Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeremy Johnson.
Hi Jeremy, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My current career path started with a summer internship at Sicardi Gallery, where my then professor and mentor, Laura August, worked as Director of Research and Communications at the time. There, I began to learn about different functions, roles, and practices in the art world. I learned about art handling, a job I hadn’t even known existed. David Anderson, the Lead Preparator, taught me how to asses an object before touching it, taking into account its materials and possible weak points. How properly move art and work as a team to install shows.
I then worked at 360 Art Services, where Ben Steve Esquivel, and Anthony Locastro took me under their wing to teach me more of the skills involved in the handling, crating, installation, and transportation of artwork. I installed artwork in homes all over Houston and galleries. We also transported artwork to museums across Texas and built shipping custom shipping crates for all manner of objects, from antiquities to contemporary art. The work demanded a toughness, both physically and mentally, but learning a trade saved my life at a time my mental health was precarious.
From 360, I went to work with the Preparations department at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. For four years, I worked closely with the team there and expanded my skillset, learning how to operate scissor lifts, forklifts, gantries, and a whole host of other tools, all in the service of getting great art into the museum galleries with grace and style. The team there, along with the Registration department and brilliant, ambitious Curatorial Assistants, doesn’t get enough praise or compensation for the herculean feats performed at a consistently high level. We were all part of a historic installation of the entire new Kinder building, completed in a matter of weeks in the middle of a pandemic.
In October of 2022, I moved to Lawndale Art and Performance Center as the Operations and Exhibitions Manager, working with a small team led by Executive Director Anna Walker. Here the focus is on the community of artists in and around Houston. Lawndale has a long history of providing support to local artists. I hope to contribute to the tradition in a meaningful way as I grow into this role. I feel more connected to people and have a clearer sense of purpose since taking the leap. I’m truly excited about the future of Houston’s creative community.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It hasn’t been smooth at all. Since junior high school, I have struggled with depression in a way that has made setting and achieving goals extremely difficult. First of all, being a perfectionist, it has been hard to understand the importance of setting attainable goals that lead to larger successes.
Self-esteem and self-worth are integral to growing into the person you can be. Spending much of my early to mid-twenties in an emotionally and physically abusive relationship only exacerbated these issues. Few masc-presenting people are able to talk about being on the receiving end of domestic violence due to perceived weakness and shame. The reality is the overwhelming majority of people who experience extreme and often deadlier forms of violence are women or femme-presenting. Learning to trust myself again is a never-ending process, which is helped by therapy and being in a loving relationship with my wife Lorece. Partly because of this experience, but also my parents’ teachings, my daily ambition is to be safe and accepting to every person (or being) I encounter.
Another challenge has been navigating White institutions while wrestling with the inner life of double consciousness that Du Bois described over one hundred years ago. The profession of art handling and arts administration is mostly White, meaning the culture around it only opens up to certain people. There is a way that being around the arts my whole life, from children’s classes at the Glassell School of Art to taking a philosophy of art course at the University of Houston, gave me access to a particular language and visual culture that feels at times like assimilation. In most places that I have worked, it never felt truly safe to show up with all of my knowledge and all of my heritage. In the history of the MFAH, there have probably been five or six Black full-time art preparators, including myself. This has always felt like a silent, amorphous, and lonely challenge, though I know so many minorities who have similar experiences in a lot of different fields.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
While finding my way to a career, I have always harbored a deep love for reading and literature. In the past, I’ve read my poems with Public Poetry. I’ve written personal essays about mental health and music that appeared in The Huffington Post. After a nearly 10-year detour, I’m currently back in school finishing my B.A. in English with a concentration in Literature at U of H. I hope to further develop my writing practice to be more generative, more forgiving, and life-affirming. I have plans for creative writing but want to hold that more closely and seriously going forward.
I can’t say that anything sets me apart from others–we’re all here trying to figure it out, hopefully together.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I love the diversity of Houston the most. I can’t imagine a life without constant contact with people who have different backgrounds, cultures, and languages.
I like least the need for a car. I want the city to be more accessible to pedestrians. The Metro light rail is a good start. If that can expand exponentially in the next 15-20 years, I would love Houston even more.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lawndaleartcenter.org/
- Instagram: @existential _meow
Image Credits
Tamirah Collins
Ken Beasley
Laura Burlton
