Meet Jake Early | Artist / Printmaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jake Early and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jake, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
At risk of sounding cliche, I genuinely chose to start my own business (for the second time) simply to pursue my dream of making a living doing something I love to do. I started my first graphic design business when I was 25 years old and about 18 months into the venture, the building I rented burned to the ground. It was arson, targeting another business, but it wiped out all 5 of the tenants. At the time, I decided I’d never be self employed again and took a traditional “9-5,” as an in-house graphic designer at a hospital. It didn’t take long until I realized I wasn’t cut out for a 9-5 type gig, it quickly become “work,” but after the fire (I was uninsured) I had to rely on the stability of a good job to recover. So, to satisfy my creative interests, I spent nights and weekends tinkering in my shed, which led to me building a silkscreen press, which led to me making serigraphs as a hobby. After a couple years of making prints on the side and continuing to work at the hospital, one of my prints made it’s way to a local gallery, the gallery called me asking about the piece, and before I knew it, the gallery bought everything I had ever printed, commissioned new pieces and began selling my work. Within 6 months, my “side hustle,” was bringing in far more income and infinitely more gratification than my full time job, so I began to wonder if self employment was feasible again. Another 6 months passed, my prints were selling steadily, I truly loved the whole process, so, I took a leap of faith and decided it was worth the risk (again) to pursue my art full time. That was 2005 and since then, I feel as if I’ve never had to work since – despite 60-80 hour weeks sometimes, late nights, early mornings, I wouldn’t change a thing, being self employed is among the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I create limited edition, hand made silkscreen prints (also called serigraphs) on a press I designed and built in my shed over 20 years ago. Most of my work tends to be about “place,” and what a particular place means to me. Silkscreen is a very labor intensive process, each color requires it’s own screen which is then printed manually, one sheet at a time, one color at a time, allowed to dry, then the process repeats for as many colors as I choose to print. I typically print 6-10 colors, but have done prints with over 40 colors. I’m proud of the fact I was able to incorporate a lot of my interests into a single pursuit – from the “maker” in me, to the artist, graphic designer, entrepreneur and manual laborer, I was able to combine these different facets of my personality into a profession. I’m also really proud of my craft, the idea of craft is important to me regardless of the widget, but craft seems to be something we are sacrificing in our current state of mass production and the lowest price possible, so I spend enormous amounts of time and energy on my craft and constantly try to improve and produce high quality work. It’s hard to say if my path has been “easy,” there have certainly been obstacles and challenges, but for me, it’s all worth it. It’s not uncommon to work 12 hour days in my studio, or late into the night, to be stressed out staring at a blank canvas with a deadline looming, but it all pales in comparison to the stress I felt with a traditional 9-5 type job. I’d say I’ve made it where I am today as a result of sheer persistence. I’m driven by my ideas and have a need to see them through, regardless of any obstacles, when I am inspired, I will pursue my vision until it is realized. I lost my first business to a fire and literally lost everything I owned, I’ve worked jobs I hated as a means of paying bills, but through it all, I tend to keep my eye on my goal and I will just keep chasing it until I get there. Wrapped up in my reflection on how I got to this point, I think is the lesson . . . persistence, practice, trial, error, more error, and lots and lots of work. I’m fortunate I found the thing I love most, and my stubborn commitment to working tirelessly to make it my profession is probably the reason it’s worked so long. Of course I want anyone who sees my work to appreciate it at face value, but, beyond that, I want people to know I made it all by hand. I made my press, I create the art, I mix all the ink by hand, I print every color on every sheet by hand . . . I pour everything I have into every piece I do and I hope that shows in the final product.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Well, we’d start the day at Peixoto or Lux coffee on the way to a mountain bike ride out in the desert. Post ride burritos are a must at any number of local taquerias. There are amazing trails in Phoenix proper, but also the surrounding areas like Sedona, Tucson and Flagstaff have world class trails to show off, so those would be included too. When not biking, I’d arrange a mural tour of the Phoenix metro area, as we have a number of talented muralists working in town and creating amazing work. Another obsession of mine is Neapolitan pizza, so in the evenings, we would chill at my house and make pizza in the outdoor pizza oven I built in my backyard. I’d show off Taliesin West and Arcosanti to my guest too, both are among my favorite sites to see here.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My parents deserve most of the credit – neither of them are self employed and both had long careers as public school teachers, but they were always supportive of my pursuits and encouraged me to follow my own path, whatever it was. They supported me through failure and success and I am eternally grateful for that. Additionally, the original gallery owners I worked with in 2002/03 who helped launch my printmaking career deserve a shoutout. Jana & Greg Strong were the owners of the gallery and together we built a success story that allowed me to achieve my dream of making art for a living.

Website: jakeearly.com

Instagram: @jakeearly

Other: https://vimeo.com/16420478

Image Credits
Photo credits: Maureen Ryan Photography