You mention the Sears catalog as an early inspiration. What was it about those illustrated figures that grabbed your four-year-old attention?

J: I guess, like any 4 year old, it was my curiosity. I was just mystified as to how anyone could make, what appeared to be a person, out of lines and shapes on a flat page. I would look so deeply and say, “This is not a real person, but they make it look like a person. How do they do that? Why do they do it?” So curiosity is basically what started the whole thing. 


And out of that came, “Well, let me see if I can do that.” Kids, you know, they have to dive into the experience. They see water. They put their hand in it and stir it around to see it move. A flower blows in the wind. Oh, they have to touch it to understand why. 
So, seeing those images in the old Sears & Roebuck catalogues, at four or five years old, started my questioning. In addition to that, it is instinctual as human beings to have the impulse to express our environment, our little world visually, through drawing. 
So in addition to the curiosity, that natural instinct kicked in. And as I began to explore how they did this, I became more and more fascinated about it. And not just fascinated with how they did it – but the challenge of doing it. Because it isn’t easy. And it’s still not easy. I don’t like that term either. If everything was easy, everybody would do it. And I love the challenge. I don’t ever want to reach a point (I probably won’t) where I think I’ve got it all figured out. Because then the learning, the curiosity, the enthusiasm, will probably go away. 
And just a backstory on the Sears catalogue: in that time, there wasn’t a lot of contact with images. We did not have cell phones or websites. That catalogue was a primary source. It’s how folks took care of business, and it was shared by the whole family. I couldn’t tear the pages out. My folks weren’t to be trifled with. It probably sat right next to the Bible and the phone book. {laughs}.

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