Photograph by Kevin A. Roberts
Black James (Jennifer McDaniel)
Of late, Black James has been on a tear, releasing and performing music while creating a host of intriguing pieces of art. For those of us familiar with her musical work, seeing the visuals arriving more frequently isn’t a super-surprise, though it has been a treat.
St. Louis Magazine caught up with Jennifer McDaniel back in May of 2013, and, since then, her work’s been lauded in all sorts of forms, including her current residency on the cover of this month’s Eleven magazine, timed to the release of her most-recent cassette release Mountain Boy. That works’ available for purchase on her Bandcamp page and again features the artist’s own cover design.
Motherhood and work at an architecture firm pull at her time, but Black James continues to work at a healthy pace, with frequent live shows and a steady stream of visual art now bleeding onto the web. This fall, a more-formal art show’s to follow; details TBD.
We caught up with her via email, asking her the seven questions we ask of visual artists on an every-other-weekly basis here at stlmag.com.
Art school? Self-taught? Some variety of both? Or none of the above?
I didn’t go to art school, but I did go to architecture school; I currently work at a small architecture firm in Benton Park. I experiment. I started painting cartoon human portraits in my teens with acrylics and the almighty One Shot sign paint. I had a steady style until my architecture learnings and Internet culture started to influence. Now I’ve been a compositing nonhuman portrait into 3D computer-animated environments. Art, Architecture, and Music are the three piers that support the Black James pinnacle. My goal is for the three to become more intertwined within one project, instead of them being separated entities.
Regarding your creative habits, are you a night owl or an early bird?
Hooty Hoo. My dream hours are from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. Even when I was a li’l kid, I would stay up late in my room, making crappy collages from YM and Seventeen magazines—cutting out pictures of Nike checks, Jared Leto’s head, and CK1 perfume bottles. It’s easier to focus when it’s dark and the night is still and you become kind of sleep-deprived and lucid.
In basic terms, can you describe the set up and vibe of your studio?
My studio is either set up in a walk-in closet, or in the corner of a basement. I like little spaces. Sensory deprivation. I treat the space like a shrine. I place about me things like the flag of USA, a Furby, the Virgin Mary, a Korn poster, a magic eye, a book by Our Lord Ernst Haeckel called Art Forms in Nature...
What are your thoughts on crowdfunding for the arts? And is that option any part of your own approach to creating and selling work?
Having a cushion of dollars upfront gives you the freedom to spend your time working on your project. But, to me, it also creates a negative pressure or a sense of expectations from the dollar givers. I make the art first, even if it takes longer to make, and even if the idea gets distorted from its original vision. Then I sell it. I like it when the inconveniences of life get in the way. Time allows the project to breathe, and allows for the idea to develop further in my mind. But I have to be cognizant of not overthinking, and to let myself continually improv along the way.
Do you have a dream project that lacks only funding (or time)?
Uh, Yeah Boi. a) I want to design my own version of an isolation tank for sensory deprivation. b) I already designed a pyramid maze intended to be permanently constructed in an open outdoor area that gets a lot of foot traffic. The maze would be a break zone for impulsive exploration, meditation, and reflection. c) An incredibly large string art Peacock on the side of a building. d) A portable geodesic-like dome that doubles as a giant speaker. A musician would perform in it and the listeners would also be inside. There would be a light mapping system within also…so you could view projected imagery as “flat” even though the image is projected onto a complicated surface. e) Prototypes of House Boats and other Cruising Vessels.
To what degree do you enjoy having public contact, whether that means selling your work at a fair, a gallery opening, etc.?
To grow, it’s necessary to be open to feedback and criticism. Sharing your ideas and refining them perpetuates others to do the same. A Collectivist’s mentality allows for conclusions to arrive quicker, and in turn, allows you to move on to the next project faster. It’s motivating to know that you could be a gear in someone else’s mind, and vice versa.
What other St. Louis artists inspire or motivate you?
Kissin Alleys’ blinged-out coupon collages. Rose Bland’s Weed & Alien art show that occurred at Blank Space in April, 2013. Damon Davis’ futuristic attitude towards art/technology/music. Latent Powers’ cut ‘n’ paste collages.
