The other day, I got an email from one Maggie Holland, a UGA Grady Journalism alum. An email I was pleased to open! She was cleaning out her desktop after graduating, and wanted to make sure I had a copy of this lovely piece, which you get to read below! Back in October 2018, Maggie and I sat down for an interview of sorts, one she would use to write a profile for a journalism class. These sorts of chats are always fun for me, but I remember this one to be particularly special. Maggie is a great listener and interviewer; she had a way of getting me to open up about things I’d usually keep under wraps, especially knowing she could publish it all for the internet to read! But in the end, Maggie was incredibly kind and only wrote about the good parts. I’m a lucky guy!
Below is Maggie’s piece. Reading it back recently made me feel so good! It’s affirming and validating to see bits of my life through a great writer’s eyes. Thank you again, Maggie, for a wonderful conversation and for this story!
Speaking in loose lines and lemon yellow
October 25, 2018
A key-lime colored door greets Amy Scott as she walks into what originally lends itself to the identity of a carport. Bursts of lemon yellow, contrasts of bright purples and splashes of red wash over Amy with an immediate wave of juvenile delight.
Behind the flood of color, the prickling smell of ink and watercolor come rolling in. The sharp aroma of a high school art room rushes into her mind, bringing back pangs of nostalgia, accompanied by a drive to create.
She finds her usual spot, settles down to matte and frame artwork, and the family dog assumes his natural position nestled down at her feet. For Amy, this is a slice of home. But it is not her home. This is the home that Amy's teacher, local artist Jamie Calkin, has created for himself to make art, but most importantly to share with others.
Jamie held onto the rapid success that he created for himself through this common situation: He is open and generous. With his eagerness to share everything he has -- everything he pours his energy into -- with others, he creates slices of home for those around him. This, some can argue, is the primary appeal centered around Jamie's unmistakable style of transferring scenes of beloved events, locations and landmarks into enthusiastic, free-flowing paintings.
"I just want to show everyone everything I do," Jamie said.
Jamie stepped away from drawing in middle school, like most people did, because the worlds he created in his mind weren't translating onto paper. Two decades later, smitten with young love, he fell back into art after drawing stamp-sized pencil drawings of his girlfriend's dog.
But the driving force behind what propelled Jamie to explore his artistic identity was the reinforcement from those around him. With encouragement from his then-girlfriend, now-wife, the rift in his sense of belonging as a school teacher, and the recently-awakened talent he spurred through these drawings, he began to create.
It started off as a pet portrait here and there, a quick gift for someone, the sketch of their childhood home as they finally parted from the property. This soon opened gates for Jamie to display his art in art shows, and it wasn't until 2001 that Jamie felt he finally could be considered a true artist: He had sold art to people he didn't know.
"I'm very proud of where I am now because it's not that easy to figure it out," Jamie said.
Subtleties and saturation
At any given time, Jamie can be found hunched over a fresh canvas, fingers sticky with ink, a paint-stained T-shirt strewn across his lap. In a coffee shop, outside of a community event, and most commonly in his studio, Jamie is hardly ever seen without a wry smile and paint-smudged hands.
Over the past two decades, Jamie's style evolved in spurts and starts, as did his identity. He started off pursuing science in school, and following in his father's footsteps, became an educator. While Jamie enjoyed some aspects of teaching, art kept creeping up to the forefront. When he finally decided to part from teaching and pursue art, his father was more than supportive. His dad saw the desire Jamie had to create, and saw his need to share his talents with others, and encouraged him to pursue a career where work felt less like actual work. "I said, 'Follow what you really like doing," Jamie's father Ken Calkin said. "He doesn't go to work every day, he paints. If he did have to work, he would find time to paint. I think painting is just what he loves to do."
Through the years, his style evolves to encapsulate his true identity. He started small, painting scenes with washes of subtleties and realistic shades of color. But every artist needs an honest opinion, and Jamie's wife, Katie Calkin, is this for him.
"She's really good at saying what she likes and why she likes it, and she likes bright colors and bold lines," Jamie said.
Funny enough, this is exactly what Jamie's art is: Bright colors and bold lines. He uses ink and watercolor, and draws the structural lines first before filling in the scenes with splashes of reds, purples, yellows and blues.
Jamie's art is described by viewers as energetic, free, bright and enthusiastic. Jamie's personality is, consequently, described as the same. A sort of juvenile, joyful depiction of real life, is what Ken Calkin describes as the appeal in Jamie's art. Ida Barrett, Jamie's business manager, takes a liking to Jamie's ability to bring whatever he is painting to an elevated level of energy.
"His pieces are bright and lively," Barrett said. "I love them because they are so energizing. He can really bring a building to life with his use of color."
His unmistakable style evolved both through his wife's encouragement, and through a hurdle he mustered the courage to finally admit once he was an established artist: being colorblind.
To be colorblind, in Jamie's case, means subtleties are nonexistent. Only the brightest, the boldest, and the most saturated colors are the ones Jamie feels compelled to use because, for him, being colorblind means he wants to use as much color as possible.
Though this seems to be a weakness for someone who specializes in the use of color, being colorblind has boosted Jamie's ability to create shocking paintings that catch the eye and trademark the brand that makes his art so recognizable.
Second to losing his need to lean into subtleties, his paintings grew from small stamp-size pencil drawings, to a 70-foot mural in the Tate Student Center, or a field of sunflowers outside of Flowerland. This push to go bigger came from James Dean, the artist for Pete the Cat.
"At first I was basically copying [James Dean] by using ink and watercolor," Jamie said. "He was so nice, so kind, and he made a suggestion: 'Go bigger.'"
This suggestion shaped the direction Jamie would take the rest of his art career.
Jamie started going bigger, started pursuing murals, and now has his paintings throughout Athens in big, medium, and small ways.
Flowerland Mural, 823 Prince Ave, Athens, GA. 2016.
Colorful fingerprints
From the Flowerland mural off Prince Avenue, to the Piedmont Regional Hospital, to Aderhold, Terry School of Business and even local elementary schools, Jamie's paintings are bigger than life. His style of dark, loose lines and bold use of color has Calkin's fingerprints all throughout the city of Athens, the state of Georgia, and even the nation.
"I can almost always spot his painting anywhere, just because it's so bright and the colors are so free," Ken Calkin said. "It's easy to see his pictures when you live here in Athens."
For Jamie, while he was born in Michigan, raised in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and went to school in North Carolina, Athens is home. He has set his roots here and has weaved his art through the local restaurants, coffee shops and community centers in a way that spreads his personality throughout the city.
"It is somewhat hard not to be reminded of Jamie since his work is in so many places in Athens," Barrett said. "I love going about my business and then finding a piece somewhere like White Tiger or scrolling through instagram and seeing his piece hanging in the background of a post from ProjectSafe."
Jamie is most known for his paintings of common University of Georgia and Athens scenes or tokens, like the Arch, Sanford Stadium, and community events like protests or festivals. These paintings have made their way into people's living rooms, store fronts and teaching institutions.
Growing with Calkin
For Scott, Jamie's intern for a time, seeing how he has progressed as an artist has taught her to be more brave. Jamie showed Scott that even when she dislikes her own art, there's someone else who may like it and putting it on display takes courage.
This similar braveness translates to Jamie's father too, who decided to pursue wood carving, painting and drawing because he watched his son become successful through art as well.
"I'm always just so proud of him," Scott said. "Whenever he makes strides, he's always genuinely excited about it because he never expects any of it, so he's always so proud and excited and grateful for what he's done and the support people have given him."
The pride that Scott feels culminates within his father, and Jamie hopes it is shared by his wife and two daughters as well. While art is a driving force behind Calkin's choices, his family is the primary priority overall.
"Mainly I've seen a man who actively tries every day to be his best," Barrett said. "He doesn't achieve that everyday, but he tries his absolute best everyday and that has been so inspiring."
Rooting for family
Living authentically, creating art that represents this, and being a good father and husband. These are the top priorities Barrett listed for Jamie.
Jamie is the father of two daughters: Violet and Ruby. His girls are in 6th and 9th grade, and he spends his time weaving opportunities for them to have positive interactions with art.
Growing up, Calkin had little interaction with art. He is changing that for his daughters. Violet and Ruby are greeted by Calkin's art from the windows and walls throughout their home, to his hand-painted minivan covered in sunflowers.
While Calkin wants to encourage his daughters to explore art, he doesn't want to force it on them to the point where they may hate it.
"A musical household, music is in the air. That's how I like to think about it," Jamie said. "Art's in the air. They can come to it when they want to."
Both Scott and Ken Calkin also described Jamie first as a family man, second as an artist. The level of involvement Jamie has with his children and wife is partly attributed to being a stay-at-home dad until his daughters went off to kindergarten. His wife is the breadwinner, Jamie said, and while he now provides a large sum for the family through his art, before he was established he served as the caretaker while his wife worked.
"He's a really good person. A good dad, a good husband, a good son, and that's all stuff he doesn't have to talk about, I can just tell by the way he talks about his family," Scott said.
The feeling of coming home
Jamie's biggest accomplishments in the eyes of his father is being a good father, a good husband and a good brother. Ken Calkin said the reasons why Jamie is so good at filling so many rolls is because he is so generous with his time and energy. Jamie gives so much of his work and time to others, specifically organizations in the city that benefit children and aid those in need. Second to this, he works to get his art in front of the right eyes, something Calkin said is half the battle when striving to be a successful artist.
His father said he has developed into a really good business person by taking his art and make a living out of it. It's important to Jamie and Ken Calkin that he gets paid, and Jamie has accomplished finding an audience who can make this happen. Now that he has reached this goal, it's always redirected back to his family.
"I would love to let my wife work part-time whenever she wanted," Jamie said. "It's not out of the question any more."
As Jamie watches his daughters grow alongside his art, he is pouring into them, into his wife, and into expanding his art in a way that is viable and consistent. His art is getting bigger, more demanding, and he is racing to keep up while maintaining his family-centric spirit.
While he is trying new mediums like watercolor on silk, collaborating with new T-shirt design companies like Onward Reserve, and juggling being a father, a husband, a community member and an artist all at once, Jamie is growing alongside his artistic footprint at a rate that's largely credited to the Athens community.
From offices, to classrooms and living rooms and student centers, Jamie's art is weaving a web between people all throughout Athens, and this web structure is built on the same thing that brings people together through his art: The feeling of coming home.
