About
the Cover Artist:
Sam
Johnson
Interview
by Kurt Stream
This
issue’s cover artist, Sam
Johnson is a man of many trades.
An active gig poster artist and
screen-printer, Sam along with Dave
Mueller are the owners and operators
of Firecracker Studios in Madison,
Wisconsin. Firecracker Studios is
an artist’s wonderland that
includes a gallery and artist’s
workspace that also offers design,
instruction and screen-printing
services. While only in it’s
first year of operation, Firecracker
has already sparked life into the
art scene of Madison and brought
attention to the work of many artists
who’s art is often overlooked
by traditional galleries. |
|
What is Firecracker Studios?
Firecracker is an art gallery, a print studio,
a design firm, artist workspace and a center
for art instruction all rolled in to one.
So far, been a fairly successful experiment.
David has a fine arts degree and knows a
lot about art history and technique where
as I have a degree in graphic design and
say rad and cool a lot.
How did Firecracker get its start?
Like all good things, over drinks in a bar
of course. David and I met through mutual
friendsand hit it off right away. For months
we talked about getting together and working
on a project, but never seemed to find the
time. Then, all at once, my girlfriend dumped
me and the guy I had been printing posters
with…well, let’s just say, we
had a bit of a falling out, needless to
say. I now had all the free time I could
ask for. From there I called David, we had
more drinks, discussed the possibility of
opening a print studio/art gallery and the
next thing we knew, Firecracker was born.
I guess that’s it in a nutshell.
Your gallery shows many artistic styles
and themes that are not often recognized
by conventional galleries, Do you think
the art world, particularly galleries are
generally too stuffy?
No. Sometimes. I don’t know. There
are plenty of cool galleries around and
lots of great artists too. We were just
bored with the same old same old we’d
been seeing around here and decided that
the great artists we knew and
others we just admired should have a place
in Madison to show work. We both knew that
their work would be well received as long
as people got a chance to see it and so
far the response has been fantastic. I don’t
know much about “stuffy”, we’re
in it for the fun. That’s not true,
I do know a little about “stuffy”
…and I don’t like it.
You’ve been creating screen-printed
gig posters for awhile now, how did you
first get into them?
I’ve always been way into music and
art, so the next logical step, for me anyway,
was to combine the two. I started out doing
digital posters for friends and after a
while people started coming to me to get
posters done. I began doing the digital
stuff in 2000 and kept that up ‘till
2004 when I decided to move to screen prints.
I just think they are cooler. You know,
limited edition, brighter colors, bigger.
All that good stuff.
What’s in store for the future
for Firecracker Studios and your own artwork?
Well, for Firecracker , we are going to
keep trying to put on the kinda shows that
we would like to see…if someone say…opened
a hip sorta alternative gallery somewhere
in our neighborhood. As far as my personal
artwork goes, I am going to focus on getting
some art prints done as well as putting
more time into my photography and digital
work. Oh yeah, maybe some oil painting,
music composition, possibly a children’s
book…or…I guess I’ll find
out when (if) I get some free time.
Can you believe they made a fucking
sequel to that Deuce Bigalow movie?
I didn’t know they had, but I can’t
say I entirely hated the 1st one. I’m
not gonna see the sequel in the theatre
but I am lookin’ forward to the rental. |
