REEL SOUTH

Seeing the body of this woman being pulled up in this car has really affected you and is part of your language.

(music) Making art is something that does not come to an end.

It's endless.

That takes you to a very, very other place.

It's not going to the bank.

It's not going to the grocery store.

It's not, um, Dealing with gun control.

It's just it's it's a way to nurture your spirit and to survive.

It's a survival skill.

(music) I was born in this little community called Vick, Louisiana on the Red River.

Sparsely, sparsely populated.

So, as a child, I would walk around the property.

My dad raised cotton and cows, and we had a big fish pond.

I was always like, outside doing things.

I remember sitting in this tall grass, just sitting there as a child.

I was probably only five years old or something.

And the wind was blowing the grass.

To me, it was so beautiful.

The motion of the grass and the wind, you know.

And I started thinking, oh, I wonder what's beyond all that.

I mean, you start wondering, like, what's out in the world?

(music) Often you just stumble on inspiration, I think.

You don't say, I'm going to find some inspiration today.

It just happens.

It's like all kinds of things happens in our brain, you know?

And so this is like, sometimes in the morning, I think, Oh, I wish I hadn't woken up this morning.

And then other times, It's like, oh, the light is so beautiful, you know.

And then that drives you to the next thing like, oh, look what it's doing to those particular branches that are stripped of leaves or, you know, anything like that.

Inspiration just sort of happens.

I think.

Like early in the mornings when I'm drinking my coffee are often my greatest moments of inspiration because there's certain things that are just going to hit you, you know, like a streak of lightning.

I mean, that's the way it is.

And if you have a headache, you're probably not going to be very inspired.

I think that many, many times there's a seed of inspiration.

You start to get the idea for a project.

And what happens is little things get added to it in, in the process of thinking about it and feeling about it.

So I have things that it's taken years to actually come to realization.

It's a process of discovery.

That's the way we make art.

It's like we go fishing for the things that are underneath the surface.

I'm was living at 1014 Dumaine street.

In the French Quarter.

And there was a young woman who was an art student.

And we became friends.

I said, oh, why don't you help me make some art?

And so we began, you know, making things as a team.

And she was also working for the sign company.

And she said, maybe you would like to design some neon pieces.

And I couldn't get the design company to fabricate the glass for it.

And I said, oh, that's great.

We had a show at the gallery on Royal Street within a year's time.

And it was it was very exciting.

People really responded to it.

They hadn't seen anything like that before.

And, that was the beginning of, making and showing the neon sculpture.

(music) I'm not a painter, and so I'm not painting away in the studio.

Usually my art comes from the place.

And usually what I would do is go for a walk.

Go to the river, go to the woods and see.

You know, just open my eyes and see what's around me.

And I often discover really, really, really beautiful things that provide great inspiration for the natural forms of nature, where all those beautiful biomorphic shapes.

And, I rescue them and turn them into my own particular, work of art.

Hey, buddy, where are you going?

When I was living in the mountains in Santa Fe, New Mexico, I would get up, take my dogs, go up into the mountains, walk around, look at the tree roots, look at the old abandoned vehicles.

Whatever I stumbled upon.

And then if I found something terribly exciting, then that was exciting to me.

And I would get it out somehow and then begin to work on it and turn it into a piece of sculpture.

I made a big sculptural piece out of a 36 ford that was down in an arroyo, had it hauled out and then embellished it with neon.

And it was a very popular piece, and I loved doing it.

It was very exciting.

There are certain experiences in life that really stay with us.

Where I live now used to be a bridge that crossed the river at the end of our road.

Right here.

And the bridge caved in.

And I was probably ten years old.

I'm not sure how old I was, but I was a child.

And there was a tragedy in which this couple in the night time plunged into the river.

And the next morning, they pulled the car up and I saw the body of a woman in the car.

And all I can tell you is that that was a very intense experience.

All these years later, I realized Jan, you're standing on the bank of the Red River watching that woman, seeing the body of this woman being pulled up in this car Has really affected you.

And is part of your language.

And the reason you did those bizarre pieces was because of what you've viewed as a child.

Oh.

I think making art is about the motion.

And spirit.

I think you have to feel a great, intense love for what you're doing and feel the excitement of the creative process.

And then that's what carries you forward.

I mean, you sort of do things that you wouldn't think you could do because that's the process.

When you're concentrating on a creative project really helps stabilize you and it's very therapeutic, very, very therapeutic because it takes you away from all those everyday anxieties that are small and unimportant.

Anyway.

It is very consuming and creates another reality for you.

It's it's great medicine.

Getting older is frustrating.

I don't like the fact that it really is the last chapter of my life.

I really would like to have more time.

However, I don't want to have more time with a lot of pain.

I think depression is a big problem.

Because you get depressed that you can't do things that you would love to do.

I mean, I can't pick up things that weigh 125 pounds, so I'm limited in that.

Of course, most artists have assistants, and so you get somebody to help you do the things that you can't do.

But I accept it.

Because I enjoy working with other people.

Also, maybe it's a plus when you realize it's a beautiful day today.

Look at the sunshine.

You know, I won't have ten more years of this.

It intensifies lots of aspects of your life.

So go drink your coffee in the sunshine.

Enjoy.

Everyone has an inborn capacity to be a creative person.

And what usually happens is because of the culture, people get channeled into a lifestyle which is more of a economy than it is about the spirit or the soul or the creative spirit.

And so artists are sort of, you know, considered rebellious or, outsiders or people on the fringe.

But they certainly do add to the joy of life and certainly lead to revelations about what it means to be human.

(music) I suppose that making art Has taught me lots of things about myself.

If there was a purpose in life, it probably is to get to know ourselves.

And we're given a certain amount of time to do that.

I think the world would be a much more peaceful place if we learned patience and love for other people and all the things that have been created.

We've got to have much more respect for life.

It's, I think probably art does play, a crucial part in developing our awareness of our consciousness and our appreciation for life.

(music)