Jillian Mayer
“Hey my name is Jillian Mayer and I’m an artist and filmmaker in Miami Florida.”
Was there a moment that you knew you were going to pursue your talent as your career?
“My whole life I’ve always been making things and trying to create solutions to problems. They weren’t necessarily based in facts so I found my space in the arts.”
If you could tell yourself a secret at the beginning of your journey, what would it be?
“That’s such a hard question because I still think we’re all at the beginning all of the time. I don’t feel like I’ll ever know where I am in the journey. I would want to tell myself something that everyone is unsure but it seems silly to think about what advice you tell yourself in regards to everyone else. I think I would just tell myself something along the lines of that you don’t necessarily know what is an end product and what is a sketch that will get you to the next project. You should try to just release some of the pressure you put on yourself.”
How has fashion connected to your art?
“I think fashion connects to art in the same way that lots of different pop culture affects. Different styles, different trends, based on different political things, based on other influences. Different types of converging through other ways of communicating. Whatever is happening in the world right now makes it’s way into art and culture and wether that means through fashion or technology or even the way in which we speak and talk to each other. To me fashion as well as culture is just another way of communicating. Ideally it becomes more connected as we go in a way where people remember to be kind to each other”
What’s your favorite item in your closet and why?
“Oof. As far as favorite items, that’s too hard of a task to figure out. There are pieces to me that represent different times in my life and I’m very sentimental. I’d like to say that I’m very sentimental and not materialistic, but these items have sentiment attached to these material goods. They do remind me of a place and a person or a part of my life where that may have been the go to piece that made me feel good or unique in some fashion.”
Do you have a special piece you like to wear while creating?
“I speak to some of my artist colleagues about this and unfortunately we like to put on cute clothes. Clothes that make us feel cool or adorable in some fashion or tough. Whatever the embodiment of the character we assume to be. and then we get motivated to start making things which means that your best clothes get ruined. so generally whatever I’m wearing in the studio is something that I once loved and already messed up. My clothes just degrade more and more as i work in the studio.”
How do you feel once you’ve completed a creation?
“Usually I don’t know when anything is done aside from having a deadline, which means it’s time to present or time for people to come check it out. I’m very bad at knowing when something’s done. That’s always been an issue for me in my process. Generally it feels exhausting because I’ve over spent my energy and underestimated the amount of time. I don’t even think anything’s ever done. I just think I ran out of time and I had to present it. I never feel done I always think something can happen better. Usually I guess it’s dependent on the materials the cure time when somethings not toxic or not sticky?”
What was the last song you put on?
“Normally when I’m working I’m listening to podcasts. I spend so much time alone as an artist, I need to know whats going on. Usually kind of left leaning liberal podcast or stuff trying to understand value not like money per-say but money related podcast that deal with value and dependancies.”
