It’s difficult if not impossible to accurately categorise any human, myself included. Times and perspectives constantly shift and change as a result of new experiences each of us have, opportunities and the people you meet. 21 year old truck driver who flunked medical school, and ended up at Falmouth School of Art just as rave culture was hitting the scene in ’89 …life hey?
I’d like to think the moniker that the Irish bestow on respected folx, being known as ‘a character‘ -would suit me well, if I’m on the way to earning that title, be high praise indeed.
Born in the wild forests of Canada, on an trout farm, to an Austro-Hungarian Aristocrat, chemical scientist and research translator dad who wanted to save the world by growing giant fish, and an Australian medico and Pharmacist mother, living amongst the rusting remains of early 19th century mechanised and pre-mechanised farming, wolves, bears, moose + endless woodlands. Drew all the time during long 9 month winters. Brought up as French-Canadian kids, with those of creative American Intellectuals and Hipsters escaping the Vietnam draft just across the US border in Quebec. And just to really mix it up, partially raised in Australia, then comp educated boarder in East Sussex, German and French speaking, etc…
Diagnosed ADHD and also with a touch of Autism -only came to light in my 50’s -Cried when I found out, first time done that in 30+ years…who’d have known? So life needn’t have been so tough@! A total revelation. Right and wrong, fair/unfair carry an intensity I can’t describe, and hyper sensitive to situations, but can easily forget what you’re saying to me as it’s being said when my cogs are turning, construct situations to be always late..pure ADHD. The Autism just made it difficult relating to others, reading social situations, noticing details others miss, good with languages and can be super intelligent too, apparently.. Yup, that fits, not sure I was gifted with the last bit though -intelligent certainly, off the scale IQ, but not smart, so not much really if you can’t use it effectively. Payoff was you had to suffer to achieve, life lived through that lens, worthiness only earned through extreme effort – bizarre when looking back, but still have a tendency to do it, as exploratory art practice here reveals. Possibly trying to live up to unrealistic expectations? -Answers on a postcard…
There’s some positives though – one result is I’ve drawn every single day of my life -rain or shine for 35 or more years… 20+ crates of A5 sketchbooks -all full…been doing it since Foundation at Hastings college, and likely thinking about it a lot earlier, selling paintings at age 13 in Rye East Sussex, learnt some type and script alphabets, and did signage for Pubs, and Pharmacies, I was a proper little sign-writer and illustrator.
As a result of luck, upbringing and maybe a combination of too much Sesame Street as a kid, and drawing though long Canadian winters, from a very early age I developed the unusual and dubious skill of copying or mimicking any painted or drawn style, or visual narrative out there perfectly should I desire -but I don’t.
I know this sounds so arrogant, but I assure you it’s not – recreating in any material what’s seen is a creative curse in that you can never really find your own voice in your work. It was there in me anyway, like us all in varying extents, fate sealed it by becoming a conservator/restorer which unashamedly encouraged the practice of perfect copying. At 19 I was extraordinarily good at it too, very quick, had great visual confidence. So game over as a true painter, but exceptional luck as a commercial illustrator.
Certainly copy to inform your work from what others do, sure, it’s how we learn -monkey see money do. Boards Windsurfing magazine graphic Artist and illustrator. Working for RCA and ZTT records as illustrator, an early CGI animator, storyboard artist and visualiser for music videos, I can still draw and write upside down at dizzying speeds, which helps with teaching theory and methodology, its a gimmick, but the students love it, and if it gets the message across… Again limitations of drawing and image-making pushed the move to find and explore new art disciplines. Multimedia Masters in Newport, worked in generative digital arts and physical performance -pioneers and innovators of that wave of performance technologies and arts, taking it across the globe, finding others equally pushing those boundaries at the turn of the millennium, Troika Ranch, Tim Knowles -etc…
Creativity aside, it’s always working with people, the end product being only people. Make the focus to empower learners in making creative decisions, guiding the direction of their learning, experiential and underpinned with being taught to take ownership and responsibility how they as individuals learn to learn. That early Montessori schooling finally paying off…
Now this realisation has kicked off a whole new direction in projects I’m collaboratively working on -more to do with inclusive engagement through practice, mental health, perspective changes, and empowering individuals and groups. Dressed up in different guises, but in itself a vehicle for change and personal development. In this I fully align myself with the late Ken Robinson’s RSA & TED talks, Tim Minchin ‘9 life lessons‘, and Baz Luhrmann’s version of the 1997 essay ‘Sunscreen‘.
Always been a teacher, to become a really good one has been my life’s goal and highest personal achievement, and still improving. Schools, Pupil Referral Units, Colleges, Universities, Governorships etc…and it all flows hand in hand with explorative practice, finding out what’s out there and sharing it enthusiastically with others… if there’s point to this life, that pretty much sums it up for me.
Learn to broadcast, rather than narrowcast what you know well.
Rather than having just one specialism, become a bank of knowledges. Being useful has to be the greatest of accolades you can achieve, beyond certificates, letters after names as a person…fear drives much of that need to demonstrate ‘I know more than you’ – but doesn’t it really means zip, if you aren’t magnanimous, and learn how to communicate effectively, generously sharing what you’ve learnt? I tend to use wit and ‘edutainment’ as powerful tools to get the message across, works for me -and clearly most of my students.
Senior lecturer in Graphic Design at Bristol, but in past lives been a ceramicist, fine art conservator at the V&A, palaeontologist, Sprint Racing motorcyclist, father, Windsurfing Instructor, school teacher, College Lecturer, formal Speaker, metal worker, lorry driver, mechanic, builder, painter, cartoonist, car sprayer, calligrapher, sign-writer, external examiner Brighton, Cambridge, Warwick Universities. And so on…everybody has an interesting history if you live long enough and been driven by curiosity.
So my advice after 55 years on the planet -go make a difference in the world sunshine. Learn the skills to do whatever you’re doing to the best of your ability. Have a good one, and before you close the door, if you’ve attained ‘character‘ status from your peers, you’ve done well, expect no further praise than that.
So, part British educated Canadian/Australian from New South Wales, living in old South Wales, with Welsh Partner Jo Haycock a talented documentary photographer and story writer , and Welsh speaking kid- Jeanie…Riding, racing, restoring motorcycles, Lecturing in the arts, cycling, immersed in creative practice and walking to meet others -life don’t get much better (or more Welsh-ish).
Jez Hattosh-Nemeth 