March 22, 2022 • 27 mins
tlybARTMAG is a visual arts magazine that focuses on Contemporary Artists living or working in Mississippi. The first issue is available to view or download for free at tlybARTMAG.com
You can order one of the limited print copies at thelittleyellowbuilding.com
Find JX Farms nad the crew:
https://jxfarms.com/
https://www.instagram.com/jxfarms/
https://www.instagram.com/churchgoinmule/
https://www.instagram.com/wiljax/
https://www.instagram.com/jesse.ryan.brown/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Derek Smith (00:08):
Hello and welcome or welcome back to the
Mississippi artists to artistspodcast where we feature
contemporary artists living andworking in Mississippi. Today is
special today is the release ofthe TL YV, art mag, the very
first issue, it's a visual artsmagazine dedicated to the
contemporary artists living andworking in Mississippi. Three of
(00:31):
the articles in the magazinewere based on interviews that I
hosted over zoom, and we haveturned those into special
edition T lyb. Art maginterview, podcast things I
don't know, I wanted to to beable to hear all of the words
that they said not just theedited bars that made it into
(00:51):
the magazine, we were releasingthese back to back and now the
crew from Jack's farms, you canvisit T LYV Art mag.com To
download your issue view onlineor purchase the limited edition
copy. Alright, on to theinterview
(01:21):
Okay, so I'm, um, I'm recordingthis. And it's potential to be
like I want to release all theinterviews I've done to base the
articles off of that will be inthe magazine, I want to release
them on the podcast when themagazine comes out with nice
links and stuff like that, thatpeople can go and listen to the
(01:42):
the entire thing. So but this isreally like just just everything
else. It's really like thegeneral conversation. That's
really my writing style. So whenwe go into when I get this
transcribed, hopefully that'lltranslate really well. But I
wanted to start off by givingeverybody a chance to just
introduce themselves and tellhow you're connected, connected
(02:06):
to Jack's farms
Mule (02:08):
Will go first.
Will Jacks (02:12):
I'm Will Jax and I guess it's family land. And so
I'm connected to it through thefamily. I grew up spending a lot
of time out there on the farm.
And now I live in Alabama, andteach over here but still
communicate with Marshall andJesse a bit and try to help make
(02:32):
sure that we can get theresources needed to keep things
going there.
Mule (02:41):
I'm church goin Mule. I help here in the residency and
go through the applications andsocial media.
Jesse Brown (02:47):
How long have you been here,
Mule (02:48):
I moved here in October and I did my first residency
here in January of last year.
Jesse Brown (02:55):
Jessie Brown, a teach teach photography at Delta
State University. I myconnection here is I'm at will
in graduate school in Maine. Anda position opened up at a Delta
State. And I was lucky enough toget it and then will was kind
(03:15):
enough to kind of open his hometo me and I haven't left since.
And I've just kind of help outwherever, wherever I can. Yeah.
Derek Smith (03:29):
Now those who have listened previously to other
episodes will recognize will andmeal because they've been on the
podcast before and shared abouttheir lives. And hopefully Jesse
will get to have you on soontoo. Why don't you someone who
ever wants to just tell me aboutwhat Jack's Farms is.
Will Jacks (03:50):
I tell you what, I can start with some of the the
history and how we got to wherewe are today. And maybe Jesse
and Marshall can help fill infrom there. The farm itself, his
farm is a very loose term. Itwas not like a lot of farms in
the Mississippi Delta, not a bigmonocrop farm. We didn't farm
(04:13):
soybeans or cotton or anythinglike that. It was some land that
my great aunts lived on. Andthey purchased some time I
believe in the 1930s or 1940sand had a little house on the
property. And when I was a kidit's about two miles outside of
Cleveland in between Clevelandand Marigold, Mississippi. And
(04:33):
so as children, my my siblingsand I would go out to visit my
father's aunts and we would runaround with the chickens and the
goats and the cows and theywould milk and Sharpies under
the big oak tree that is nolonger there anymore,
unfortunately and when my auntspassed away my father took over
(04:54):
the property and began to slowlyrenovate the little house that
they were in to wear Theoriginal footprint of the house
is still there. But what existsnow looks very little like the
house that my great aunts livedin. And my father began to kind
of build a small horse farm. Andso he started with one horse and
one little lean to stall. Andthen that led to a second lien
(05:17):
two and a second horse and thenhis first barn and then a second
barn. And then eventually athird barn, which is what exists
now. He began to buy theproperty nearby so that at one
point, it totaled around 100acres. We in he and my mom built
their dream house and, and livedin that house for almost 10
years before he passed away. Andwhen he did, that house was just
(05:40):
too much for my mom to tend to.
And she wanted to move closer toOxford to be nearer sister. And
so my siblings had left theDelta years ago. And so I was
kind of left on the farm tofigure out how we could clean it
up and what it would be what wecould do to maintain it. And the
horses were long gone. Sincethen, when dad passed away, we
(06:01):
had two old horses left, andthey hadn't been written in
years. So we donated them to avery sweet couple in Alabama,
which actually don't live toofar from where I am now. And so
the barn was empty. And I alwaysthought that that barn would
make such a great art space. Andso we began to clean property up
Jesse was there our friendMichael Foster was on the farm
(06:23):
with us too, we spent a lot oftime moving stuff around and
cleaning up junk and trying tothrow things away and just
trying to get it to where it canbe functional again, in some
way. And and it felt like toomuch land to me and to my
family, for any one person orany one family to just live on
(06:43):
exclusively and kind of hoardfrom the rest of the world. And
so we decided to open it up toartists and, and as long as it
was in the family, that's kindof the goal is to have a space
where artists can come and workand engage with the Mississippi
Delta and kind of all of the,the creativity and the mystery,
(07:03):
and the wonder and the weight,and kind of all of those things
that are in the Delta. When Igot the job in Alabama, it was
kind of time for me to let go, Ialways felt like if it was
really going to work, we had tofind some way to give it over to
the artist as much as we could,I've always trusted that process
that whatever will happen isgoing to be determined by the
(07:26):
needs of those that are usingit. And so rather than over
build, we try to follow theneeds of the artist and part of
that was Marshall crossing pathswith us and that connection and
I mean up pretty early on Jesseright like she was probably
still on the farm and we weretalking about I wonder if
(07:46):
Marshall would want to move outhere and and be a part of all of
this and and so far I thinkwe've been pretty right about
that. So let's I'll take it fromthere because you're dealing
with the day to day of it now.
Jesse Brown (08:05):
Yeah, so what you repeat the question
Derek Smith (08:11):
well, I mean, he will will really you know, got
to the history of everything.
Why don't you tell like he said,Why don't you tell us a little
bit about what goes on day today?
Jesse Brown (08:21):
Um, you know, I think for me it's it's different
than then what Marshalls doing Imean Marshalls really I mean,
she's killing it like like thesocial posts the the engagement
with everything like it's thingsthat I think that will and I
(08:47):
maybe don't excel at or justdon't know how to how to engage
the way that the way the martialtoy the martial does and the
community that Marshalls a partof but for for me it's with
having a full time job withteaching and you know, having an
art practice so the farm for meas well. Going back up my day to
(09:13):
day is the horse barn like Ireally like I take care of the
horse barn I clean it because myapartment is kind of attached to
the barn and there's there's onestudio space in there that
hopefully people will start touse it's a really nice space
(09:36):
will and I kind of finished outwe raised the raise the roof a
little bit so there's plenty ofroom in there to to make I know
when will comes back and workson his work like that his work
is very large and so he canpretty much roll out you know
long sheets of of darker andpaper long rolls of doctrine
(09:59):
paper Then work, so there'splenty of space to work from.
And so hopefully, as more peopleget to calm, they'll start to
utilize all that space and thinkbig, you know, that's the,
that's the idea of it is havingall this space is like, you
know, just if, if space is anissue in your, in your normal,
you know, our practice likehere, like, that's not an issue.
(10:22):
Like there's acreage, andthere's plenty of room to make
monuments. So yeah, so my day today is, is really kind of been
Marshalls assistant, I think.
You know, I, I look at Marshallas a, almost like a property
(10:45):
manager. But way more than that,you know, and so I kind of
follow her lead. When I when Ican.
Mule (10:56):
Um, I just I've, and running social media, I'm
interested in sharing theresidency experience, because to
me, the first residency I everdid was, it proved that I was
serious about what I was doing.
And so, and it changed in thevarious ones I've done to change
my life. So it's just kind of Iwant to share that with people.
And I want to share what theMississippi Delta means to me,
(11:19):
I'm interested in getting peoplethat never been to Mississippi
talking about you never thoughtyou live here, kind of thing and
show them that I'm interested inconnecting with the community.
So I can show people from fromthe state that there's a lot
going on here, people werereally excited about art and
writing and anything you canimagine. And they want to be a
(11:40):
part of it. Like you were sayingearlier, people just want to be
part of something. And I thinkthis can be really something
like Hambidge in Georgia, youknow, or something like that. I
think it could be reallyterrific. But we're just waiting
for the artists to start showingup the end of the end of
February, and go from there andsee what they need and improve
on it.
Derek Smith (12:00):
So is the end of February. Is that going to be
your first residency you bringit on? Yes.
Mule (12:06):
This year? Yeah.
Will Jacks (12:08):
Yeah. We kind of I guess did a soft opening a part
of so when Jesse and I finished,we spent two summers in Maine
for graduate school, or I didJesse spent a full year up
there. And then you move down toMississippi for a second year
graduate school. And so I wasliving on the farm for about six
(12:32):
months before going to Maine andand just kind of hunkered down
and did some basic things whileI was there in the spring of
2019. And then, when we gotback, our friend Michael Foster,
who now lives outside of WaterValley does a lot of tintype
photography, and as a lot ofyour audience may probably is
(12:56):
familiar with Michael's work inone way or another. And so he
actually came and lived on thefarm that summer while I was in
Maine, and Michael kind ofstarted moving the wheel and
getting some things done outthere. And he was kind of
helping, my mom was still outthere then. And so he was kind
of helping to keep an eye on mymom while we were going for the
summer. And then Jesse and I gotback at the end of that summer
(13:18):
and began to clean up. And rightaway. We had a photographer from
Baltimore that just happened tocontact me through a friend
while we were in Maine. And sohe came and stayed with us. How
long was Karen there, Jessicaand Heidelberg, he was there for
almost a month, three weeks orso
Jesse Brown (13:37):
I think closer to five or six weeks.
Will Jacks (13:39):
So it was it was pretty good long term. So while
we didn't have kind of, quote,unquote, formal residencies, at
least at that point, we, we hadkind of a constant flow of
people that were coming andgoing creators and friends of
ours from around differentareas. And sometimes people that
were just contact us randomly.
And we very purposefully said,let's keep it kind of low key
(14:00):
martial was like the secondperson that came for a
residency. And part of that onour end was also by design
because we felt comfortable withmartial when we knew that if we
didn't have everything perfectthat Marshall would, wouldn't
necessarily hold it against us,but would also help us know what
we needed to address. And so wedidn't necessarily want to throw
(14:21):
the barn doors, pun intended,wide open without really knowing
what we were doing. And so wewanted to very kind of slowly
and quietly follow the lead ofeverything and see what we
needed to add. And so Marshallcame on in October, really in
December, we decided to kind ofstart pushing a little bit more
(14:43):
and let people know we existedand and so the residencies in
February are kind of theextension of that.
Derek Smith (14:54):
It's not just visual artists. It's open to to
many different disciplines,right?
Mule (15:01):
Let's well likes to say if you're dedicated to your
practice, we are dedicated togiving you the time and space to
pursue it. And that's I think,if you're really, whatever it is
that you're doing, likenaturalist, I think are a type
of artists and writers andmusicians. So it's open. It's a
pretty broad term, I think, butartists pretty broad. So yeah,
Will Jacks (15:20):
I'm a pretty firm believer that art equates to
thoughtfulness and how youchoose to express that in your
life is that varies with all ofus. But it's not just painting,
sculpture, photography, theater,dance, it's anything that
(15:40):
requires thinking outside thebox. And so, you know, we all
have aspects where we callsomebody, they're an artist at
what they do. And I do believein that I think that that phrase
comes from someone who iswilling to question everything
(16:01):
that they've been conditioned tounderstand about whatever their
medium is, that doesn't meannecessarily push against it, or
reject it. But they're willingto test it and question it and
think about it, and consider whythey accept the answers that
they accept.
Derek Smith (16:16):
Now, is it open to the public to visit at points in
time?
Mule (16:21):
I don't know if we've talked too much. I don't know
how we'll feels about it, Iwould like to say I think so.
With some advance notice.
Derek Smith (16:30):
I didn't know if at the end of a residency you had
any type of platform or daywhere people could visit and see
what they did during their time.
Mule (16:40):
I would probably leave that up to the artist, because
I've done a couple before. Andit's, it can be a time suck if
you're not interested in doingit. But if you are interested in
doing it, I think that it wasbetween the Delta Arts Alliance
and between the people aroundhere in the school, I think that
we could, we could do that ifthat was something that artists
was interested in. But it's nota requirement.
Derek Smith (17:00):
So what's the process for any artists that
wants to maybe come visit orstay?
Mule (17:07):
The applications on the website, it's pretty, pretty
simple, I think. And we'repretty laid back out here. So if
you don't have everything on theapplication, you know, we can we
can understand that moveforward. But it's just the
application and people can comevisit, and see what it looks
like if they want to I'm tryingto get we don't have too many
photos of the studios oranything. So I need to do that.
(17:28):
So people have a better idea.
But that's there's no fee, youjust send it in. I'm usually the
person looking at it. And I'llemail you back.
Derek Smith (17:37):
I mean, it's my first real year, right? I mean,
all of this is gonna slowlydevelop and I can't wait to see
what's going to happen with thisbecause it's exciting. your
website's beautiful.
Will Jacks (17:48):
No, thank you give a lot of credit to Hannah Bevins
who lived on the farm with meand Jesse and Michael, for how
long? Three months? Jesse?
Jesse Brown (18:01):
I was it was right at the pandemic. So into June.
Yeah, that timeframe? It seems Idon't know who? The spring of 20
Oh, runs. Yeah,
Will Jacks (18:15):
right. Yeah, she, Hannah did a lot of the work on
the website. And then we tweakedit a little bit here or there.
But I'd say the bulk of that isHannah's vision. And so she
deserves a lot of credit forthat. She's an artist living in
Maine now.
Derek Smith (18:34):
Is there anything that you would want the general
public to know about what you'redoing at Jack's farms?
Mule (18:42):
Well, I guess I'm sorry.
The first the main thing is thatwe're open to families coming
out to do art, if that'ssomething that mothers and
fathers are interested in doing,and we're pet friendly, and both
of those things are not commonin residencies. So I think
that's important thing to putout there.
Will Jacks (18:58):
Yeah, I was Marshall and I were communicating last
night I was I wasn't able tosleep early. So I found myself
reading Hyperallergic blog lastnight and kind of going down
some of those rabbit holes. Andsome of the things that we've
kind of been talking to I cameacross an article that just kind
of put language to some of thethings that Marshall and Jesse
(19:21):
and Michael and everybody that'sbeen on the farm have kind of
talked about for a while. But itwas an article specific to the
need for residencies to beattentive to families, and how
often artists are kind of pusheddown this path of making a
choice of family versus art, andparticularly women artists. And
(19:47):
how the residency systemtraditionally is not set up for
that part of its time a lot ofresidencies are two months to
six months. And while we we dohave our On the farm to, to pay
for the house because we stillhave fees that we have. But we
also have options, we've gotsome campers that we have out
(20:07):
there that if you can't affordto pay for the house, we can
give you an option out there.
And exchange, we just ask you towork for like four or five hours
a week help us with a few choresaround the farm. And you're
welcome to stay out there forthat. But I think that part of
that model of families isimportant. And I know that my
family would appreciate that.
(20:29):
And, and so some way that andwe're still figuring that out,
too. But I think some way thatit that we can help mothers and
fathers find time for theirmaking, while also not having to
leave their family for weeks ata time or even bring their
families out there. And familysometimes are our pets. And
(20:53):
that's certainly my case, my doggoes with me everywhere. And and
I know that's the case withMarshall as well with Wilbur. So
I think that's a big one. Andthen it's important to us to you
mentioned earlier, the questionabout doing things at the end of
a residency and Marshallsresponse was dead on about
(21:14):
leaving that up to the artist.
That's our biggest thing too, isit's whatever the artist wants
to do. And it's not necessarilythat you need to make any type
of work, or that you need tomake any volume of work if what
you need for your practice is tojust get away, and rest, sleep,
read walk, I think that's allpart of the practice. And so
it's important to us that wedon't require anything of the
(21:36):
artist other than to be presentand thoughtful. And whatever
comes out of that for the artistis pointing. And I think that's
a really important aspects, youknow, we often as makers, can
compare ourselves to the outputof others. And that's a
dangerous route to go. So wedon't want to force anything on
(22:01):
anybody just show up andwhatever it is you need. We're
there to support it as best wecan.
Derek Smith (22:09):
I really like that because a lot of the residency
programs that I see there are alot of obligations towards the
end of the residency to fill outa show are to present to
whoever's, normally, there's apatronage group of people that
are paying for this organizationto provide this residency and at
(22:29):
the end of it, they need to seea payoff. But yours is all
family oriented. And you'reyou're building this with
friends, and you're not buildingit with all the outside
influence. So it's reallyspecial that you're doing this
for artists, and not just justthe world, but you're giving
artists a place to go to createand be away from everybody else
(22:51):
and all other influence. Andespecially in the Delta, the
delta can be so inspiring, islike we're human, but I think
it's in the air. It's our scan,and just creativity sucks and a
little. But man, I reallyappreciate everything that y'all
are building, getting to watch,it's been great.
Will Jacks (23:10):
Well, thank you, hopefully we can keep it going.
I mean, we're not immune to therealities of the world that we
live in, we have bills to pay,we have structures that need to
be supported, you know, ourproperty is not pristine, but
But it's comfortable. And it'squiet. And I think those are
(23:30):
probably two of the mostimportant things like to say
that the only things artistsreally need are time, space and
resources. And, and creativitywill stem from that. And doesn't
have to be a five star resort.
There doesn't have to be 1000sand 1000s and 1000s of dollars
worth of high end equipment.
(23:53):
Both of those things can be nicebut creativity flourishes with
time space and resources.
Mule (23:59):
If you've never been to the delta will cause a dramatic
all the time that the sky can beincredibly dramatic and it's
it's really dramatic and magicaland it's not there's no other
place in the world like it soit's bringing people from Rhode
Island Vermont to see this iswhat's really exciting to me.
Derek Smith (24:18):
I think all of that's been beautiful and it's
gonna be perfect for thearticle. That was wonderful. If
there's anything else you'd wantto throw in for consideration
are that you would want to throwin because if this does air on
the podcast as well you've gotthis opportunity. Go ahead and
feel free.
Will Jacks (24:39):
I'll add one thing because it is a pragmatic part
of it. We did recently add alittle donate button so if
you're so inclined to want tohelp us out any I mean anything
helps five $10 Right now, we docharge a small fee to stay in
the house for a week or twoweeks or however long it is you
want to be there our hope wouldbe To get to where we could
(25:00):
completely waive that, and thatwe could offset the expense and
the artists could come at nocost to themselves, that very
much is a path that we wouldlike to take. But in order to
get there, we've got to figureout how to make sure the bills
are paid. And so that's probablycoming where we start asking for
a little more money here, downthe line. But right now our
(25:22):
focus is on these artists thatare coming pretty much from
February through the middle ofJune, almost nonstop. And and so
our attention is going to be onmaking sure their experiences is
as solid as we can make it andand then working out any
details. So Jesse and Marshallkind of Philomene when we need
to do this or this is broken, orhow do we handle that? So but we
(25:46):
do have a donate button.
Jesse Brown (25:49):
And also the if if the artists that stay here are
so inclined, there's the artdepartment of Delta State, they
could use it as a I don't wantto say as a resource but as a as
a means of conversation, toengage with students to engage
(26:10):
with faculty members. Also theDelta Arts Alliance is right
down the road. And so there aresome there are some external
resources that kind of extendbeyond beyond the farm that only
kind of elevates the experiencehere.
Mule (26:33):
Jack's farms.com and at Jack's farms on Instagrams, JX
farms.
Derek Smith (26:39):
Thank you as always, to our members, the
friends of the little yellowbuilding, Beth Breeland, Mary
Hardy, Jenny Moke, Evelyn PeavyJennifer Drinkwater, the Smith
family Gwen fury, Mary Adams,the Evans Family, Janet Smith,
Jenny Howard, Buffy Jordan andBob Ruzek.
Hello and welcome or welcome back to the
Mississippi artists to artistspodcast where we feature
contemporary artists living andworking in Mississippi. Today is
special today is the release ofthe TL YV, art mag, the very
first issue, it's a visual artsmagazine dedicated to the
contemporary artists living andworking in Mississippi. Three of
(00:31):
the articles in the magazinewere based on interviews that I
hosted over zoom, and we haveturned those into special
edition T lyb. Art maginterview, podcast things I
don't know, I wanted to to beable to hear all of the words
that they said not just theedited bars that made it into
(00:51):
the magazine, we were releasingthese back to back and now the
crew from Jack's farms, you canvisit T LYV Art mag.com To
download your issue view onlineor purchase the limited edition
copy. Alright, on to theinterview
(01:21):
Okay, so I'm, um, I'm recordingthis. And it's potential to be
like I want to release all theinterviews I've done to base the
articles off of that will be inthe magazine, I want to release
them on the podcast when themagazine comes out with nice
links and stuff like that, thatpeople can go and listen to the
(01:42):
the entire thing. So but this isreally like just just everything
else. It's really like thegeneral conversation. That's
really my writing style. So whenwe go into when I get this
transcribed, hopefully that'lltranslate really well. But I
wanted to start off by givingeverybody a chance to just
introduce themselves and tellhow you're connected, connected
(02:06):
to Jack's farms
Mule (02:08):
Will go first.
Will Jacks (02:12):
I'm Will Jax and I guess it's family land. And so
I'm connected to it through thefamily. I grew up spending a lot
of time out there on the farm.
And now I live in Alabama, andteach over here but still
communicate with Marshall andJesse a bit and try to help make
(02:32):
sure that we can get theresources needed to keep things
going there.
Mule (02:41):
I'm church goin Mule. I help here in the residency and
go through the applications andsocial media.
Jesse Brown (02:47):
How long have you been here,
Mule (02:48):
I moved here in October and I did my first residency
here in January of last year.
Jesse Brown (02:55):
Jessie Brown, a teach teach photography at Delta
State University. I myconnection here is I'm at will
in graduate school in Maine. Anda position opened up at a Delta
State. And I was lucky enough toget it and then will was kind
(03:15):
enough to kind of open his hometo me and I haven't left since.
And I've just kind of help outwherever, wherever I can. Yeah.
Derek Smith (03:29):
Now those who have listened previously to other
episodes will recognize will andmeal because they've been on the
podcast before and shared abouttheir lives. And hopefully Jesse
will get to have you on soontoo. Why don't you someone who
ever wants to just tell me aboutwhat Jack's Farms is.
Will Jacks (03:50):
I tell you what, I can start with some of the the
history and how we got to wherewe are today. And maybe Jesse
and Marshall can help fill infrom there. The farm itself, his
farm is a very loose term. Itwas not like a lot of farms in
the Mississippi Delta, not a bigmonocrop farm. We didn't farm
(04:13):
soybeans or cotton or anythinglike that. It was some land that
my great aunts lived on. Andthey purchased some time I
believe in the 1930s or 1940sand had a little house on the
property. And when I was a kidit's about two miles outside of
Cleveland in between Clevelandand Marigold, Mississippi. And
(04:33):
so as children, my my siblingsand I would go out to visit my
father's aunts and we would runaround with the chickens and the
goats and the cows and theywould milk and Sharpies under
the big oak tree that is nolonger there anymore,
unfortunately and when my auntspassed away my father took over
(04:54):
the property and began to slowlyrenovate the little house that
they were in to wear Theoriginal footprint of the house
is still there. But what existsnow looks very little like the
house that my great aunts livedin. And my father began to kind
of build a small horse farm. Andso he started with one horse and
one little lean to stall. Andthen that led to a second lien
(05:17):
two and a second horse and thenhis first barn and then a second
barn. And then eventually athird barn, which is what exists
now. He began to buy theproperty nearby so that at one
point, it totaled around 100acres. We in he and my mom built
their dream house and, and livedin that house for almost 10
years before he passed away. Andwhen he did, that house was just
(05:40):
too much for my mom to tend to.
And she wanted to move closer toOxford to be nearer sister. And
so my siblings had left theDelta years ago. And so I was
kind of left on the farm tofigure out how we could clean it
up and what it would be what wecould do to maintain it. And the
horses were long gone. Sincethen, when dad passed away, we
(06:01):
had two old horses left, andthey hadn't been written in
years. So we donated them to avery sweet couple in Alabama,
which actually don't live toofar from where I am now. And so
the barn was empty. And I alwaysthought that that barn would
make such a great art space. Andso we began to clean property up
Jesse was there our friendMichael Foster was on the farm
(06:23):
with us too, we spent a lot oftime moving stuff around and
cleaning up junk and trying tothrow things away and just
trying to get it to where it canbe functional again, in some
way. And and it felt like toomuch land to me and to my
family, for any one person orany one family to just live on
(06:43):
exclusively and kind of hoardfrom the rest of the world. And
so we decided to open it up toartists and, and as long as it
was in the family, that's kindof the goal is to have a space
where artists can come and workand engage with the Mississippi
Delta and kind of all of the,the creativity and the mystery,
(07:03):
and the wonder and the weight,and kind of all of those things
that are in the Delta. When Igot the job in Alabama, it was
kind of time for me to let go, Ialways felt like if it was
really going to work, we had tofind some way to give it over to
the artist as much as we could,I've always trusted that process
that whatever will happen isgoing to be determined by the
(07:26):
needs of those that are usingit. And so rather than over
build, we try to follow theneeds of the artist and part of
that was Marshall crossing pathswith us and that connection and
I mean up pretty early on Jesseright like she was probably
still on the farm and we weretalking about I wonder if
(07:46):
Marshall would want to move outhere and and be a part of all of
this and and so far I thinkwe've been pretty right about
that. So let's I'll take it fromthere because you're dealing
with the day to day of it now.
Jesse Brown (08:05):
Yeah, so what you repeat the question
Derek Smith (08:11):
well, I mean, he will will really you know, got
to the history of everything.
Why don't you tell like he said,Why don't you tell us a little
bit about what goes on day today?
Jesse Brown (08:21):
Um, you know, I think for me it's it's different
than then what Marshalls doing Imean Marshalls really I mean,
she's killing it like like thesocial posts the the engagement
with everything like it's thingsthat I think that will and I
(08:47):
maybe don't excel at or justdon't know how to how to engage
the way that the way the martialtoy the martial does and the
community that Marshalls a partof but for for me it's with
having a full time job withteaching and you know, having an
art practice so the farm for meas well. Going back up my day to
(09:13):
day is the horse barn like Ireally like I take care of the
horse barn I clean it because myapartment is kind of attached to
the barn and there's there's onestudio space in there that
hopefully people will start touse it's a really nice space
(09:36):
will and I kind of finished outwe raised the raise the roof a
little bit so there's plenty ofroom in there to to make I know
when will comes back and workson his work like that his work
is very large and so he canpretty much roll out you know
long sheets of of darker andpaper long rolls of doctrine
(09:59):
paper Then work, so there'splenty of space to work from.
And so hopefully, as more peopleget to calm, they'll start to
utilize all that space and thinkbig, you know, that's the,
that's the idea of it is havingall this space is like, you
know, just if, if space is anissue in your, in your normal,
you know, our practice likehere, like, that's not an issue.
(10:22):
Like there's acreage, andthere's plenty of room to make
monuments. So yeah, so my day today is, is really kind of been
Marshalls assistant, I think.
You know, I, I look at Marshallas a, almost like a property
(10:45):
manager. But way more than that,you know, and so I kind of
follow her lead. When I when Ican.
Mule (10:56):
Um, I just I've, and running social media, I'm
interested in sharing theresidency experience, because to
me, the first residency I everdid was, it proved that I was
serious about what I was doing.
And so, and it changed in thevarious ones I've done to change
my life. So it's just kind of Iwant to share that with people.
And I want to share what theMississippi Delta means to me,
(11:19):
I'm interested in getting peoplethat never been to Mississippi
talking about you never thoughtyou live here, kind of thing and
show them that I'm interested inconnecting with the community.
So I can show people from fromthe state that there's a lot
going on here, people werereally excited about art and
writing and anything you canimagine. And they want to be a
(11:40):
part of it. Like you were sayingearlier, people just want to be
part of something. And I thinkthis can be really something
like Hambidge in Georgia, youknow, or something like that. I
think it could be reallyterrific. But we're just waiting
for the artists to start showingup the end of the end of
February, and go from there andsee what they need and improve
on it.
Derek Smith (12:00):
So is the end of February. Is that going to be
your first residency you bringit on? Yes.
Mule (12:06):
This year? Yeah.
Will Jacks (12:08):
Yeah. We kind of I guess did a soft opening a part
of so when Jesse and I finished,we spent two summers in Maine
for graduate school, or I didJesse spent a full year up
there. And then you move down toMississippi for a second year
graduate school. And so I wasliving on the farm for about six
(12:32):
months before going to Maine andand just kind of hunkered down
and did some basic things whileI was there in the spring of
2019. And then, when we gotback, our friend Michael Foster,
who now lives outside of WaterValley does a lot of tintype
photography, and as a lot ofyour audience may probably is
(12:56):
familiar with Michael's work inone way or another. And so he
actually came and lived on thefarm that summer while I was in
Maine, and Michael kind ofstarted moving the wheel and
getting some things done outthere. And he was kind of
helping, my mom was still outthere then. And so he was kind
of helping to keep an eye on mymom while we were going for the
summer. And then Jesse and I gotback at the end of that summer
(13:18):
and began to clean up. And rightaway. We had a photographer from
Baltimore that just happened tocontact me through a friend
while we were in Maine. And sohe came and stayed with us. How
long was Karen there, Jessicaand Heidelberg, he was there for
almost a month, three weeks orso
Jesse Brown (13:37):
I think closer to five or six weeks.
Will Jacks (13:39):
So it was it was pretty good long term. So while
we didn't have kind of, quote,unquote, formal residencies, at
least at that point, we, we hadkind of a constant flow of
people that were coming andgoing creators and friends of
ours from around differentareas. And sometimes people that
were just contact us randomly.
And we very purposefully said,let's keep it kind of low key
(14:00):
martial was like the secondperson that came for a
residency. And part of that onour end was also by design
because we felt comfortable withmartial when we knew that if we
didn't have everything perfectthat Marshall would, wouldn't
necessarily hold it against us,but would also help us know what
we needed to address. And so wedidn't necessarily want to throw
(14:21):
the barn doors, pun intended,wide open without really knowing
what we were doing. And so wewanted to very kind of slowly
and quietly follow the lead ofeverything and see what we
needed to add. And so Marshallcame on in October, really in
December, we decided to kind ofstart pushing a little bit more
(14:43):
and let people know we existedand and so the residencies in
February are kind of theextension of that.
Derek Smith (14:54):
It's not just visual artists. It's open to to
many different disciplines,right?
Mule (15:01):
Let's well likes to say if you're dedicated to your
practice, we are dedicated togiving you the time and space to
pursue it. And that's I think,if you're really, whatever it is
that you're doing, likenaturalist, I think are a type
of artists and writers andmusicians. So it's open. It's a
pretty broad term, I think, butartists pretty broad. So yeah,
Will Jacks (15:20):
I'm a pretty firm believer that art equates to
thoughtfulness and how youchoose to express that in your
life is that varies with all ofus. But it's not just painting,
sculpture, photography, theater,dance, it's anything that
(15:40):
requires thinking outside thebox. And so, you know, we all
have aspects where we callsomebody, they're an artist at
what they do. And I do believein that I think that that phrase
comes from someone who iswilling to question everything
(16:01):
that they've been conditioned tounderstand about whatever their
medium is, that doesn't meannecessarily push against it, or
reject it. But they're willingto test it and question it and
think about it, and consider whythey accept the answers that
they accept.
Derek Smith (16:16):
Now, is it open to the public to visit at points in
time?
Mule (16:21):
I don't know if we've talked too much. I don't know
how we'll feels about it, Iwould like to say I think so.
With some advance notice.
Derek Smith (16:30):
I didn't know if at the end of a residency you had
any type of platform or daywhere people could visit and see
what they did during their time.
Mule (16:40):
I would probably leave that up to the artist, because
I've done a couple before. Andit's, it can be a time suck if
you're not interested in doingit. But if you are interested in
doing it, I think that it wasbetween the Delta Arts Alliance
and between the people aroundhere in the school, I think that
we could, we could do that ifthat was something that artists
was interested in. But it's nota requirement.
Derek Smith (17:00):
So what's the process for any artists that
wants to maybe come visit orstay?
Mule (17:07):
The applications on the website, it's pretty, pretty
simple, I think. And we'repretty laid back out here. So if
you don't have everything on theapplication, you know, we can we
can understand that moveforward. But it's just the
application and people can comevisit, and see what it looks
like if they want to I'm tryingto get we don't have too many
photos of the studios oranything. So I need to do that.
(17:28):
So people have a better idea.
But that's there's no fee, youjust send it in. I'm usually the
person looking at it. And I'llemail you back.
Derek Smith (17:37):
I mean, it's my first real year, right? I mean,
all of this is gonna slowlydevelop and I can't wait to see
what's going to happen with thisbecause it's exciting. your
website's beautiful.
Will Jacks (17:48):
No, thank you give a lot of credit to Hannah Bevins
who lived on the farm with meand Jesse and Michael, for how
long? Three months? Jesse?
Jesse Brown (18:01):
I was it was right at the pandemic. So into June.
Yeah, that timeframe? It seems Idon't know who? The spring of 20
Oh, runs. Yeah,
Will Jacks (18:15):
right. Yeah, she, Hannah did a lot of the work on
the website. And then we tweakedit a little bit here or there.
But I'd say the bulk of that isHannah's vision. And so she
deserves a lot of credit forthat. She's an artist living in
Maine now.
Derek Smith (18:34):
Is there anything that you would want the general
public to know about what you'redoing at Jack's farms?
Mule (18:42):
Well, I guess I'm sorry.
The first the main thing is thatwe're open to families coming
out to do art, if that'ssomething that mothers and
fathers are interested in doing,and we're pet friendly, and both
of those things are not commonin residencies. So I think
that's important thing to putout there.
Will Jacks (18:58):
Yeah, I was Marshall and I were communicating last
night I was I wasn't able tosleep early. So I found myself
reading Hyperallergic blog lastnight and kind of going down
some of those rabbit holes. Andsome of the things that we've
kind of been talking to I cameacross an article that just kind
of put language to some of thethings that Marshall and Jesse
(19:21):
and Michael and everybody that'sbeen on the farm have kind of
talked about for a while. But itwas an article specific to the
need for residencies to beattentive to families, and how
often artists are kind of pusheddown this path of making a
choice of family versus art, andparticularly women artists. And
(19:47):
how the residency systemtraditionally is not set up for
that part of its time a lot ofresidencies are two months to
six months. And while we we dohave our On the farm to, to pay
for the house because we stillhave fees that we have. But we
also have options, we've gotsome campers that we have out
(20:07):
there that if you can't affordto pay for the house, we can
give you an option out there.
And exchange, we just ask you towork for like four or five hours
a week help us with a few choresaround the farm. And you're
welcome to stay out there forthat. But I think that part of
that model of families isimportant. And I know that my
family would appreciate that.
(20:29):
And, and so some way that andwe're still figuring that out,
too. But I think some way thatit that we can help mothers and
fathers find time for theirmaking, while also not having to
leave their family for weeks ata time or even bring their
families out there. And familysometimes are our pets. And
(20:53):
that's certainly my case, my doggoes with me everywhere. And and
I know that's the case withMarshall as well with Wilbur. So
I think that's a big one. Andthen it's important to us to you
mentioned earlier, the questionabout doing things at the end of
a residency and Marshallsresponse was dead on about
(21:14):
leaving that up to the artist.
That's our biggest thing too, isit's whatever the artist wants
to do. And it's not necessarilythat you need to make any type
of work, or that you need tomake any volume of work if what
you need for your practice is tojust get away, and rest, sleep,
read walk, I think that's allpart of the practice. And so
it's important to us that wedon't require anything of the
(21:36):
artist other than to be presentand thoughtful. And whatever
comes out of that for the artistis pointing. And I think that's
a really important aspects, youknow, we often as makers, can
compare ourselves to the outputof others. And that's a
dangerous route to go. So wedon't want to force anything on
(22:01):
anybody just show up andwhatever it is you need. We're
there to support it as best wecan.
Derek Smith (22:09):
I really like that because a lot of the residency
programs that I see there are alot of obligations towards the
end of the residency to fill outa show are to present to
whoever's, normally, there's apatronage group of people that
are paying for this organizationto provide this residency and at
(22:29):
the end of it, they need to seea payoff. But yours is all
family oriented. And you'reyou're building this with
friends, and you're not buildingit with all the outside
influence. So it's reallyspecial that you're doing this
for artists, and not just justthe world, but you're giving
artists a place to go to createand be away from everybody else
(22:51):
and all other influence. Andespecially in the Delta, the
delta can be so inspiring, islike we're human, but I think
it's in the air. It's our scan,and just creativity sucks and a
little. But man, I reallyappreciate everything that y'all
are building, getting to watch,it's been great.
Will Jacks (23:10):
Well, thank you, hopefully we can keep it going.
I mean, we're not immune to therealities of the world that we
live in, we have bills to pay,we have structures that need to
be supported, you know, ourproperty is not pristine, but
But it's comfortable. And it'squiet. And I think those are
(23:30):
probably two of the mostimportant things like to say
that the only things artistsreally need are time, space and
resources. And, and creativitywill stem from that. And doesn't
have to be a five star resort.
There doesn't have to be 1000sand 1000s and 1000s of dollars
worth of high end equipment.
(23:53):
Both of those things can be nicebut creativity flourishes with
time space and resources.
Mule (23:59):
If you've never been to the delta will cause a dramatic
all the time that the sky can beincredibly dramatic and it's
it's really dramatic and magicaland it's not there's no other
place in the world like it soit's bringing people from Rhode
Island Vermont to see this iswhat's really exciting to me.
Derek Smith (24:18):
I think all of that's been beautiful and it's
gonna be perfect for thearticle. That was wonderful. If
there's anything else you'd wantto throw in for consideration
are that you would want to throwin because if this does air on
the podcast as well you've gotthis opportunity. Go ahead and
feel free.
Will Jacks (24:39):
I'll add one thing because it is a pragmatic part
of it. We did recently add alittle donate button so if
you're so inclined to want tohelp us out any I mean anything
helps five $10 Right now, we docharge a small fee to stay in
the house for a week or twoweeks or however long it is you
want to be there our hope wouldbe To get to where we could
(25:00):
completely waive that, and thatwe could offset the expense and
the artists could come at nocost to themselves, that very
much is a path that we wouldlike to take. But in order to
get there, we've got to figureout how to make sure the bills
are paid. And so that's probablycoming where we start asking for
a little more money here, downthe line. But right now our
(25:22):
focus is on these artists thatare coming pretty much from
February through the middle ofJune, almost nonstop. And and so
our attention is going to be onmaking sure their experiences is
as solid as we can make it andand then working out any
details. So Jesse and Marshallkind of Philomene when we need
to do this or this is broken, orhow do we handle that? So but we
(25:46):
do have a donate button.
Jesse Brown (25:49):
And also the if if the artists that stay here are
so inclined, there's the artdepartment of Delta State, they
could use it as a I don't wantto say as a resource but as a as
a means of conversation, toengage with students to engage
(26:10):
with faculty members. Also theDelta Arts Alliance is right
down the road. And so there aresome there are some external
resources that kind of extendbeyond beyond the farm that only
kind of elevates the experiencehere.
Mule (26:33):
Jack's farms.com and at Jack's farms on Instagrams, JX
farms.
Derek Smith (26:39):
Thank you as always, to our members, the
friends of the little yellowbuilding, Beth Breeland, Mary
Hardy, Jenny Moke, Evelyn PeavyJennifer Drinkwater, the Smith
family Gwen fury, Mary Adams,the Evans Family, Janet Smith,
Jenny Howard, Buffy Jordan andBob Ruzek.
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