hit. My husband was let go from his job and we moved to a room in a shared house for about a year. I was focused on how to make some money after that. I was working on the dining room table painting local businesses and some pet portraits, but the work and my mental health weren't very good. After about a year, we looked to see where there was work, and Malta picked up the phone.
[I] had my first group exhibition in about six years, and then the pandemic hit.
Sunny Days Ahead
We arrive to Malta in spring 2021, and I pick up a full-time job alongside my husband to get some funds back for a year. Then, it was go time. Like in England, I signed up to life modelling for artists to meet the community and I even got a part-time at an art shop! In Malta, I enjoyed so many exhibitions, my first artist residency, took part in collective exhibitions as well as a couple solos and was given an opportunity to work in a giant space for 6 months! Of course, up until I left, I was taking up that kitchen table. But the support in Malta was fantastic. So many opportunities and a great art community. But now we come to the most recent chapter:
Having my own space, and the support of the community really helped the art to flourish. I experimented with mixed media, and scaled up the work. Working in an art shop was a constant education, and gave me daily temptation to try new colours and materials. I also made sure to incorporate fiber art into canvas in the last 2-3 years, and it's continuing into the next body of work.
Vienna in the Now
On September 18th, I start my second artist residency with SOON Art Studios here in Vienna. Since August 2nd, I've been in a small, but temporary studio apartment (working small, of course) until I move into my permanent residence on October 1st. I've gone in guns a blazin' with life modelling, and this time I'm also participating as an artist at these life drawing events. At the end of the month, I'll be organising an exhibition at the studio gallery. Damn, this took a long time to write up. It was worth it to see what has changed about the work, what has remained the same and what environments have worked best for artistic development and personal fulfillment.
What do you think helps you work your best? I'd love to compare notes.
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