Fall Campaign Artist Spotlight: Jonathan Adamshaspert
Published: November 30, 2018
Categories: Artists | Fall Campaign | Spotlight | Visual
Since 1986, Artist Trust is proud to have forged long, meaningful relationships with artists throughout their careers, strengthening Washington State’s creative community together. This fall, we are proud to spotlight just a few of the thousands of artists who have become a vital part of the Artist Trust community—as grant recipients, workshop participants, teachers, mentors and panelists.
Photographer and printmaker Jonathan Adamshaspert first encountered Artist Trust at the Get to Know Spokane’s Arts Organizations & Resources Workshop in 2017, and received a Grants for Artist Projects (GAP) award shortly after to support Sandbox Silence: Memories of Sand, a collection of 45 11×14” prints that provide an alternative perspective of war through the lens of the unseen moments between firefights. We caught up with Jonathan to hear how Artist Trust has impacted his career, and why he believes it is vital to support artists today.
When you support our fall fund drive before December 31, you ensure that artists like Jonathan have what they need to take risks, fuel change, and lead Washington State’s creative community bravely into the future. Give now!
How did you first hear about/get involved with Artist Trust?
I first became involved with Artist Trust towards the end of my understudy as a printmaker under the tutelage of Dr. Gregory Roth. After hearing countless stories of photographic projects being funded by grants, I started searching and saw a flyer for Artist Trust and the GAP program. “Where do I attend a GAP workshop?” was the best question I ever asked.
As a GAP recipient and workshop participant, what keeps you coming back to Artist Trust?
Artist Trust keeps me grounded in the community and connected to my fellow artists. The wide array of programs and social initiatives at the community level in the arts enables me to continuously renew my knowledge base, make networking connections, and stay abreast of current events in the arts community within our wonderful state at large.
How has Artist Trust impacted your experience as an artist over time?
The impact that Artist Trust has had on my experience as an artist over time has been one of encouragement, hope, and renewal. Each workshop attended has built upon the previous, and the GAP award enabled a project to come to life. It has been a positive experience which continues on a daily basis both here in the studio and in the community. The largest impact that Artist Trust has had on my experience as an artist over time is the quiet simple reserve of continued belief that the work I’m doing has meaning to the community and to the arts. It is this that I am most thankful for.
Why do you think people should support individual artists?
We support our doctors because they heal our wounds, tend to our infirm, our newborns, and our elderly. We support our teachers because they educate the minds of the next generation who will be the caretakers of this world when our vision has dimmed and hands have grown frail. Should we not then support artists as well? They are our storytellers in their various persona or anima who are living fulcrum upon which the creative spark of the muse, or conscience if you will, of the testament of the spirit of each generation resides in this world. Without artists to show him the possibilities of the light of beauty in this world, mankind is lost to his own despair without so much as a spark in the darkness within which he walks. By supporting artists, patrons of the arts help to ensure the continuation of the story of humanity. Or as the venerable Walt Whitman once put it, “…The story of us…”
