Courtesy of Jason Potter
To some, Jason Potter’s best known as the drummer of the band Bruiser Queen, recently featured on a front cover of The Riverfront Times, and a steady-gigging duo within local clubs. But he keeps plenty busy in a variety of other efforts, many of them relating to local music in one form or another.
For example, since October, he’s been booking the best little rock club in South City, The Heavy Anchor. His design work’s been featured in the RFT and Alive. And he’s kept a regular diet of work going with The Firebird.
With a studio located in a repurposed medical building at the bustling and culturally aware intersection of Jefferson and Cherokee, Potter says that, “all of my non-digital printing work is done through screenprinting. I have a simple single-screen table press at my studio, Empty City Prints. I use various muscles, screens, inks, and squeegees to produce 1-4 color flat stock prints.”
As part of our continuing, every-other-week check-ins with St. Louis-based visual artists, we invited Potter to be our third respondent to the same seven questions. Here’s how that digital conversation went:
Art school? Self-taught? Some variety of both? Or none of the above?
I attended Southern Illinois University Edwardsville from 1995 to 2000, and graduated with a BA in Art, with an emphasis in graphic design and printmaking. I worked in ad agencies for nine years while teaching myself screen printing at home via pamphlets and YouTube videos. Since being laid off from the ad machine in 2009, I've been freelancing full-time doing illustration, gig posters, and custom prints.
Regarding your creative habits, are you a night owl or an early bird?
I love working at night. When the world finally quiets down and goes to sleep, I can finally focus. I do a lot of thinking, exploration, and planning during the day, and I execute those ideas at night.
In basic terms, can you describe the set up and vibe of your studio?
My studio is very modest, one-room workspace in a former Grace Hill medical facility. Exam Room 8, as it is. The set up is utilitarian, based on the existing layout of the room (cabinets, sink, shelves). The printing bench I built faces what I think of as my "inspiration" wall: posters by Young Monster, Art Chantry, etc. Some of these posters I admire for their concept or design, others employ a clever printing technique. Posters that I've designed and printed adorn the other three walls. Displaying them helps me see where I've been and what I've done. This also helps me avoid making "another yellow poster." I've strung a clothesline-style rope across the width of the room where I hang my prints to dry.
What are your thoughts on crowdfunding for the arts? And is that option any part of your own approach to creating and selling work?
I'm not opposed to it, but it's not something I've utilized myself. If this makes any sense, I don't spend very much time on a computer. I have my iPhone handy to check texts, respond to email, and post to Twitter/Facebook, but I really feel like running a campaign like that successfully requires so much time sitting in front of a laptop. Whether it's sending out solicitations or posting progress reports... I'm not cut out for it. The nature of screenprinting is very tactile, hands-on, and computer-free, so to devote time to sitting for me is counter-productive.
Do you have a dream project that lacks only funding (or time)?
I don't have something in queue that's waiting to launch, but I would like to have more time to devote to making art prints. Some people will cheat and simply remove the band/show information from a poster and sell that as an art print. That's shady. It disrespects the band/venue, and shows you're at a loss for creative/original ideas. What I'm talking about would still be screen prints, but they wouldn't be directed or tied to another entity. Art for art's sake, if you will.
To what degree do you enjoy having public contact, whether that means selling your work at a fair, a gallery opening, etc.?
I love it! Well, specifically, I love showing my work in a gallery format. When it comes to my artwork, I'm a shower, not a teller. Meaning, it's often difficult for me to talk about—or explain—my art to friends and family. But the gallery setting is great for me. It attracts an audience that brings with them quite a bit to the table in terms of historical reference and familiar imagery and themes. On the other hand, I'm the absolute worst at selling my art. I just want to give it all away to the first person that shows the earliest and faintest signs of interest. It's the same when it comes to our band, Bruiser Queen. Luckily, Morgan is very comfortable in that setting, coming from a retail background. We wouldn't make a dime if it weren't for her.
What other St. Louis artists inspire or motivate you?
Bob Hartzell is a huge inspiration to me. He was there in Chicago in the ‘90s for the great rebirth of the screenprinted concert poster. He's seen and done it all, from designing and printing posters for legendary bands' shows at legendary venues, to working at those venues, to teaching art and printmaking. He's passionate, patient, edgy, and continues to challenge himself and is still making incredible artwork. Jeremy Kannapell is another great inspiration and motivator for me. His work blows me away, and he's so productive. For every elaborately imaginative piece of his I see, I know there's two more that I've missed.
To see (and buy) examples of Potter’s work, visit storenvy.com/stores/94807-empty-city-prints.
