010 DRAWING FOR REAL
INTERVIEW WITH SHEA JUSTICE
recorded on
www.facebook.com/LOLWOWSOS
December 23, 2019
In the post below, we will visit artist Shea Justice, who lives and works in Boston, Massachusetts. His art, which portrays political or historical figures and historical events, places emphasis on African American culture and heritage. His work consists of mostly watercolor, pen & ink, and collage on paper. We are thrilled to learn more about his beginnings as an artist and his artistic practice!
LOL/WOW/SOS: Good morning Shea, thank you for participating in this interview! First, it would be interesting to know more about your beginnings as an artist. When you grew up, were you encouraged by your family, friends, and teachers to pursue an artistic career? What were your inspirations as a young artist? Did the area where you grew up affect your career choice and the subject of your art? I am looking forward to your answer and learning more about your artistic practice.
Shea Justice: Thank you for having me. I grew up in Roxbury, Massachusetts, during the '70s. My inspiration early on was a T.V. show called “Drawing from Nature with Captain Bob Cottle.” I used to watch it every Saturday morning as a child and follow his tutorials. One of my drawings was on his show when he showed pictures that viewers sent in. I was about eight at the time. I had a neighbor named Wendell Sullivan who used to draw superheroes for me and it made me want to do it as well. At the time I was growing up, Roxbury had murals in different areas like Dudley and Grove Hall that were painted by Dana Chandler and studying those murals contributed to my interest in politics. His work and Paul Goodnight's art sold at Nubian Notion convinced me I could learn from great artists in my community. I knew I was an artist because both my parents and family told me so and encouraged it in the beginning.
LOL/WOW/SOS: Thank you, Shea Justice, for the answer. It is very positive to know that you found inspiration in work made by great artists in your community and that your family encouraged you. Allow me to ask a few more questions pertaining to the beginning of your artist career. It would be interesting to know where and to whom you were able to show your work as a young artist. Kindly let us know what type of artwork you made then. After high school, did you pursue higher education in the arts right away? If you’d like to share, it would also be informative to know how your early mentors and art teachers influenced your work and professional career. You are also an art teacher, when did you decide (and why) to become a teacher? Does your work as a teacher influence your work as an artist? We are looking forward to learning more about the early part of your career.
Shea Justice: As a child, I mostly showed my work to family and friends. Much of my art then consisted of superheroes and comic characters I drew with childhood friends like Frankie Washington and Slanguli Wallace. I had initially thought about being a comic book artist or doing something with dinosaurs but gradually lost interest. But, even as a child, I have always had an interest in editorial illustration or drawings by artists like Larry Johnson's in the sports section of Boston's local newspapers. In high school, I had participated in the Boston Globe's Scholastic Art competition and had some of my work on display during the ceremony/exhibitions. There were student shows I had participated in, and books and programs I contributed illustrations too, but I hadn't had a solo exhibition until years later.
When I attended college at B.U., I was hired by the Black Student Union to create posters for the annual Dr. Martin Luther King celebration. Copies of those posters are permanently on display in the King room of the Thurman Center at GSU. I have also had illustrations published in the Boston People's Voice newspaper and B.U.'s Daily Free Press newspaper and created flyers for people like my friend Morgan Peters for his music. I chose to major in Art Education as a temporary thing I could leave if I didn't like it. But the many students I have encountered over the years made me glad it's my chosen profession. I've taught all ages from Pre-K through high school, and I am always inspired by students' art and sometimes I go home and practice what I actually learn from them. Being a teacher, I try out whatever projects I have my students do first. I often look for ideas to inspire them and try to be sure those ideas inspire me too.
As for teachers and influences on me, I can honestly say it wasn't just art teachers that were sources of inspiration but many people. Elaine Wong was my wonderful art teacher in high school, and she kept me from getting a swelled head about my abilities. Floyd Barbour was my professor in college and made a major impact on me when it came to history. My English teacher, Bob Marston, and my Science teacher, Scott Eddleman, were huge inspirations in my decision to become a teacher. My Uncle Douglas and my Aunt Jane, to this day, have been influences on my creative decisions that I would carry forever.
There were also situations with people not particularly artistic, that inspired and gave me creative ideas. I can remember as a child riding in my Uncle Rodney's race car, for instance. And looking at the political campaign buttons my grandfather had on display in his living room.
LOL/WOW/SOS: Thank you for telling more about the early part of your career and your teaching profession. Now I would like to ask you about your current practice. The figurative imagery and the texts that you choose to portray appears to pertain to either history or current news. How do you go about choosing the imagery and the stories that you portray? Are the stories true or fictional? What are your principal sources? It would also be interesting to know if you create each image individually or if they are part of a series with a specific theme or storyline?
A few years ago, you mentioned that one of the principal reasons for your art-making was to instruct your son. Could you please tell the readers a little more about this? What was it that you sought to teach him? Is your son still one of the driving forces behind your art-making? What motivates you to create a collage or drawing?
Shea Justice: My son, Shea Jr., has been a source of creative inspiration to me since he was first viewed on a sonogram. I've created numerous scrapbooks and collages and sketchbooks of him from up until he could walk and some after. The scroll project I have worked on since he was three has his hand, written opinions and drawings, or footprint on it until he turned eighteen. Every year on his birthday since he was born, I took him to the Museum of Afro American Art and took a photo of him in front of John Wilson's statue, Eternal Presence. As a teacher, a black man, and a father, I have always hoped that by exposing him to historical things and the arts, it would strengthen his self-esteem and self-image. He is still one of the driving factors in my work at times.
The materials I choose to work with are often things that are available to me. Sometimes I find things that I feel are challenging to use. Found items like crime scene police tape, Pez dispensers, copies of the U.S. Constitution sold at Fanuel Hall, or even Civil War army soldier toys. I experiment with what I'm creating and gradually communicate a message I want people to know. It can be political or about something in Pop culture. My motivation for creating a collage or drawing varies. Sometimes it's about the materials I use that leads me to the conclusion with what I want to say. Most of the themes of my work are about politics , war and peace, work and daily, life and history.
I draw all of the time, and on many Sundays, I am at Harvard Square, drawing the chess players in tournaments or drawing people sitting in the coffee shop at the Harvard Co-op. Currently, I have been sketching the construction vehicles in areas throughout Boston that are building high-rise condominiums and pressing forward with displacement and gentrification in communities of color.
When it comes to the images with text and information that form a collage, I usually look at news sources for current events. None of the sources are fictional, although I give my opinions on several issues on many pieces. I create each piece individually, many times based on news events currently happening. When I think about the event in a historical context, then the piece starts changing. As a whole, much of my body of work, I consider historical lessons/journals and my role as an artist as a witness to his time.
LOL/WOW/SOS: Thank you, Shea, for sharing your thoughts about your son, your inspirations, and your drawing practice. I really appreciate your devotion to the drawing medium especially at a time when most people have access to instant photography through their mobile phones. Personally, I find that drawing and sketching from observing the world around us is a way to understand, analyze, and engage with it, which distinguishes itself from photography. Drawing needs a still and concentrated mind, patience, and time. Would you see drawing as a way to take control of and resist technological advances, such as digital media, drawing software, and the Internet, which have brought a feeling of continuous acceleration to our society?
Fine drawing is also a medium that requires both control and a certain distance/coolness. Some of the images that you show us above are difficult to look at, especially the ones depicting racial injustice. It is almost as if you are using the strong emotions activated by these scenes, to draw the images in even more detail. How are you able to stay calm and keep your distance when you draw and paint imagery that is emotionally charged?
When you find yourself drawing in a café or in front of a construction site, I imagine that people would approach you to ask about your drawings. It would be interesting to know the reactions you receive from people when you draw them. Could it be that your drawing practice in the real world is a way to engage with people about the issues at hand? Do you use drawing as a sort of activism? Finally, please tell the readers more about your impressive scroll project.
Shea Justice: I will always draw first and foremost. I continue taking drawing classes with Paul Goodnight at the gallery of the Piano Factory. I don't consider it a way to resist technological advances, but I don't let those advances devalue what I do with a pencil or pen. The acceleration of technology can make you lose the relaxation of sketching or painting while looking at an actual landscape or people not viewed on a monitor or screen. When I've chaperoned school trips to foreign countries, my own personal experiences have been that taking photos of sites is good to record what you see and place you there. Sketching and painting help you feel what it was like while you're there.
When it comes to staying calm regarding images used in my work, it's not easy sometimes. Not how issues affect me personally but how to incorporate the story into a drawing or a collage or painting that I'm making. The issues of racial injustice and political challenges have been around since the country’s conception, and I'm seldom surprised by instances of cruelty and brutality that make headlines. But the actual lives lost that have given me the right to vote or have the freedoms I live with make it worth it, and inside I have a sense that a lot of my work honors truth and ancestors whose stories might otherwise not be told. If I ever question why I'm doing it, I go back and reread the writings of James Baldwin, Noam Chomsky, George Orwell, and Toni Morrison.
Not all of the things I draw are about activism. Sometimes it's just drawing for art's sake. And seldom do people talk to me about drawing in public because I try not to bring attention to myself when I'm doing it. If text is added around the images, it can be random thoughts or feelings I have at that moment.
The scroll project is a project I have been doing since 2013 when the U.S. invaded Afghanistan. It's several long rolls of paper that I've used as a journal to document the war on terror, it's financial and emotional costs, and what it does to our country culturally. I use a variety of media when drawing and writing. It's been referred to as a historical document and I accept that, but I consider it one long continuous editorial page and visually a kind of Pop art. I've committed to finishing it when the United States leaves. When I have moments that I want to take a break from it, I will. But the motivation returns when I think of Ralph Ellison's book “The Invisible Man.” I had no idea this piece would take as long as it has. The consequence being, it's now several thousand feet in length.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULkEzyw0vhw
Shea Justice: I've been lucky enough to be featured in interviews and documentaries about it. Thanks to my best friend, Joseph Jones, I have transported it to places to have people sign it if they were drawn on it somewhere. People like Governor Deval Patrick, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols, Councilor Tito Jackson, Lee Majors, John Amos, veterans, and others. There's something about their appreciation of being a part of what I'm doing that makes it worth showing them. My son has contributed his own images and texts over the years since has was two. My hope is that I get it exhibited at the Smithsonian, which is what I promised the people in my thesis defense at graduate school. I would love to have it on display straight away and not folded or bent. I'm not sure if such a location exists for an exhibit like that to happen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-L7nBMEzo4
LOL/WOW/SOS: Thank you , Shea, for your thorough response, it has been a joy learning more about your scroll project and your art in general. We hope that this astonishing and important work will be displayed at the Smithsonian very soon! Finally, it would be interesting to know if you have any plans for exhibitions or other projects next year. Kindly also inform the readers where they may consult and learn more about your excellent work.
Shea Justice: In the new year, I will be participating in a traveling group show by Paul Goodnight called KKK (Kin Killing Kin) about the problems and solutions involved with urban violence. It will be with myself, Paul, and five other artists. I still have work that's permanently on display at the Grove Hall Library in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Thanks to Paul Edwards, in addition to being on display there, I also continue to attend art activities with students, film festivals, and artist talks. I also self-publish books of my art including collages, sketches, and paintings. They can be purchased at:
https://www.blurb.com/b/8656208-archives-volume-one-politics
https://www.blurb.com/.../10c3708f00bfb3620d25a85aaf04af2
and at:
https://www.amazon.com/Artwork-Shea-Justice-I/dp/1425962807
Online, I can mostly be reached on Facebook in the group AAMARP African American Master Artist Residency Program. (I'm not ready for Twitter and Instagram.) What I'm hoping to do in the new year is to create a body of work for a solo exhibit that would be educational and almost interactive in content. I'm still sketching different places in Boston that are impacted by gentrification and displacing artists and communities of color. I go to YouTube for ideas for media used on the sketchbook pages. I'll continue working on the scroll project and right now, I'm studying the history of Supreme Court decisions and the effect it has on people today. I'm still looking at art movements like Pop Art to get inspired. I learn a lot by looking at the writings of Kay Bourne and Dana Chandler and new works by Sue Coe. And, of course, I'll continue working on art projects and murals with my wonderful students at Lincoln Sudbury Regional High school.
LOL/WOW/ SOS: Shea, thank you for informing the readers and me about your upcoming exhibition KKK (Kin Killing Kin). Further, we appreciate that you will continue the work on the scroll and for undertaking a new instrumental project concerning the impact of neighborhood gentrification on the life of artists and communities of color. It will be fascinating to follow the evolution of these projects. It has been both gratifying and enlightening to learn about your artistic practice, which highlights the role of the artist as a witness of his time fearlessly exposing themes related to politics, war & peace, work & daily life, as well as history! Thank you Shea Justice.
Support Shea Justice artistic practice by purchasing his books on BLURB and Amazon.
https://www.blurb.com/b/8656208-archives-volume-one-politics
https://www.amazon.com/Artwork-Shea-Justice-I/dp/1425962807