May 20, 2022 • 27 mins
This week, our guest artist discovered his passion for art and made a u-turn in the middle of his education when he found his calling. Mississippi artist Brenden Davis lives and works in Jackson, making graphics during the day and dawning his artistic might by creating drawings and animations reflective of his life and world.
Find Brenden:
https://www.instagram.com/brenden.eli
https://www.brendendavis.com/
Find us:
www.TheLittleYellowBuilding.com
www.tlybARTMAG.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Derek Smith (00:00):
Hey everyone and welcome back to the Mississippi
(00:10):
artists to artists podcastbrought to you by the little
yellow building in Brookhaven,Mississippi. This week, we have
artists, Brandon Davis with us.
And Brandon is an artist basedout of Jackson, Mississippi who
has this really interestingvisual artwork, but has been
developing this animation forthe past several months that
does just really, the snippetsof life that I'm loving to
(00:32):
watch. So, Brandon, thank you somuch for being here with us.
Brenden Davis (00:37):
No really, thank you for inviting me. I'm excited
to be here. So to
Derek Smith (00:41):
get this all kicked off, why don't you tell us a
little bit about you growing upand your history with art?
Brenden Davis (00:48):
Well, let's see.
Cool. For those of you whodidn't just hear what they're
just, my name is Brandon Davis,I grew up in Jackson,
Mississippi, pretty much mywhole life. I don't think I was
technically born here. But allmy schooling was done here. I
graduated mer, I graduated fromour high school in 2016. I went
(01:12):
up to New York briefly for twoyears at Marist College,
studying computer science, butthen I switched gears. And I
changed my major to digitalmedia. And then I transferred
(01:33):
back down to Jackson in2018 2019. And I went to
Millsaps. And then I graduatedfrom Millsaps in 2020. December,
let's see. But our art was, Idon't know, I don't know if I
was really that much of anartists growing up. In high
(01:55):
school I was really into I wasreally much more in science than
anything else. Like I spent,like, I worked in a lab with my
friend over at UMMC. In micro inthe microbiology department
(02:16):
working with bacteria and stuff,and I was really into that for a
while. And then like, like Isaid earlier, I started college
doing computer science. So itwasn't really until a while
later that I discovered that Iwas really a lot more interested
in, like creating art than I waslike, analyzing data or doing
(02:39):
math, stuff like that. But um, Istarted really paying attention
to art when I started taking arthistory classes. My freshman
year, freshman and sophomoreyears, I really started taking
art history classes, and I gotthis I just got really
(03:01):
interested in like, the processand like just the history, and
the just the significance ofjust creating art and just the
process of it all. And that wasreally what got me hooked in and
making it for myself. Ever sincethen, I've just been
experimenting with differentstyles,
Derek Smith (03:22):
and different media, like, if you if you dig
back on your Instagram, it's youknow, you work on cardboard, you
work on masking tape, you workon all these different really
interesting surfaces. What when?
Okay, so let me let me go backbecause you did you made a huge
switch, you went from technologyand database driven based
(03:42):
education into an art mediaform. And you said Art History
inspired that for you, which isreally cool to me. Because, you
know, I get to hear the storiesso often where, you know, I had
crayons when I was a baby. Andthat just led into this whole
life of art. But you found itthrough the history of art. And
that's a different take on onyour beginnings, which I really
(04:06):
liked. So when you found outwhat happened then?
Brenden Davis (04:11):
Well, I mean, it was it was like mesmerizing, we
took a class trip. I think I wasI think I was still a freshman
and went to the class trip tothe Metropolitan Museum of Art.
And that's when that's whenreally that's when it really got
me because I got to see it allin person. And just some things
(04:32):
like, like, it looks good whenyou see it like in a PowerPoint
presentation or in a textbook,but when you actually get to
like look at it and like be inthe presence of it and not not
touch it because you're notallowed to touch it. But you can
see it's so close. You canalmost feel like you're touching
it. And I think that's whatreally got me like hooked and
(04:54):
that's what really got meknowing that I wanted to make
art for myself.
Derek Smith (05:00):
Hmm. So were you able to go in and study physical
art while you were still inschool?
Brenden Davis (05:06):
Yes, yeah. I and Millsaps I took a lot of studio
art classes. I took sculptureclasses with Kristin, Tortola
Williams, I took some digitalmedia classes and animation
classes, some scary drama andstuff like that, you know, but
(05:28):
it really got there. And theyreally gave me a good
opportunity to, like, cultivatesome of these latent interests
that I had. And I got to pick upa lot of different skills that I
didn't have before. Yeah, but Iguess I mean, that's the point.
That's the point of going toschool, you know,
Derek Smith (05:46):
yeah, having that little bit of time in your life
where you get to concentrate,you know, an uninhibited
concentration, it doesn't. Theresults are life and death. And
it's not going to really takeaway from anything, if you don't
produce this great piece of art.
It's not going to not feed you,you're in college. That's what
this is for experiment and play.
(06:06):
Now, that's brilliant. So whathappened after school?
Brenden Davis (06:11):
Let's see after school. Well, okay, so before
I'll go before I go afterschool, I guess I'll backtrack a
little bit. And look up. Soafter I left Maris college, I
took a little gap. Semester gapyear was like, the summer and
(06:31):
then also a fall, I took thatsemester off. And I didn't start
back school until January. But Itook a job when I got back from
New York as a server out hibachirestaurant. And I paid the bowls
for a little bit. But afterthat, I spent about a year as a
(06:55):
barista coffee bros. It's acoffee shop in Midtown. It's
actually around the corner fromwhere I am now. And after that,
I worked as an intern at theMississippi Museum of Art doing
graphic design. And that was myfirst art really job. And I
(07:17):
really met some really greatpeople like working at the
Mississippi Museum of Art, eventhough I didn't get to because
all of this was like in themiddle of COVID. Yeah, so I
didn't actually even get to workthere physically, we work
remotely during that time. But Istill like it cultivated a lot
of like, long lasting, likeconnections that I still have to
(07:38):
this day. So I'm really gratefulfor that experience. But um,
after that, I was actuallygraduated, I was done with
college at that point, becausethat was the my senior year
internship where I worked at theMississippi Museum of Art. But
after that, I worked as amanager at the founder and Art
(08:02):
Gallery owned by Richard McKee,it was on North State Street. I
don't know if you've ever beento it. But if you go on State
Street, there were across fromthe picking paint restaurant.
Really good barbecue there.
There were these big like blueheads like the statues. They
used to it used to just be onestatue of Barack Obama from when
(08:24):
he was elected president. Butthen they got painted over blue
and then they added in Moorheadstatues and that was called Mr.
Fondren. And I used to be themanager there, while the owner,
you know, was enjoying his time,you know, his burgeoning
(08:44):
retirement years, and his bandand whatnot. And then after
that, or I am now is I'm themotion graphics artists at
Adobe. Oh btw I do they're like,on air news, graphics and stuff
like that.
Derek Smith (09:04):
That's really, really cool. That's a really
great trajectory. Like that wasyeah, you
Brenden Davis (09:11):
know, in hindsight, we went really went
smoothly went pretty smoothly.
Not a lot of people can say thatthey like as soon as they got
out of college to get a careerin the exact thing they got a
degree in. So I'm reallygrateful for that.
Derek Smith (09:32):
I think it also would help your case that you
found your your passion and yourdegree later in your education
and you didn't like you didn'thold firm in the early parts of
your education. So you didn't goand going, I'm gonna be a lawyer
and make it all the way throughlaw school and then be like, I
wanted to pick flowers, youknow? So that's really like I
(09:53):
find it extremely interestingthat you you found that
inspiration, where you found itwhen you found it. and how it
worked into the end of youreducation. And you seem like
you've had so much passion, youknow, you were kind of on fire
where a lot of people may be onthe, I want to rest after
(10:14):
college stage, but you were youwere it. I mean, in that the
internship, I know that it wasduring COVID. But a really cool
side effect of being duringCOVID is that people are
recognizing your name, becausethey're always seeing your name,
every time they have to talk toyou every time they have to do
anything. Like it's a visualindicator. So people know
(10:35):
people's names a little bit morethan they know their faces right
now. Which is interesting.
Brenden Davis (10:40):
Yeah, it was, it was a definitely a trip seeing a
lot of their faces, like inperson for the first time. And
like being able to, like, be ina room with them and like go to
museum events and stuff likethat. So really, yeah, the point
you made about like, the namefirst, I think that's really,
(11:04):
really important. And reallyinteresting, because I guess, I
mean, I guess I never reallythought about it that way. You
know, because when you when yousee a person, like every day,
but you don't necessarily talkto them, you may recognize them,
but you don't really know whothey are. You don't know their
name. So yeah, I think that'sreally important.
Derek Smith (11:26):
So let's switch and talk about your art. Because you
have this raw style to your artthat I really like, because in a
world of a ton of Polish, youknow, yours is just pure energy.
And I feel like whenever you goand set to do you know to
create, you're creating withintention, you have a story, I
(11:49):
feel like with your animations,I can see snippets of life and
with your, your imagery thatyour your pictures, I can see
moments, again of a life thatare building stories all
together. So I really enjoywatching your work, because I
feel like it performs anarrative for me, why don't you
tell me a little bit about yourprocess and how you come up with
your ideas?
Brenden Davis (12:11):
Well, the way I start my still image, my stole
works, and my animations arepretty much the same. Like it'll
start, like I'll draw with anykind of like, if the closest
objects I mean, I'll try to makea mark on it. And if that Mark
(12:33):
looks interesting, again, themark reminds me of anything,
then I'll keep it moving fromthere. And that could be that
could be Sharpie, and this papertowel that could be a crayon,
and what is this brown paper bagwith a dog treat it. Like it
(12:58):
could really be anything. Butfrom there, I just, I like to
play with textures, andpatterns, and stuff like that.
And if I really like it, I'llmake it bigger. And I'll do it
again. And then I'll make thatbigger. And then I'll do that
(13:18):
again. Until I think until Ithink I'm finished, really. But
for animations, a lot of myanimations start off as like
physical like pieces of paper.
Because I think that's like awhile I do most of the animation
work digitally. I'm really drawnto the idea of stop motion. And
(13:40):
a lot of my earliest animationswere like, just pure stop
motion. But I found ways to likereally streamline my process. So
like when I come up with anidea, I can get it done in an
amount of time that like,doesn't destroy the rest of my
(14:01):
entire schedule. And it can andI can still have a look that I'm
more than satisfied with likesomething that I think was like
I can make work now, in short,in a shorter time that I'm more
happy with than what I couldmake in a month when I first
(14:22):
started doing it. And I thinkthat is like one of the surest
signs of progress.
Derek Smith (14:31):
That's, it's something that I have to keep
reminding myself whenever I playwith something new. Is that
okay, here's the first go. And Ihave to remind this my students,
you know, we, especially theyounger ones, because they want
everything perfect the firsttime they, you know, they go to
play with it. And I'm like, no,no, no, this is this is the
ideas and this is us gettingused to it. Like now how do we
(14:53):
here's our next page, how are wegoing to develop that? And it
does, it takes it takes hours tostart Aren't developing those
skills and whatever new mediayou're going after? And it does,
it starts flowing, the ideasstart sparking when you get used
to what something does. And howdoes. I like that that's an eye
(15:14):
the one of the stop motions. Butnow that you mentioned that you
did a lot of the stop motionfilm, paper drawings? Was the
it's one, I think, a walk atnight, or let's take a walk at
night. Like that way. Yeah, it's
Brenden Davis (15:30):
one of the one I did, I did that recently.
Derek Smith (15:33):
I love the loop on it. Like it's just, it's a, I
could leave it up for a long,long period of time and have it
around me and really enjoy thatyou've got several better level
lots, Luke perfectly and theyjust, I enjoy it.
Brenden Davis (15:51):
That has really become a staple of my animation.
And I think that that is mostlya product of just the way I
display them. A lot of schools,a lot of social medias, if you
post a video, it'll justautoplay, it'll keep looping. So
(16:13):
I think I naturally justresponded to that. Because if a
video is just looping over andover again, and you can't tell
when their video actually ends,then you're just gonna keep
watching it. And I think one ofthe reasons I love art and
museums and galleries as much asI do as as you can just get lost
(16:34):
in the art. And you can just sitthere and you can just stare
painting for what feels likehours. And if you have a video,
if you have an animation thatloops in such a way, then it's
almost like, you can sit thereand you can watch it that for
hours even though it's it mightas well just be a painting. It's
(16:54):
not really like it doesn't movebeyond the parameters of that
five second loop.
Derek Smith (17:01):
I found myself in several of them, I would watch
it over and over and over. And Ikept looking in your negative
spaces because you have theselittle color shifts. Especially
if what's the one it's it's likea sun and the rest is dark and
there's stars just lightlytwinkling. But I kept yet all of
(17:24):
the dark in the negative spaceto see how that was just
slightly changing in everyframe. It was really, really
interesting. And I got lost inthat watching that.
Brenden Davis (17:34):
I did. Oddly enough I don't know if this
doesn't get me in trouble withcorporate but oddly enough, I
did both of those at work. Youwould think that going from a
gallery job to like just like aregular nine to five, you would
really be creatively likestifled you'd feel like
(17:56):
exhausted and worn out.
Creatively drained. Like,especially if you just make a
bunch of graphics every day thatare just like this crime
happened and just place allthese people are injured,
everybody feels awful. But like,I feel like I've just the amount
of time I spend doing that. It'sgotten me more skilled at making
(18:20):
the animations that actuallywant to make.
Derek Smith (18:26):
Do you find those topics seeping into your work?
Like, are you so over? Like, isit around you so much that it's
it's bleeding into your work?
Brenden Davis (18:36):
I think what has been bleeding into my work is
just this idea of not apathy, oror almost just like, what, what
what's the point of it all?
Like, what is it that we're alldoing everyday? Because I like
I've only been at the stationfor like, it's been like three
(18:57):
or four months at this point.
But I feel like there's just acycle of stories that are just
repeating over and over again,the same things are happening
over and over again. And we'reall just kind of getting like
numb to it. Like this is alljust like background noise.
(19:17):
Because this is I mean, it isour it's our nine to five job,
but this is just what is theinformation that we have the
things that are happening, thisis what we have to put out into
the world. So I think that'sdefinitely seeping into my art
art in a way. But, I mean, I'vealways let the outside world
influence the art that I makebecause I think that's just an
(19:39):
important aspect of art. It'sjust reflecting the world that
the artist is in. So yeah, itdoes influence the way that I
make my art but it's not becauseI don't want it to I let it
Derek Smith (19:55):
you were part of the Mississippi Invitational and
2021 like I had previouslymentioned that was when I first
got to see your artwork, andimmediately went to Instagram
found out who you were like,watch the little interviews that
they did, because I do I find itextremely interesting. Where do
you think you want it all to go?
Like, is this just somethingthat you're able to really good
(20:19):
question? When we have the nineto five, we're lucky, you know,
especially if we can make itbalanced with our artwork,
because then we have thepleasure of creating art that we
just want to feel fill the worldwith. And then when you make it,
your nine to five, you kind ofhave to make sure that things
are selling, and you don't haveas much freedom as same
(20:39):
sometime. But if you're findingthat comfortable balance, where
would you where do you think youwant to see everything had?
Brenden Davis (20:48):
That's really hard to say, Yeah, because I
didn't think I want to go intonews media, when I took this
job. Like, I thought it would bea really interesting job. But
it's not exactly what I hadplanned, I actually applied to a
(21:11):
different job at the stationwith their marketing department,
because I was technically theOnline Sales Manager at the art
gallery. But I did all thesocial media and all that stuff,
too. And I was making videos andall that. So I'd be perfect fit
for their marketing positionstation. But I went there. And I
(21:33):
interviewed. And I ended upmaking an impression with the
news director, who was broughtinto the interview I was having
with one of their marketing teammembers. And I ended up working
in his department in the news.
At the end with the newstatement, I met a lot of great
people were there. And I foundout that I mean that I'm
(21:55):
actually pretty good at makingthis graphic. So like I don't
want to, I don't really want tosay that I want to, like abandon
this career in favor of a moretraditional, like artists, like
route. Like I could see myselfworking for more like larger
stations in the future, or doingsimilar work in the future.
(22:16):
Maybe I'll do freelance I don'tknow. But um, on the other hand,
I don't want to become sofocused on that side of my work,
that I no longer make theseanimations that I make, or do
the paintings or the exhibitionsthat I do on occasion. Because
like, I want to make sure that Ican like I want to thrive in
(22:39):
both of those fields. I guess Idon't know, if there's a review
of me.
Derek Smith (22:45):
I think it's a SMART goal, like I really do.
And I again, can't stress thefact that having something that
you're actually enjoying as aday job, and that you could
fulfill as a career like that'sOh, that's that's a brilliant
setup. You know, you're set upto have comfort in your life
(23:07):
instead of, you know, a lot ofsometimes hard I can struggle
when you're really doing art asyour full time goal. You know,
that's professional artists arestill professional artists, even
if they have other jobs. So Ithink that that's brilliant. So
are you are you planning onleaning a little bit more into
(23:28):
it sounds like you're enjoyingyour animation more. Right now.
Brenden Davis (23:33):
My animations, I think I've been leaning into
more because I've been I've beenspending just so much time at
the computer. And it's just somuch easier for me to open up
after effects and Photoshop andlike, sketch out some doodles on
small pieces of paper than it isfor me to like get out all my
(23:53):
paints in my pastels in my spraypaint cans and work on these
giant pieces of cardboard orcanvas and stuff like that. It's
not that I don't enjoy paintinglike I'm working on painting
right now. I've got a couple ofhalf finished pieces in my
studio right now. But I justthink it's a lot easier for me
(24:18):
to get started on an animationthan it is for me to get started
on painting.
Derek Smith (24:23):
cleaner to
Brenden Davis (24:25):
definitely a lot easier on the cleanup.
Derek Smith (24:28):
So you can find Brendan on Instagram at Brendan
dot Ely. It's br e in di Nperiod e l dI where else can
they find you?
Brenden Davis (24:42):
Well, I do have a website Brendan davis.com br e n
d n da vas.com. It is currentlyit's usually up but right now
I'm working on a little websitemaintenance. So it's actually
down right now. But social mediawise, that is pretty much it.
(25:04):
I'm really bad at onlinemarketing.
Derek Smith (25:09):
For any artists that are coming up behind you or
for you as a younger self, whatwould be some advice that you
would give to them?
Brenden Davis (25:18):
Don't ever think that you have to do whatever it
is that you arbitrarily decidedto do. At some point in the past
18 year old me 18 year old youshould not have control over
what it is that you're doingwhen you're 24 or 25. Follow
(25:42):
your dreams.
Derek Smith (25:43):
That is, yeah, you're allowed to make a U turn.
Brenden Davis (25:48):
You're allowed to make a U turn, you're allowed to
drop the Bunsen burner in thebeaker and pick up the
paintbrush in the Sharpie.
Derek Smith (26:00):
I love it. Yeah, that's your your educational
journey is just so interestingfrom going from data driven
science into fine art, yourinspiration for it from finding
it in art history. I think we'lladd continue to add just another
you know, component to your artwhere your your focus may be on
(26:20):
things differently than you knowsomeone who grew up with art in
their lives the entire timewould be and I'm excited to see
that on your journey. So Iappreciate you coming on here
and sharing all of this with us.
Brenden Davis (26:32):
No, it was great.
It was great talking to you.
Derek Smith (26:35):
For everyone, go and check out Brendan's work and
make sure to follow him onInstagram, the little animations
you'll they're just charming andI enjoy that glimpse into your
life. So thank you for puttingthat out there. For everyone
else. Thank you for joining usand we'll be back with another
artists next week. And a specialthank you goes to our members
(27:00):
the Friends of the little yellowbuilding. Beth Breeland Mary
Hardy Gwen fury, Mary Adams,Jenny Howard, Jenny Moke. Evelyn
PV. The Evans Family JanetSmith, Buffy Jordan, Jennifer
Drinkwater, the Smith family,bopper Zak and Hannah Hester,
thank you for all the support
Hey everyone and welcome back to the Mississippi
(00:10):
artists to artists podcastbrought to you by the little
yellow building in Brookhaven,Mississippi. This week, we have
artists, Brandon Davis with us.
And Brandon is an artist basedout of Jackson, Mississippi who
has this really interestingvisual artwork, but has been
developing this animation forthe past several months that
does just really, the snippetsof life that I'm loving to
(00:32):
watch. So, Brandon, thank you somuch for being here with us.
Brenden Davis (00:37):
No really, thank you for inviting me. I'm excited
to be here. So to
Derek Smith (00:41):
get this all kicked off, why don't you tell us a
little bit about you growing upand your history with art?
Brenden Davis (00:48):
Well, let's see.
Cool. For those of you whodidn't just hear what they're
just, my name is Brandon Davis,I grew up in Jackson,
Mississippi, pretty much mywhole life. I don't think I was
technically born here. But allmy schooling was done here. I
graduated mer, I graduated fromour high school in 2016. I went
(01:12):
up to New York briefly for twoyears at Marist College,
studying computer science, butthen I switched gears. And I
changed my major to digitalmedia. And then I transferred
(01:33):
back down to Jackson in2018 2019. And I went to
Millsaps. And then I graduatedfrom Millsaps in 2020. December,
let's see. But our art was, Idon't know, I don't know if I
was really that much of anartists growing up. In high
(01:55):
school I was really into I wasreally much more in science than
anything else. Like I spent,like, I worked in a lab with my
friend over at UMMC. In micro inthe microbiology department
(02:16):
working with bacteria and stuff,and I was really into that for a
while. And then like, like Isaid earlier, I started college
doing computer science. So itwasn't really until a while
later that I discovered that Iwas really a lot more interested
in, like creating art than I waslike, analyzing data or doing
(02:39):
math, stuff like that. But um, Istarted really paying attention
to art when I started taking arthistory classes. My freshman
year, freshman and sophomoreyears, I really started taking
art history classes, and I gotthis I just got really
(03:01):
interested in like, the processand like just the history, and
the just the significance ofjust creating art and just the
process of it all. And that wasreally what got me hooked in and
making it for myself. Ever sincethen, I've just been
experimenting with differentstyles,
Derek Smith (03:22):
and different media, like, if you if you dig
back on your Instagram, it's youknow, you work on cardboard, you
work on masking tape, you workon all these different really
interesting surfaces. What when?
Okay, so let me let me go backbecause you did you made a huge
switch, you went from technologyand database driven based
(03:42):
education into an art mediaform. And you said Art History
inspired that for you, which isreally cool to me. Because, you
know, I get to hear the storiesso often where, you know, I had
crayons when I was a baby. Andthat just led into this whole
life of art. But you found itthrough the history of art. And
that's a different take on onyour beginnings, which I really
(04:06):
liked. So when you found outwhat happened then?
Brenden Davis (04:11):
Well, I mean, it was it was like mesmerizing, we
took a class trip. I think I wasI think I was still a freshman
and went to the class trip tothe Metropolitan Museum of Art.
And that's when that's whenreally that's when it really got
me because I got to see it allin person. And just some things
(04:32):
like, like, it looks good whenyou see it like in a PowerPoint
presentation or in a textbook,but when you actually get to
like look at it and like be inthe presence of it and not not
touch it because you're notallowed to touch it. But you can
see it's so close. You canalmost feel like you're touching
it. And I think that's whatreally got me like hooked and
(04:54):
that's what really got meknowing that I wanted to make
art for myself.
Derek Smith (05:00):
Hmm. So were you able to go in and study physical
art while you were still inschool?
Brenden Davis (05:06):
Yes, yeah. I and Millsaps I took a lot of studio
art classes. I took sculptureclasses with Kristin, Tortola
Williams, I took some digitalmedia classes and animation
classes, some scary drama andstuff like that, you know, but
(05:28):
it really got there. And theyreally gave me a good
opportunity to, like, cultivatesome of these latent interests
that I had. And I got to pick upa lot of different skills that I
didn't have before. Yeah, but Iguess I mean, that's the point.
That's the point of going toschool, you know,
Derek Smith (05:46):
yeah, having that little bit of time in your life
where you get to concentrate,you know, an uninhibited
concentration, it doesn't. Theresults are life and death. And
it's not going to really takeaway from anything, if you don't
produce this great piece of art.
It's not going to not feed you,you're in college. That's what
this is for experiment and play.
(06:06):
Now, that's brilliant. So whathappened after school?
Brenden Davis (06:11):
Let's see after school. Well, okay, so before
I'll go before I go afterschool, I guess I'll backtrack a
little bit. And look up. Soafter I left Maris college, I
took a little gap. Semester gapyear was like, the summer and
(06:31):
then also a fall, I took thatsemester off. And I didn't start
back school until January. But Itook a job when I got back from
New York as a server out hibachirestaurant. And I paid the bowls
for a little bit. But afterthat, I spent about a year as a
(06:55):
barista coffee bros. It's acoffee shop in Midtown. It's
actually around the corner fromwhere I am now. And after that,
I worked as an intern at theMississippi Museum of Art doing
graphic design. And that was myfirst art really job. And I
(07:17):
really met some really greatpeople like working at the
Mississippi Museum of Art, eventhough I didn't get to because
all of this was like in themiddle of COVID. Yeah, so I
didn't actually even get to workthere physically, we work
remotely during that time. But Istill like it cultivated a lot
of like, long lasting, likeconnections that I still have to
(07:38):
this day. So I'm really gratefulfor that experience. But um,
after that, I was actuallygraduated, I was done with
college at that point, becausethat was the my senior year
internship where I worked at theMississippi Museum of Art. But
after that, I worked as amanager at the founder and Art
(08:02):
Gallery owned by Richard McKee,it was on North State Street. I
don't know if you've ever beento it. But if you go on State
Street, there were across fromthe picking paint restaurant.
Really good barbecue there.
There were these big like blueheads like the statues. They
used to it used to just be onestatue of Barack Obama from when
(08:24):
he was elected president. Butthen they got painted over blue
and then they added in Moorheadstatues and that was called Mr.
Fondren. And I used to be themanager there, while the owner,
you know, was enjoying his time,you know, his burgeoning
(08:44):
retirement years, and his bandand whatnot. And then after
that, or I am now is I'm themotion graphics artists at
Adobe. Oh btw I do they're like,on air news, graphics and stuff
like that.
Derek Smith (09:04):
That's really, really cool. That's a really
great trajectory. Like that wasyeah, you
Brenden Davis (09:11):
know, in hindsight, we went really went
smoothly went pretty smoothly.
Not a lot of people can say thatthey like as soon as they got
out of college to get a careerin the exact thing they got a
degree in. So I'm reallygrateful for that.
Derek Smith (09:32):
I think it also would help your case that you
found your your passion and yourdegree later in your education
and you didn't like you didn'thold firm in the early parts of
your education. So you didn't goand going, I'm gonna be a lawyer
and make it all the way throughlaw school and then be like, I
wanted to pick flowers, youknow? So that's really like I
(09:53):
find it extremely interestingthat you you found that
inspiration, where you found itwhen you found it. and how it
worked into the end of youreducation. And you seem like
you've had so much passion, youknow, you were kind of on fire
where a lot of people may be onthe, I want to rest after
(10:14):
college stage, but you were youwere it. I mean, in that the
internship, I know that it wasduring COVID. But a really cool
side effect of being duringCOVID is that people are
recognizing your name, becausethey're always seeing your name,
every time they have to talk toyou every time they have to do
anything. Like it's a visualindicator. So people know
(10:35):
people's names a little bit morethan they know their faces right
now. Which is interesting.
Brenden Davis (10:40):
Yeah, it was, it was a definitely a trip seeing a
lot of their faces, like inperson for the first time. And
like being able to, like, be ina room with them and like go to
museum events and stuff likethat. So really, yeah, the point
you made about like, the namefirst, I think that's really,
(11:04):
really important. And reallyinteresting, because I guess, I
mean, I guess I never reallythought about it that way. You
know, because when you when yousee a person, like every day,
but you don't necessarily talkto them, you may recognize them,
but you don't really know whothey are. You don't know their
name. So yeah, I think that'sreally important.
Derek Smith (11:26):
So let's switch and talk about your art. Because you
have this raw style to your artthat I really like, because in a
world of a ton of Polish, youknow, yours is just pure energy.
And I feel like whenever you goand set to do you know to
create, you're creating withintention, you have a story, I
(11:49):
feel like with your animations,I can see snippets of life and
with your, your imagery thatyour your pictures, I can see
moments, again of a life thatare building stories all
together. So I really enjoywatching your work, because I
feel like it performs anarrative for me, why don't you
tell me a little bit about yourprocess and how you come up with
your ideas?
Brenden Davis (12:11):
Well, the way I start my still image, my stole
works, and my animations arepretty much the same. Like it'll
start, like I'll draw with anykind of like, if the closest
objects I mean, I'll try to makea mark on it. And if that Mark
(12:33):
looks interesting, again, themark reminds me of anything,
then I'll keep it moving fromthere. And that could be that
could be Sharpie, and this papertowel that could be a crayon,
and what is this brown paper bagwith a dog treat it. Like it
(12:58):
could really be anything. Butfrom there, I just, I like to
play with textures, andpatterns, and stuff like that.
And if I really like it, I'llmake it bigger. And I'll do it
again. And then I'll make thatbigger. And then I'll do that
(13:18):
again. Until I think until Ithink I'm finished, really. But
for animations, a lot of myanimations start off as like
physical like pieces of paper.
Because I think that's like awhile I do most of the animation
work digitally. I'm really drawnto the idea of stop motion. And
(13:40):
a lot of my earliest animationswere like, just pure stop
motion. But I found ways to likereally streamline my process. So
like when I come up with anidea, I can get it done in an
amount of time that like,doesn't destroy the rest of my
(14:01):
entire schedule. And it can andI can still have a look that I'm
more than satisfied with likesomething that I think was like
I can make work now, in short,in a shorter time that I'm more
happy with than what I couldmake in a month when I first
(14:22):
started doing it. And I thinkthat is like one of the surest
signs of progress.
Derek Smith (14:31):
That's, it's something that I have to keep
reminding myself whenever I playwith something new. Is that
okay, here's the first go. And Ihave to remind this my students,
you know, we, especially theyounger ones, because they want
everything perfect the firsttime they, you know, they go to
play with it. And I'm like, no,no, no, this is this is the
ideas and this is us gettingused to it. Like now how do we
(14:53):
here's our next page, how are wegoing to develop that? And it
does, it takes it takes hours tostart Aren't developing those
skills and whatever new mediayou're going after? And it does,
it starts flowing, the ideasstart sparking when you get used
to what something does. And howdoes. I like that that's an eye
(15:14):
the one of the stop motions. Butnow that you mentioned that you
did a lot of the stop motionfilm, paper drawings? Was the
it's one, I think, a walk atnight, or let's take a walk at
night. Like that way. Yeah, it's
Brenden Davis (15:30):
one of the one I did, I did that recently.
Derek Smith (15:33):
I love the loop on it. Like it's just, it's a, I
could leave it up for a long,long period of time and have it
around me and really enjoy thatyou've got several better level
lots, Luke perfectly and theyjust, I enjoy it.
Brenden Davis (15:51):
That has really become a staple of my animation.
And I think that that is mostlya product of just the way I
display them. A lot of schools,a lot of social medias, if you
post a video, it'll justautoplay, it'll keep looping. So
(16:13):
I think I naturally justresponded to that. Because if a
video is just looping over andover again, and you can't tell
when their video actually ends,then you're just gonna keep
watching it. And I think one ofthe reasons I love art and
museums and galleries as much asI do as as you can just get lost
(16:34):
in the art. And you can just sitthere and you can just stare
painting for what feels likehours. And if you have a video,
if you have an animation thatloops in such a way, then it's
almost like, you can sit thereand you can watch it that for
hours even though it's it mightas well just be a painting. It's
(16:54):
not really like it doesn't movebeyond the parameters of that
five second loop.
Derek Smith (17:01):
I found myself in several of them, I would watch
it over and over and over. And Ikept looking in your negative
spaces because you have theselittle color shifts. Especially
if what's the one it's it's likea sun and the rest is dark and
there's stars just lightlytwinkling. But I kept yet all of
(17:24):
the dark in the negative spaceto see how that was just
slightly changing in everyframe. It was really, really
interesting. And I got lost inthat watching that.
Brenden Davis (17:34):
I did. Oddly enough I don't know if this
doesn't get me in trouble withcorporate but oddly enough, I
did both of those at work. Youwould think that going from a
gallery job to like just like aregular nine to five, you would
really be creatively likestifled you'd feel like
(17:56):
exhausted and worn out.
Creatively drained. Like,especially if you just make a
bunch of graphics every day thatare just like this crime
happened and just place allthese people are injured,
everybody feels awful. But like,I feel like I've just the amount
of time I spend doing that. It'sgotten me more skilled at making
(18:20):
the animations that actuallywant to make.
Derek Smith (18:26):
Do you find those topics seeping into your work?
Like, are you so over? Like, isit around you so much that it's
it's bleeding into your work?
Brenden Davis (18:36):
I think what has been bleeding into my work is
just this idea of not apathy, oror almost just like, what, what
what's the point of it all?
Like, what is it that we're alldoing everyday? Because I like
I've only been at the stationfor like, it's been like three
(18:57):
or four months at this point.
But I feel like there's just acycle of stories that are just
repeating over and over again,the same things are happening
over and over again. And we'reall just kind of getting like
numb to it. Like this is alljust like background noise.
(19:17):
Because this is I mean, it isour it's our nine to five job,
but this is just what is theinformation that we have the
things that are happening, thisis what we have to put out into
the world. So I think that'sdefinitely seeping into my art
art in a way. But, I mean, I'vealways let the outside world
influence the art that I makebecause I think that's just an
(19:39):
important aspect of art. It'sjust reflecting the world that
the artist is in. So yeah, itdoes influence the way that I
make my art but it's not becauseI don't want it to I let it
Derek Smith (19:55):
you were part of the Mississippi Invitational and
2021 like I had previouslymentioned that was when I first
got to see your artwork, andimmediately went to Instagram
found out who you were like,watch the little interviews that
they did, because I do I find itextremely interesting. Where do
you think you want it all to go?
Like, is this just somethingthat you're able to really good
(20:19):
question? When we have the nineto five, we're lucky, you know,
especially if we can make itbalanced with our artwork,
because then we have thepleasure of creating art that we
just want to feel fill the worldwith. And then when you make it,
your nine to five, you kind ofhave to make sure that things
are selling, and you don't haveas much freedom as same
(20:39):
sometime. But if you're findingthat comfortable balance, where
would you where do you think youwant to see everything had?
Brenden Davis (20:48):
That's really hard to say, Yeah, because I
didn't think I want to go intonews media, when I took this
job. Like, I thought it would bea really interesting job. But
it's not exactly what I hadplanned, I actually applied to a
(21:11):
different job at the stationwith their marketing department,
because I was technically theOnline Sales Manager at the art
gallery. But I did all thesocial media and all that stuff,
too. And I was making videos andall that. So I'd be perfect fit
for their marketing positionstation. But I went there. And I
(21:33):
interviewed. And I ended upmaking an impression with the
news director, who was broughtinto the interview I was having
with one of their marketing teammembers. And I ended up working
in his department in the news.
At the end with the newstatement, I met a lot of great
people were there. And I foundout that I mean that I'm
(21:55):
actually pretty good at makingthis graphic. So like I don't
want to, I don't really want tosay that I want to, like abandon
this career in favor of a moretraditional, like artists, like
route. Like I could see myselfworking for more like larger
stations in the future, or doingsimilar work in the future.
(22:16):
Maybe I'll do freelance I don'tknow. But um, on the other hand,
I don't want to become sofocused on that side of my work,
that I no longer make theseanimations that I make, or do
the paintings or the exhibitionsthat I do on occasion. Because
like, I want to make sure that Ican like I want to thrive in
(22:39):
both of those fields. I guess Idon't know, if there's a review
of me.
Derek Smith (22:45):
I think it's a SMART goal, like I really do.
And I again, can't stress thefact that having something that
you're actually enjoying as aday job, and that you could
fulfill as a career like that'sOh, that's that's a brilliant
setup. You know, you're set upto have comfort in your life
(23:07):
instead of, you know, a lot ofsometimes hard I can struggle
when you're really doing art asyour full time goal. You know,
that's professional artists arestill professional artists, even
if they have other jobs. So Ithink that that's brilliant. So
are you are you planning onleaning a little bit more into
(23:28):
it sounds like you're enjoyingyour animation more. Right now.
Brenden Davis (23:33):
My animations, I think I've been leaning into
more because I've been I've beenspending just so much time at
the computer. And it's just somuch easier for me to open up
after effects and Photoshop andlike, sketch out some doodles on
small pieces of paper than it isfor me to like get out all my
(23:53):
paints in my pastels in my spraypaint cans and work on these
giant pieces of cardboard orcanvas and stuff like that. It's
not that I don't enjoy paintinglike I'm working on painting
right now. I've got a couple ofhalf finished pieces in my
studio right now. But I justthink it's a lot easier for me
(24:18):
to get started on an animationthan it is for me to get started
on painting.
Derek Smith (24:23):
cleaner to
Brenden Davis (24:25):
definitely a lot easier on the cleanup.
Derek Smith (24:28):
So you can find Brendan on Instagram at Brendan
dot Ely. It's br e in di Nperiod e l dI where else can
they find you?
Brenden Davis (24:42):
Well, I do have a website Brendan davis.com br e n
d n da vas.com. It is currentlyit's usually up but right now
I'm working on a little websitemaintenance. So it's actually
down right now. But social mediawise, that is pretty much it.
(25:04):
I'm really bad at onlinemarketing.
Derek Smith (25:09):
For any artists that are coming up behind you or
for you as a younger self, whatwould be some advice that you
would give to them?
Brenden Davis (25:18):
Don't ever think that you have to do whatever it
is that you arbitrarily decidedto do. At some point in the past
18 year old me 18 year old youshould not have control over
what it is that you're doingwhen you're 24 or 25. Follow
(25:42):
your dreams.
Derek Smith (25:43):
That is, yeah, you're allowed to make a U turn.
Brenden Davis (25:48):
You're allowed to make a U turn, you're allowed to
drop the Bunsen burner in thebeaker and pick up the
paintbrush in the Sharpie.
Derek Smith (26:00):
I love it. Yeah, that's your your educational
journey is just so interestingfrom going from data driven
science into fine art, yourinspiration for it from finding
it in art history. I think we'lladd continue to add just another
you know, component to your artwhere your your focus may be on
(26:20):
things differently than you knowsomeone who grew up with art in
their lives the entire timewould be and I'm excited to see
that on your journey. So Iappreciate you coming on here
and sharing all of this with us.
Brenden Davis (26:32):
No, it was great.
It was great talking to you.
Derek Smith (26:35):
For everyone, go and check out Brendan's work and
make sure to follow him onInstagram, the little animations
you'll they're just charming andI enjoy that glimpse into your
life. So thank you for puttingthat out there. For everyone
else. Thank you for joining usand we'll be back with another
artists next week. And a specialthank you goes to our members
(27:00):
the Friends of the little yellowbuilding. Beth Breeland Mary
Hardy Gwen fury, Mary Adams,Jenny Howard, Jenny Moke. Evelyn
PV. The Evans Family JanetSmith, Buffy Jordan, Jennifer
Drinkwater, the Smith family,bopper Zak and Hannah Hester,
thank you for all the support
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