Today we’d like to introduce you to Jacob Taylor Gibson.
Hi Jacob, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Originally, I’m from Bogalusa, Louisiana but my home is Denton, Texas, now where I’m currently completing my MFA in Studio Art with a concentration in Printmaking at the University of North Texas. The home I grew up in was old, dying with holes in the floor that I could see through to the grass and dirt beneath the raised foundation. Sometimes the stray cats would push their nose through one of these cracks in the hardwood beneath my desk. The house had plants growing through the windows, and the roof did very little to stop the rain from pouring straight in. My time as an undergrad was fueled by a fear of ending up in that bedroom again, which is how I ended up where I am today, I didn’t wanna go home.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Not always. Making work about personal traumas and difficult experiences can often be somewhat Sisyphean, and lingering on the past results in an influx of complicated emotions connected to these traumatic events. Creating works that functions as examinations of lived experiences centered around abuse and neglect creates a burden in the form of the artwork which I’m forced to reconcile with constantly. Instead of these experiences existing in my head or in the past, now they exist physically in my studio in the form of a sculpture or a print. Despite this strange caveat, I don’t quite know how to express any of my feelings regarding these emotions and feel that this is the only way I can verbalize and cope with trauma. The work I make that comes from this place, while difficult and vulnerable, achieves a type of catharsis I haven’t found elsewhere
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I work primarily as a printmaker using lithography, intaglio, and screenprint, but my process also reaches into installation and ceramic sculpture. All of which seem to reference domesticity and upbringing inspired by time spent in my childhood home. Art making has always supplied me with a purpose and outlet, and I can’t imagine where’d I’d be if I hadn’t stumbled into it. My work specifically analyzes interpersonal connections, abuse, and the resulting emotions associated with abuse through visual metaphors created by use of antique objects and domestic interiors. Making work so personal and driven by personal metaphor has offered a unique healing opportunity for myself which, I hope, can be interpreted by the viewer who may need to heal in a similar manner.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out.
Making work tied directly to personal experiences and emotions can be challenging. There were periods where I wanted my work to be more powerful or at least elicit something from myself and the viewer. I worried that the work was coming up short and that my experiences were too personal to share with others but was too scared to be specific when talking about it. Being that vulnerable when discussing artwork opens up complicated pathways where I felt overexposed or like I was searching for pity, but when I looked at the artists I admire, I found a common thread of honest vulnerability that I empathized with and wanted my work to possess similar qualities. Being as direct as possible has not only helped the work grow visually, but I’ve also found that talking about trauma through a different language is healing in a way that wasn’t possible when hiding these specific emotions associated with the past from myself or the viewer.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jacobtaylorgibson.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/jacobtaylorgibson
