A Conversation with Jason Patterson

"I believe when I create artwork it’s a special way to keep people interested in that history I’m presenting. The philosophy that drives me is the idea of contributing to society. I think of my work as educational resources that will help all of us better know our past so we can better understand our present."

We had the opportunity to sit down for a chat with portrait artist, woodworker Jason Patterson. Using historical documents and meticulous research, Jason’s transformative work is centered around telling stories of African American history from his local community on the eastern shore of Maryland and beyond.

Can you tell us a little about your craft and how you got into it?

Ever since I was a small child I drew portraits of people. As I grew up the two subjects that stuck with me the most were art and history, and in my 20s I combined the two. Over the years I've been greatly influenced by historians for subject matter. And I've also been heavily influenced by a group of engineers who are close friends of mine. Their work ethic and style of problem-solving were very adaptable to my studio practice. Those same engineers also introduced me to woodworking. About 10 years ago I had the idea of making decorative frames for portraits that I was planning on doing. With their help, I was able to learn basic woodworking and turn that skill into a standard aspect of my practice: creating stylized and period-based frames for my portraits and eventually my historical documents.

For my historical documents, I got into this because when I do my research and go through old books I find important texts, and find their formatting to be quite beautiful. And sometimes you only really need those words to convey the historical narrative you're trying to tell. Also, often there are no photographs or usable images from that time period. So, this led me to re-creating historical documents and/or creating originally designed documents with actual historical text in them.

How did your interest in history influence your artwork?

I’d never been good at school, but I knew that I was good at art and loved history. Around 2006/2007, I’d dropped out of community college and wanted to focus on becoming an artist. A big influence for me was the landscape painter from Chicago named Don Pollack, who became a good friend and mentor to me. His work is focused on American history and uses historical research as a reference for his paintings. Meeting him really solidified what I wanted to do, and helped me land on African American history as my focus.

How do you approach your process?

A lot of the time, I’ll be reading a book or a historical text and I’ll discover something that really has a contemporary parallel and relates to our present moment. Other times, I’ll be researching a subject, which then, in turn, opens me up to a different subject entirely, which then becomes the start of a future project. When I make this work, what is really important to me is not to shock or trigger the viewer because I do not want to alienate anyone. I’m not so concerned about changing peoples’ minds, as much as I want them to just consider the presented history and to think about it.

The goal is, how do I use my skills in art and woodworking, to make compelling work that tells people about Black history. I think about how museums and institutions present work publicly, and in a way, I try to emulate that. I try to create visually appealing artwork. The hope is that when the work draws people in it will get them to think about the history that’s being presented.

How has your location played a role in the stories you tell?

I lived in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois for the first 33 years of my life and when I moved to the eastern shore of Maryland, almost 4 years ago, it seemed like fate because this area is rich in African-American history, but much of it is relatively unknown. Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass are from here, and most people stop there. But there is an overwhelming amount of important African-American history that happened in this unique region of Maryland.

Do you think viewing things within a historical framework is able to give them a greater impact?

When I do this research and I read something from 100 or 200 years ago, I do see that history repeats itself. People don’t often take that cliche phrase seriously (which is understandable), but it’s fundamentally true. For me, if you can see the similarities between what we’ve done in the past and what is happening now, it can be a great help in the effort to do the right thing when dealing with our present issues and struggles.

I made a piece that references Rosa Parks’ time in Detroit. I feel like she’s one of the most misunderstood and poorly represented historical figures of the Civil Rights Movement. She’s often portrayed as a weak old lady that just randomly decided to resist, but her refusal to get out of her bus seat was a planned effort from her and the NAACP to initiate the Montgomery Bus Boycott. She was only in her early 40s, a seasoned activist and civil rights leader who had significant roles in the Montgomery and Alabama branches of the NAACP. After her arrest and the bus boycott, she lived the rest of her life in Detroit after being basically forced out of the South. What I try to do with my work is to tell these relatively lesser-known parts of history and shed a light on them.

Check out Jason Patterson's Instagram to see more of his work!