JNP|Arte
Jessi Crum
August 2007
 
 
We had the chance to sit down with Mrs. Jessi Crum one sunny afternoon and have a little chat about her contributions to
JNP|Arte
 
JNP-  Jessi, how long have you been doing art?
 
Jessi- My whole life basically, since i was old enough to hold a pencil in my fist and scribble.
 
JNP
JNP- What are some of your favorite pieces that you've done?    
 
Jessi- Well, my very favorite is "Knowledge" the one of Adam and Eve, cause I really enjoy religious art work. Like the old-fashioned religious medieval art work, because it's an interesting tradition. I like the way people HAD to use art to tell stories back then.  We don't have to now, but I think it's something worth preserving. It's a good way to have interesting, meaningful art work; and ultimately it's a way to use my art as a form of worship and demonstrate God to other people.
 
 
JNP- So why do you think religious art work is important?
 
Jessi- Well, I think a lot of art becomes all about the artist, and I don't want to get stuck doing art that's just all about me and about how I feel and what I like. I would like to do art that when they see it they don't even think about me, they only think about what the picture is, whether it's a drawing of a mountain or a person or a story.  I like the idea that when someone sees something I've done, that they think about God and not about me.
 
But also I want it to be aesthetically pleasing, whereas a lot of art that's religious is JUST  religious and doesn't have artistic value because it's not really original and it's not really good.  So there is a difficult balance to do something that has artistic value and is aesthetically pleasing all the while, bringing glory to God.
 
JNP- Jessi you have alot of abstract stuff as well, that is a very unique style, very high contrast--
 
Jessi- I really like surealism A LOT (laughs)
 
JNP- Mrs. Crum...
 
Jessi- Yes?
 
JNP- Tell us a little bit, what inspired the J. Nebthos tree?
 
Jessi-  Um, actually there are several, but I know you're talking about the one with the man's shadow.  
 
JNP- right.
 
Jessi- That particular one-- I'm having a hard time remembering exactly why I drew it that way.
 
JNP- I remember you presented it to me at your house. I went over to your house--
 
JNP- and you showed it to me, and I was like (GASP!)
 
Jessi- Yes.
 
JNP- I died.
 
Jessi- Oh!  Well.  I can't remember what the deal with trees was.  I thought J. Nebthos was a lot like a tree.  And I remember we were talking about how it was like a tree, with a lot of different branches that went off all over the place.
 
JNP- Wow.  Really?
 
Jessi- I remember you talking about that.  You were telling me-- I think it was a conversation we had about John Nebthos and how it was a tree with lots of different branches in every other area, you know.  Some sort of metaphor like that.  And I can't remember if I was doing the tree drawings because of that, or if I drew the drawings and then we started relating John Nebthos to the tree.  I can't remember, but they were related somehow.  And that's why I did the tree with the hat in it, and the tree that's just a plain tree. and then the tree with the shadow.  And the tree with the shadow I did just because I was trying to kind of illustrate John Nebthos is everywhere.  And you can't see him.  Like he's hiding behind an impossibly skinny tree, but you can see his shadow there.
 
JNP- Now, I've had a lot of people walk up to me, and a lot of people think it's more about death, that he's dead.
 
Jessi- Well, it does look kind of like he's got something driven through his head.  I mean, if you don't know that's a hat.
 
JNP- right.
 
Jessi- It looks kind of odd.  I mean, I didn't really spend much time on that particular drawing.  It was just kind of for fun.  But it ended up being the one we used all of the time.
 
JNP-  So then, in your opinion, it's definitely a shadow of the tree.
 
Jessi-  Yeah.  It's supposed to be-- He's supposed to be behind the tree, or maybe he is the tree or something.  And you can't see him, but there's a shadow there, so you know he's there somewhere.
 
JNP- Okay. Cool. And so the clouds and the sun, they don't really mean anything, I imagine.
 
Jessi-  Well the sun's there because I felt like I needed a light source in the picture, and so that's why he's got a shadow, because the sun's on that side casting it.
 
JNP- And these are definitely Jessi clouds, by all means.  Very Mario 2.
 
Jessi- Yes, very.  (laughter)   I'm very-- I like very sharp, crisp lines and high contrast graphic stuff.
 
JNP- How did you develop that style of high contrast type--
 
Jessi- I really don't know.  I remember, I got some of those really awesome black Faber-Castell pens that I use all the time now.  And I think someone gave them to me as a present.  I really liked them because they made really narrow little lines.  
 
And I was just kinda playing around with all my little sketchbooks that I used to carry around everywhere; and I made this little, like, I don't know, design of like-- kind of like the ones I make all the time now: little skinny lines, some fatter lines, and then I colored it in in-between the lines with a colored marker and thought this is pretty neat, you know.  It's kind of a fun way to draw.
 
JNP- Well it certainly defined the JNP and we look forward to more JNP|Jessi Arte...
 
Jessi- Yay! Thanks for interviewing me!
 
JNP- Its always great to sit down and talk about JNP with you...
 
 
 
For more of Jessi Crum’s works check out
www.jessicrum.com