Christian Solorzano [00:48]

Hello, you are listening to Underscore, a show by the Chicago Graphic Design Club. I am your host, Christian Solorzano, and in today's conversation, I speak with artist, designer, and photographer Jamie Gannon about seeing the ordinary in new ways. Jamie has mastered the art of taking what's familiar and presenting it in an entirely new perspective. He transforms everyday architecture into something that demands our attention, compelling us to pause and observe our environments.

His careful, detailed approach to capturing and recreating buildings shows us how much beauty we overlook when we're moving through the world on autopilot. Our conversation explores how Jamie's transition from commercial graphic design to fine art has led him to value craft and handmade work in an increasingly digital world. We discuss his recent move to a new studio here in Chicago and his process of documenting Chicago's architecture before it disappears. Jamie's work raises important questions about preservation in a rapidly changing urban landscape.

Many of the buildings he documents have since been demolished, making his photographs acts of historical preservation. We talk about the responsibility of artists to bear witness to their environments and how slowing down to truly see can reveal poetry in the most ordinary places. This conversation will resonate with anyone interested in developing their observational skills, understanding the creative process, or appreciating the beauty hidden in plain sight. Join us as we learn how curiosity and careful looking can transform our relationship with the world around us.

Jamie Gannon [02:42]

Thank you, Jamie.

Christian Solorzano [02:42]

Thank you so much for listening. And if you enjoy the show, we really appreciate you leaving us a rating wherever you listen. Thank you and enjoy the conversation. Good morning, Jamie. How's it going?

Jamie Gannon [02:59]

Good morning, Christian. Doing well. Thanks.

Christian Solorzano [03:02]

So you just had a successful weekend. This past weekend, you had your— you opened up your studio. You have a new studio at Mana here in Chicago. And it was very nice to see you in your environment surrounded by your work, be able to see how you work, your space. So can you talk to us about your new space since that's like the latest development?

Jamie Gannon [03:34]

Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [03:34]

In the world of Jamie.

Jamie Gannon [03:35]

Yeah, it is. It's really exciting. I think a long time coming. I've been working out of my home, the living room, and that I kind of overtook over the living room space with all of my artwork and wasn't kind to my partner in that sense. We didn't have a real place to kind of hang out. So Mana made sense to me and I want to be part of that community. And there's so many great talents there.

I took a small space, but it does have a clerestory window. So that was good. I saw some other spaces that were just no windows at all, and I wasn't feeling it there. Yeah, I'm kind of slowly transitioning. I will soon be spending, wow, 8 to 10, 12 hours a day there.

Christian Solorzano [04:18]

Do you anticipate any changes happening in your work because you're now in this new environment? Is there any fear or excitement about just kind of taking what you, you're used to and now being in a, having neighbors that are also artists? Any thoughts there?

Jamie Gannon [04:38]

Oh, tremendous excitement. This will afford me a space where I can work much larger and get more into painting. I've been focusing on photography, and that will still be the focus, but the paintings that result from these experiences of the built environment and place— Just about to happen, and I'm terribly excited.

Christian Solorzano [05:04]

Amazing. So you and I have talked briefly about your relationship to Chicago and how you made it from Tennessee to Chicago. And I would love to give the listeners an opportunity to hear from you about how you ended up here in the city for, you've been here for decades now.

Jamie Gannon [05:23]

Yeah, about 30 years. Yeah, that was interesting. I, back in the early '90s, About '94, I went to New York with my sister, and she encouraged me to bring my portfolio. And I happened to hear of a headhunter, Jeanne Pactor, and I paid a visit to them, and they were excited about the work, and they asked if they could send my work off to Chicago. And I said, sure, no problem.

And 2 weeks later, I get a call from Stephen Bagby from Bagby Design, and he had an interest and invited me in for an interview. So this all happened in like a, I don't know, 3, 4 week time. And then got a job offer and I was on my way in the U-Haul.

Christian Solorzano [06:14]

Yeah. And that was, that was to Chicago or that was— Okay. To Chicago. Okay.

Jamie Gannon [06:21]

The interview or the headhunter was in New York and it could have gone to New York, I guess, perhaps, but Chicago was always of interest. And fortunately, the Chicago offer.

Christian Solorzano [06:31]

Okay. And I know reading through you, so one of the things that I really love about your posts on social media is that you tend to give us very personal stories into your family. And just your background, your history. And I know that creativity, like you've kind of been in creative spaces for much of your life. Your family members, had associations with, Frank Lloyd Wright is one of those names. So did you— what was your childhood like?

Have you always had interest in making and creating meaning? And just curious about, Little Jamie, what was he up to?

Jamie Gannon [07:16]

Yeah, I knew that art would be my profession from earlier. There was just no question about it. My sister Laney, 4 years older, she was a practicing artist in high school and very involved. I'm sure I was following in her footsteps, but it was my mom who was the true collaborator, and she was the first one I'd share anything with. I was the last of 4 kids, but so it was me and my mom all the time. And she was an incredible creative herself.

This past summer, in the fall, we had a show. I had a show with my sister in Nashville, and we were able to hang some of my mom's artwork amongst ours, kind of to pay homage to her. She was, she was the daughter of Clare Ditchie.

And he was president of the American Institute of Architects in the late '40s. He died when I was 5, so I can't say that I knew him well, although I have a couple of little memories. And she went to New York after high school before getting married and worked with Florence Knoll. She was Florence Knoll's personal assistant. You've probably heard of Knoll Furniture. So that's quite interesting and quite cool.

Yeah, so, and she and I, the very— you often ask people about their first graphic design memory or first— She and I collaborated on an identity for a friend of the family's fruitcake, Matilda's Fruitcake, and we developed the whole brand together before I even really understood what we were doing. She developed this little cut paper illustration and I wrapped some type around it, and a few weeks later we're getting packages from the client.

The designs on it, and that just, that set me off on, this is so much fun.

Christian Solorzano [09:05]

Yeah. Yeah. I love, I love stories like that. And what was that show like? You had that show, it was no late last year, November 2024 with your sister Sibling Revelry. Yeah. So yeah. Can you talk to us just a little bit more about what was on display? Everything leading up to it?

Jamie Gannon [09:27]

Yeah. I got a call from my sister. She had been offered a show in November of last year, about 9 or 10 months prior. And she wanted to show, and she spoke to the gallerist and said, what if I did it with my brother? So give her credit for giving me that opportunity. And it is Zeitgeist Gallery. It's a great gallery in Nashville.

And I said, absolutely. I've been developing a body of work for the past For years, basically, and knew this time would come, or I had a feeling it would. I didn't know I would show there, but the opportunity presented itself and I took it very seriously. For 9 months, I pretty much focused on that, and by the time the show came around, I had probably 20 works. I mean, my oldest sister said, Jamie, that looks like a retrospective.

No, this is just the work that I'm currently pursuing. And the opening was just tremendous because having grown up in Nashville, so many friends and family came through, both from my side and from my sister's side. And a lot of our friends cross over. And it was 100 people. It was really lovely. Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [10:45]

Yeah. And one of the things that I see you do quite often in your art, especially the art that I've been seeing most recently of yours is that you take architecture and you kind of decontextualize it and kind of make it unfamiliar. And I'm reading this, you wrote this, I attempt to make architecture and objects unfamiliar, to make forms oddly beautiful, and to increase the duration of a viewer's perception. So where does that come from? Because it's such a unique way of looking at everyday—

Mundane architecture that we're used to seeing, but then to kind of take it apart and reconstruct it. To me, I think it's so interesting, and I'm curious about where that interest comes from and if that's something that is recent or if that's something that you've always been interested in.

Jamie Gannon [11:39]

Well, it is. I think I have always been interested in seeing differently. Defamiliarization is an estrangement where you take the Familiar, make it unfamiliar so you look at it in a different way. It's kind of at the crux of that expression. I was looking online at Mort Goldschall, who Chris or Rick Valicenti mentions in his interview with you. Anyway, Millie Goldschall did a video animation probably in the '50s, Up is Down.

And it's about a boy that was born who walks on his hands and sees everything upside down, basically. And it's just, it's so cute. You should find it on YouTube. But that is like, I want to take what's familiar, turn it upside down, turn it sideways, have a new view of it, and perhaps learn something from that.

Christian Solorzano [12:35]

Yeah. And your interest in architecture. So you tend to, you create these posts, these digital artifacts online in which you speak about the history behind some of these buildings that you're documenting. And in my way, you're kind of playing the role of some kind of cultural steward in which you're not only preserving the legacy of these buildings, but you're also presenting them in a new light.

And maybe I'm curious to hear what you think your role is in all of this stuff, because to me, I think it goes beyond just art making, but it's much deeper than that. Would you say that that's correct?

Jamie Gannon [13:23]

That's spot on. I do. I feel like I'm paying homage to the original architect, preserving the building. In some ways, it's an archaeological effort. And in the way that I photograph these structures, these places, I take extreme close-ups, so one photograph is probably composed of like 30 different pictures from close-up range so that the files are so detailed. When you see one at the proper size in real life, it becomes an object itself.

It's kind of like, how is this possible? How can all this detail be in one picture? It's a craft picture. And I build— I basically build the buildings, but I do it digitally and visually and photographically. And I'm very intent on not covering up the blemishes. Whatever's there is there, and I maintain that. And, oh, most often it's the front and the back. So you're seeing these buildings in a different way, but you're in a more complete way than you ever could on your own.

Christian Solorzano [14:32]

Yeah. Well, and what do you think is your desired— what do you want people to leave with when they look at your work? Do you, do you think about that, or it just doesn't— or does it not matter?

Jamie Gannon [14:46]

Sure it does. I want people to be intrigued by the buildings themselves and may pay attention to the history. Many of the buildings I've photographed have been torn down, so I feel like I'm preserving history in a way. In the way that I perceive these, the portraits of the buildings are what I call the original build. And then from there, I start to make new expressions, which I think extend that experience. Those are called new constructions. And I'll abstract that in a new way.

And ultimately, the final expression are paintings that deal with the building itself, aspects of it, details of it. And then I spend a lot of time using Google aerial views. To study the environment itself. And I'm informed by— there's the grid, there's lots of geometry. Of course, our world is just made of geometry. And those become part of these pictures of place, the poetry that I find in that space and that place on our earth.

Christian Solorzano [15:54]

Yeah, I do love the way that you position the viewer through, for example, through your posts where you're taking an aerial view and then you're kind of zooming in and you're taking us on that journey until we finally see, the work or the building. And I think that that's just a really captivating way of telling that story. As opposed to just showing it flat, in front of you, you're taking us along in the journey, which I really like.

Jamie Gannon [16:29]

Absolutely. Yeah, I had a chance to fill the show to have some of the videos playing. Yeah, you could watch the video and understand how I got to where I ended up. And these videos were hanging adjacent to the work itself. So that was very fun. And I— that's another area I hope to Explore more fully.

Christian Solorzano [16:49]

There's also— so you're— I would say there's Jamie, the artist, and then there's also Jamie the commercial graphic designer, which you have a lot of experience with, and you have, Surprise Media. So yeah, do those 2 worlds have a relationship with each other, or do you see them as separates? Obviously doing corporate work for brands like ION is very different than, deconstructing a building and painting. Or do you see them to be kind of in the same spirit?

Jamie Gannon [17:18]

I do see them in the same spirit, although there's distinct differences, I suppose. The processes can be the same. The act of discovery when you have a project, there's very much similar. You take in all the information that you possibly can and sift that. But in terms of my personal work versus client work, the client work Happens, obviously, as designers, we consider our choices very strategic.

And they kind of need to be to solve the client's communication need. And there's great fun in that as well. But in terms of my personal work, at some point I need to turn off that strategy. And I think of it as creating through, not strategically, but through awareness. Now it's just intuition coming into play more with the paintings and the new constructions based on my original builds, which are the buildings that I've documented.

That's a distinctive difference. But the collaborative aspect I truly love, and that's what design brings. And I hope never to give that up. I'm hoping, and I'm possibly seeing this come to fruition with my personal work. Working with West Shore Community College, and I'm doing a study on a nearby community called Custer. And I'll be visiting them this week, actually, and working with the president of the university on a collaborative project on a commission. And so here comes my collaborative design process into play.

But in a more personal expression. I hope to do more of that. I still love design, my whole life has been design. To play in both fields, it's a difficult thing and it's to be determined but there are success stories, I think. Cody Hudson being one, there's a ton. Paula Scher, her great design work and she's done these incredible paintings. Stefan Sagmeister, of course, he's doing solo shows now. Incredible. And so I'm hoping to have one foot in both camps, I think, and see what happens.

But lead with my personal work at the moment and see where that takes me.

Christian Solorzano [19:45]

And how long— so you talked a little bit about intuition, and I'm curious about how you, how you've grown to trust your intuition or your aesthetic or your style. Is that something that came naturally to you, or how— just what was the evolution of your creative practice? And has there been any significant milestones along the way that have kind of like made a mark, a lasting mark on you, whether it's a project or hearing something from someone or experiencing something?

What have been some of those defining— moments that you feel like make up much of what you do today?

Jamie Gannon [20:32]

I do think the work I'm doing now and the work I'm excited to do is a culmination of all my experiences. In college, I made a conscious effort to study printmaking instead of graphic design. I had been growing up in Nashville amongst a bunch of creatives and musicians. I was I was doing album covers, actual album covers in high school and working with different musicians.

And so I was— I had a strong sense of design early on, and I knew that I'd be practicing that my whole life.

So why not now in college? Let's study printmaking because I love, I love the science that goes into printmaking and the processes are really quite fun. So while I was doing that, studying printmaking, there was a company in Nashville or Knoxville, Whittle Communications, and they were a publishing company, and they gave a night class, and all the art directors were there. And I said, I've got to take that class. This is this is really quite amazing.

So I did, and I got a summer job through that, and that was an amazing experience. Knoxville at that time there was a company that did some of the greatest publishing that were— that was happening kind of internationally. I think this was— there was a collection of talent in one spot that you just— that was hard to believe, with editors, art directors, and it was in my backyard, and I didn't even have to go looking.

Yeah, so I fell into my lap in a wonderful way, and from there I learned a lot of the process of how to put a magazine together and work with editors and illustrators and photographers. And I had— after that summer job, I had one more year at school in printmaking, and the opportunity to design the literary art magazine at the University of Tennessee presented itself. And I worked with kind of a team of students.

We had carte blanche to do whatever we wanted to do, and I took that really seriously, and I basically Focused on that solely, kind of gave up all my other academic efforts in that 3 or 4 month time because I just knew how important this was going to be.

That was another great experience that just happened to, land in my lap. And from there, I kind of, I had an automatic job at this company called Whittle Communications and went right from printmaking right into magazine design. And did that for a number of years with incredible people. And yeah, that's— that kind of helped form the future of my work, at least.

Christian Solorzano [23:22]

Yeah. And were there any strong influences? Or I think sometimes as a young designer, we look— we have heroes, and we kind of maybe subconsciously or maybe consciously, we want to kind of emulate their style or just do the kind of stuff that they're doing. Were there any people at that time that you just kind of aspire to achieve like their level, or, any voices in your head? You get what I'm saying?

Jamie Gannon [23:55]

Yeah, absolutely. And I think we talked about it before, but Rick Valicenti was first and foremost the creative that I looked at most closely. And then at the time it was Neville Brody and T-Bird, Emma Gray Magazine, David Carson. I loved his work. And Cranbrook, what they were doing, it was incredible. So those were, those were certainly some of the influences. In my world at the time.

Christian Solorzano [24:24]

But was there anything specific about those influences? Was it, was it their typography? Was it their edge? Was it their attitude? What was it?

Jamie Gannon [24:35]

Yeah, I think so. Rick Valleceni, obviously he's an artist through and through, and his sense of experimentation was certainly— I had my eye on that, and I aspired to do work like that. Occasionally I'd get a client that would want that kind of forward-thinking approach. For the most part, I've been really great at solving my clients' problems, but not kind of pushing them too far into my world or into my idea of what they should be.

And perhaps to a fault, I could have, I could have pushed my work more, but a bit of a chameleon. I can design in different styles, or I think I do what I have done is appropriate for their needs.

Christian Solorzano [25:20]

Yeah. And throughout your, throughout your work, have you found that there's guiding principles that have been constant throughout? Any kind of, Jamie's personal manifesto or pillars, or like, have you had any kind of— Yeah, just curious about, has there been any guiding principles that have remained constant throughout?

And if there were, a listener listening to our conversation right now that is perhaps at that crossroad in their career where they're thinking about whether they want to do art or design or do both, what have been some of those guiding principles that have helped you kind of figure things out?

Jamie Gannon [26:08]

Well, I think a sense of craft for sure. Printmaking requires that. The craft in this sense, in the design sense, is obviously Typography and just the quality of the imagery that you're working with and the relationship of the type.

To the picture and the message you're sending with the words that have most likely been provided to you. I would say craft is, yeah, is my guiding principle because that comes into play, my personal work and my client work. One of the key differences I've kind of been looking at Art Expo this past weekend was surface. In printmaking, surface is really important. There's so many ways to get, like in lithography or intaglio, so many different ways of getting a beautiful surface.

In the design, that's less of a thing. You have less opportunity there. There are opportunities the way the ink lays down on a beautiful sheet of paper, and, or perhaps using letterpress. Surface does come into play, but oftentimes, like in publishing, you're just working on a piece of paper that is not that notable.

In the personal work, surface is everything. And I went through Art Expo just taking pictures, not of the actual artwork expression, but of just surfaces that I find so appealing. And that's going to come into play in work that I do going forward, just making sure the surface is as elegant or as interesting as it can be. It could be loose paint. It could be— when you see it, you know it.

Christian Solorzano [27:51]

Yeah. Yeah. And how do you— are there any exercises or any ways in which you continuously just exercise your craft? How do you ensure that your craft continues to evolve? Because sometimes, and it's happened to myself and I've seen it happen to others, where they reach the level of craftsmanship and it kind of, it gets to maybe a perfect state and it kind of just stays there and it kind of becomes like a plateau.

So how do you continuously keep pushing yourself and your craft? How do you answer that question, or what do you have to say about that?

Jamie Gannon [28:34]

I think it's in the— it's the work that I've been doing lately, and especially the paintings. The joy of putting pigment on a surface, on a substrate, with a tool— that's so basic, but it has to be crafted, whether it's loose or tight, or you're emphasizing the line. That's where my joy comes in. Yeah, I love that process. Yeah, I intend to do much more of it.

Christian Solorzano [29:04]

Yeah, because you shared with me a little sneak peek of you painting on marble. Yeah, which I thought was really cool. And I would say that demonstrates someone who is, really good at their craft but continuing to apply that craft, to your point, to other surfaces, to understand how that— what that new relationship is like with that paint, with that surface, and so forth. So yeah, I like that a lot.

Jamie Gannon [29:38]

Yeah, that's a new place I'm going. I found, I found a vendor. I found a building material supplier that makes incredibly thin stone veneers for construction, for interiors, for kitchens, whatever. They come in quite good sizes. To use a building to work on top of the building material when I'm responding to buildings in place seems to make sense to me.

These are some incredible surfaces already, so you can almost not fail, or let's hope. You're starting from a wonderful place. It's like almost like working with handmade paper, which I do. That surface is beautiful in and of itself. To honor that and apply paint and design— not design so much, but elements from the built environment on top of that— it seems like somewhat of a holistic expression.

Christian Solorzano [30:41]

And what goes into Jamie's world? So when you're in the zone and you're working on a project, what are the requirements for things to be perfect enough for you to be able to do your best work? I want to know about your space. Do you listen to music? Do you— is there a smell? Is there incense? Is there— do you have to wear some? So just Paint a picture for us. When— if someone were to walk in on you, working on something, what would they see?

Jamie Gannon [31:17]

I think they'd hear music, and that's becoming actually a more important part of my experience in making. I made a note here of a Chicago jazz musician Kahil El-Zahbar.

And his band is amazing. And I had the fortune to see him live in Knoxville weeks ago, maybe a month ago, in a small venue. I'm in the second row. I'm basically in the music and just— I'm hearing almost— it's kind of spiritual jazz. And I'm thinking, this is how I want my paintings to feel. It's the sense of craft. His musicians are so extraordinary. They're some of the most athletic musicians, but they can also play so quietly and beautifully.

There, that is a craft that's unparalleled. And this, the sound just enveloped me. And I was— this is— if I, if I could have— if I could point to a music that I would like my artwork to reflect, it would be this. Make some Americana. Yeah. Growing up in Nashville, and Americana music is in my heart as well. But the freeform jazz, that's where it's at in terms of what I would like my music to reflect or my artwork to reflect.

Christian Solorzano [32:50]

Yeah. I know you're currently working on a music-related project. You're documenting the landmarks of Chess Records and wax tracks. As well. Yeah. Can you talk to us about that, or is that too—

Jamie Gannon [33:06]

Or do you know what is that? No, it's the beginning of a project.

I was able to document the buildings. They made sense together just in terms of their history in Chicago. But also, I noticed that, the width of the plot of land that they occupy was the same, and the proportions of the buildings were the same, even though one's on South Michigan Avenue and one's in on Lincoln. There were some similarities, and I don't know where that one's gonna go, but I did spend quite a bit of time building those, building that image.

And that is one that I could print probably 6 feet wide and it would still hold up. It's like, it's a probably a 4 gigabyte file. So I look forward to taking that a few extra steps and see where that leads. I don't know if I'll develop paintings based on that, but there's certainly a ton of history that I could draw.

Christian Solorzano [34:07]

Yeah. And do you, is there, so we, we've been talking about material and surface, but is there a media or something that you've yet to explore or anything that, yeah, just curious if there, I know this is probably a controversial topic, but there's artificial intelligence. Have you considered incorporating elements of it into some part of your process or into some part of your work?

Jamie Gannon [34:37]

I have considered it. Currently I'm going the opposite direction. Okay. I'm kind of by choice. In terms of working with my hand and working with pigment. And surface. I think that AI can never do that. Who knows? But I'm, I want to go on the opposite direction. Yeah. And see where that leads. Yeah. I do big respect for, it's part of our world and I'll use ChatGPT or Claude but in terms of imagery, I really can't go there yet.

Christian Solorzano [35:11]

Yeah. I know I've seen some artists who will create AI art and then they'll Reconstruct it in some kind of physical media. And I, and I, and I almost, cuz it almost feels like the inverse, they're taking something digital and then they're, reconstructing it with paint or, building. And I don't know, like I haven't seen too many people do that, but it always fascinates that it's like kind of reverse engineering, like something digital.

Yeah. Because there is— because to your work, there is like this very— what I love about it is that there's this very meticulous level of precision that it almost feels like super mechanical. But I know that there's like human hands behind it?

Yeah. Which gives me hope that, and that's one of the beauties about the open house last weekend at Mana is that there's a clear indication that there's still artists that are making with their hands and that it's not just like doom and gloom, which is sometimes what the internet kind of wants to make us believe is that AI is taking over and replacing everything. So.

Jamie Gannon [36:39]

Yeah, I'm with you on that. I'm glad you had a chance to visit different studios. I look forward to doing that, but I kind of spent the 8 hours in mine with a steady stream of new friends coming through. And but I know a handful of artists and I know of so many more there. It's really looking forward to the next phase of my work and creating or just being influenced by and visiting other artists that are committed to their craft. That's quite exciting.

Christian Solorzano [37:09]

Yeah. And aside from the work that you're doing today, is there anything that is Exciting you that is happening in the industry, that's happening in the art world, in the design world today? Where do you look for inspiration, or just what's on your radar at the moment?

Jamie Gannon [37:30]

Well, this body of work, I think, yeah, it's— I can't say it was conceived to be, but it's seeming to be kind of a never-ending opportunity to express. I'm just looking into— looking forward to pushing it farther. And I do have events coming up. People need to see the art in order to share it with the world. So I've got a little bit of experience in art fairs, but coming up I'm going to do a few in Michigan and a few in Illinois.

And I've got all the accoutrement for that, the tent and the walls. And it's kind of an exhausting thing. But it's also thrilling because lots of people with real interest come through and you're able to talk about your work and meet others. It's gonna be lots of work and I have to develop— I'm in the process of framing and matting and doing all of that. I'll be getting a little U-Haul and taking off on the road.

I'll let you know when I'm in the neighborhood. You have to come by.

Christian Solorzano [38:34]

Yeah, I love that. So speaking about your work and every— everything that we're talking about, I, I'd love to know or hear from you about, with everything that you do have going on, how do you just maintain your sanity? Or what, what's the— how do you do it all? Because you got so much stuff going on. And I think sometimes we hear, we hear stories from people, like yourself that are just Doing so much. So how do you take care of yourself?

Jamie Gannon [39:08]

Yeah, well, an hour-long walk every morning. Okay, 7:30 to 8:30. It's— yeah, I set my alarm on my phone. I said for 1 hour I don't have to think about any of my other worries, but I'm thinking a lot during this hour. But it's a brisk walk and some sprints. Part of it is to keep in shape. I'm still doing the best that I can on a softball team.

16-inch softball. Yeah, that's a really important part of my day. I get up and I'm out the door within, 15 minutes, and I've got my AirPods on and I'm listening to music or listening to Underscore or any number of things. And then I go to the park, and I know it's Wicker Park. So I go, I take a walk in the park and I see lots of friends and the dogs of those friends. And that's how I spend my first hour.

So that, I almost have to do that now. Yeah. It's become an important part of my day.

Christian Solorzano [40:11]

Yeah. So you mentioned softball. I did not know that about you. What are other things that we don't know about you?

Jamie Gannon [40:18]

I love to golf.

Christian Solorzano [40:20]

Okay. See, there you go. That's another surprise. You like to golf, play softball. Okay.

Jamie Gannon [40:26]

Yeah. Yeah. At 62. Yep. Golf, it was, that was the activity my dad and I did the most together growing up and throughout his life. And I've got a great group of friends in Chicago that will go out and knock the ball around. And it's a great way to spend, now it's 5 hours commitment, but it's, you're with friends and it's a good time.

Christian Solorzano [40:54]

Yeah. And had it not been for art or design, did you ever consider other paths?

Jamie Gannon [41:00]

I'll have to say it would have been architecture. Okay. Total respect. I have so many architecture— architect friends. And a big respect for what they do. And I remember in college being in the printmaking department and seeing the lights on and the architecture department, like 24/7 there were people there. Probably they worked the hardest, I think, of all the, of all the disciplines. But that's not a bad thing. Working hard is good. Yeah, I imagine architecture could have been a field I might have pursued.

Christian Solorzano [41:33]

Yeah. Have you ever built anything? Have you, have you ever done any kind of product design or any industrial design?

Jamie Gannon [41:42]

Do you have any experience making I've collaborated, and I do have a number of friends that are furniture designers in that type of thing, but I can't say— I don't think that I have personally developed any kind of actual furniture or any kind of objects. Yeah, because I think I've done— I've signed buildings, wayfinding, and that kind of thing. So it's somewhat physical.

Christian Solorzano [42:15]

Yeah, because I would—

Jamie Gannon [42:17]

I—

Christian Solorzano [42:17]

Something that I noticed in your work is that there's, it feels very like layered, and there's a lot of things. Look, we, we've been talking about, deconstructing these buildings, and I, yeah, and I almost wonder if there could be a possibility of having an interactive element to your to your pieces in which things are multilayered or things are, I don't know, like in motion somehow?

Jamie Gannon [42:48]

Yeah, no, I think that has been on my mind. The work that I'm doing on the small town of Custer in Michigan, the painting that's being developed, every element in that painting I can trace to a place in the town. Not only— I know the town from driving through and from aerial view, and I draw these, or I acquire these elements, as I've mentioned, from the satellite imagery.

And the maps of that town. And it's kind of interesting. I would like to develop some way of explaining the painting through something interactive where perhaps you could select an element and fly into it and find it. I think there's opportunity there. It's more of, it's probably more of a, of a kind of a Flash experience. I used to work in Flash and with some great action scripters, but that kind of interactivity that could play a play, could play a part in that expression.

Christian Solorzano [43:53]

Yeah. 'Cause you had the other, you had the other exhibition this year as well at Typeforce.

Jamie Gannon [44:02]

Yeah, that was fun.

Christian Solorzano [44:02]

Yeah, which we haven't talked about yet. So can you talk to us about your Typeforce installation? And in the notes for this episode, I'll include a link to some of that work so that the listener can see. But talk to us about that.

Jamie Gannon [44:20]

Yeah, well, that came about— I had a number of projects that I'd photographed because of the typography on the buildings. Kind of the vernacular expressions of these car shops on Western Avenue. And then another one, Duck's Hot Dog Stand.

Ashland. And I felt a mashup of those 2 would be really intriguing because they're all about the typography and the physical building. And I just imagined I could build some kind of installation using that as my basis and my background. Kind of came together. It was a lot of work, but it came together quite nicely, and it was a fun install.

I did take that additionally a little bit further and did some paintings, as I, as I do, based on those buildings, and kind of floated those in front of the background installation of the of the built cells.

Christian Solorzano [45:18]

Yeah. Yeah, I have pictures of it pulled up here on my computer and I'm looking at them. So, as you work through your installation, how many— do you go through a lot of iterations of what you imagine the composition to be? Or as you're working on a piece, do you already have the way that installation might look like in mind? Or just how does— yeah, how do you deal with that?

Jamie Gannon [45:45]

Yeah, oftentimes there will be a vision and then revision after revision, but this one came together through sketches and was pretty true to the sketch. Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [45:57]

And it was also just such an appropriate piece for Typeforce because it was heavily centered around type, which, yeah, I really like. And I hope to see more type in your work.

Jamie Gannon [46:12]

I would like that. Myself? Oh, I don't know. Yeah, it might happen. But I love typography, and words and letters are critically important and, have great interest to me.

Christian Solorzano [46:26]

Yeah. And you've been, you've been in Chicago now for many years. What's kept you here? I know, winters are brutal. What, what's kept that flame in you to continue to call Chicago your home?

Jamie Gannon [46:45]

Well, it has to be the architecture and the art. I mean, we go to art openings on Fridays and, First Fridays, wherever it is in the city. And that's probably more my community. I've enjoyed getting to know you and being part of Chicago Graphic Design Club. And that's just another thing that makes Chicago wonderful.

Christian Solorzano [47:08]

Yeah. Yeah. I'm so glad that you and I connected. I remember hearing your name many times and one of our previous guests, Patric King, he said many nice things about you. And I remember you designed a poster for our call for designers a little over a year ago, I believe. And he was so thrilled to see that you were his instructor, correct?

Jamie Gannon [47:34]

Yeah, and he actually worked in a small studio. Yeah, that I was part of in Knoxville. Yeah, he's a star student. Yeah, he's our talent.

Christian Solorzano [47:42]

Yeah, he's very thrilled to see like his, former professor use something that he made. Yeah, that's awesome. So, you got the space. Is there anything else on the horizon? What's keeping you inspired today? What are you listening to? Just what's the latest? I feel like we've talked a lot about it, but what's your plan for the rest of the year? Anything that you haven't shared yet that we can look forward to hearing more about, or anything you want to tease?

Jamie Gannon [48:15]

I am so focused on getting into MANA and getting my workspace sorted. I have 30 days before the first art fair. And I'm taking the bodywork that I've developed over the past few years and making prints, framing, matting pieces. That's my sole focus at the moment. And yeah, look for on Instagram, perhaps I'll be promoting when I'll be showing up at certain fairs.

One's in Glen Ellyn, Ravenswood towards the later part of the summer. It's just, there's nothing like seeing art firsthand. You just, you have to see it in person.

Christian Solorzano [49:00]

Yeah. And do you plan on doing more open studios in your space, like welcoming people in to come hang out?

Jamie Gannon [49:08]

Anytime. Mana has 2 a year, and we just had one, so there'll be another one, I guess, in the fall. But I want my door to be open to anybody at any time. I will be Basically living there. Okay. And I would encourage anyone to visit.

Christian Solorzano [49:26]

Yeah. Yeah. It's a cool space for anyone that's listening. And I only expect it to get even cooler as time goes on.

Jamie Gannon [49:36]

Yeah, there'll be some really cool work happening. I can guarantee that.

Christian Solorzano [49:42]

Awesome. Cool. Well, anything else before we end? I know we're almost at time, but I just want to say thank you so much for Taking the time to chat and just for being a great friend. I feel like I always, anytime I have an interaction with you, it's always a positive one. And I'm just continuously inspired by all that you're doing. So thank you for existing.

Jamie Gannon [50:09]

Thank you for that. Yeah, no, it's the organization you've helped build is an important part of Chicago and All of you, all of your team have become friends, I can say. And I look forward to more programming and just thanks for having me on your podcast. Yeah, real honor.

Christian Solorzano [50:29]

And I will include your links in the description for this episode. And if anyone wants to get ahold of you, what's the best way? Instagram, email?

Jamie Gannon [50:39]

Yeah, probably Instagram is good. GannonStudio.com. I have some work on there. Yeah, I'm widely available.

Christian Solorzano [50:47]

Yeah. And what's the latest with Surprise Media?

Jamie Gannon [50:52]

Yeah, I have— lately I've done a few album packages or just CD packages working with musicians. I could use more work. Yeah, but at the moment I'm focused on personal work, but I'm always looking forward to other collaborations.

Christian Solorzano [51:14]

Yeah. Design. Yeah. And actually, I do have, I do have just another question. You touched on something earlier in the conversation where you mentioned that in high school you were designing album covers, and then you just mentioned today that you're still designing albums. So can you talk to us about that? Me personally, album covers were one of the gateways for me into the world of graphic design. So talk to us, like album covers, what, what's up with, yeah, with that?

Jamie Gannon [51:49]

I have a friend in Nashville, Alan Messer. He's an incredible photographer, and he would bring me in on a project here and there to lay some type of one on one of his, on one of his photographs.

And yeah, I've done some logos for some musicians. One of my pictures is on a John Prine album. I don't know if you know John Prine's work, but one of my heroes. Yeah, that was here and there in high school. I would have that kind of opportunity. And then most recently, I've worked with a Swiss singer-songwriter, Anna May, and that project is on Surprise Media's website. But yeah, that's— I love music and I love collaborating again with the, with the artist.

Christian Solorzano [52:37]

Okay. Yeah, maybe at some point you can create a playlist for us of the music that you're listening to.

Jamie Gannon [52:47]

Oh yeah, that would be fun.

Christian Solorzano [52:50]

I think, I think— I don't know if you believe this, but I personally find that what people listen to speaks so much about the kind of person that they are. Yeah, I think so.

Jamie Gannon [53:03]

And reflect that. Sure. Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [53:07]

Cool. Awesome. Well, thank you so much. Like I said, I look forward to catching up again. And for anyone that's listening, definitely check out Jamie's work and go check out his studio. It's amazing.

Jamie Gannon [53:19]

Yes. Anybody, please visit. Cool. Thank you, Christian.

Christian Solorzano [53:25]

That was fun. As usual, thank you so much for tuning in. If you enjoy conversations like this, don't forget to leave us a rating wherever you listen. And to learn more about the show, visit www.chicagographicdesign.club. Thank you, and we'll talk to you soon.

Jamie Gannon [53:44]

Goodbye.