2021 Mayor's Arts Award Nominee: Jaylyn Graham
Why are the arts important in Muncie? What do the arts do for the community?
The arts are important for every community, but with Muncie specifically being a smaller town it’s even more important. The arts create opportunities for community dialogue, it illustrates shared cultural experiences, and it helps educate. With Muncie being a small town, the impact a single person can have on the community is huge! The arts help bring together the Muncie community.
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I am ambitious, innovative, and authentic. I am Jaylyn Graham, a man who helped break his family's generational curse of becoming a statistical improbability. I am a Multi-Disciplinary Designer that graduated with a Bachelor of Art, now pursuing a M.S. in Information and Communication Sciences with a Graduate Certificate in Emerging Media and Design at Ball State University.
I call myself a:
I am a Multi-Disciplinary Designer. It started with simple graphite and colored pencil drawings of my favorite characters. Next, it evolved into using multiple traditional mediums to create portraits and convey my ideas. Then, it evolved into using digital implementations to create all sorts of ideas that I had trouble conveying with just traditional mediums. Finally, that turned into a passion for graphic design and user interface design. And somewhere along the way I picked a passion for photography, video, marketing, and fashion design. So, I think it’s safe to say I don't fit a particular mold.
What is your creative practice and how did you get started?
I have a very systematic yet expressive process. I discovered a passion for Product Design in 2019 during my Intro to Design Techniques class. I tend to approach my art using design thinking practices. One of the main goals of my senior project was to combine digital and traditional mediums. By using design thinking I was able to effectively create my pieces while still employing some artistic flare.
Where can people see your work or learn more about you?
The Multicultural Center bought my “Colorism” series and it's there on display now. I’m so grateful that I was able to find an amazing permanent home for those pieces.
But other than that, I have a portfolio that I created, but it doesn’t represent my full capabilities, so I’m working on a new one now. I have an ecommerce business, Jays Vizuals, where you can buy prints of my work on a variety of items such as canvases, sweatshirts, and rugs. The Instagram for that is jaysvizualsart. If you just want to learn more about me you can connect with me on Linkedin, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Tik-Tok, all along the lines of “Jaylyn Graham”.
I am interested in finding a nice home for some of my original artwork so feel free to reach out to me.
What is your favorite part about being an artist or creative in Muncie?
My favorite part about being creative in Muncie is the amount of amazing support from the community. I feel that because Muncie is a small community it’s a little more tight knit than a large city like my hometown of Nashville. But mainly, that support came from Ball State, students, and faculty. Creating art that resonates with people, especially on a cultural level is an amazing feeling. I feel that I could see my art having a positive shift on the community. I see it creating dialogue and educating people.
I guess I don’t have a “favorite part” because there’s so many things that I love about it.
What is your favorite arts memory? An amazing event? An experience? A place?
My favorite memory without a doubt was my senior exhibition “The Black Experience”. Even though Covid was a pressing concern, I still had so much support from family, friends, and faculty. Seeing individuals enter my space, viewing my work as an experience, was truly euphoric. I loved people asking questions and giving me their opinions on my pieces. I felt like I could truly talk to each person for hours. This was my first exhibition, so it was a great learning experience. I spent the entire day two days before the opening getting everything up and ready. I didn’t realize how much effort it took, so it really made me appreciate exhibitions a lot more.
If you could change one thing about the arts in Muncie, what would it be?
I’m not sure if you guys have these or not, but back in Nashville, they have monthly artist marketplaces, and weekly flea markets events for locals to sell their products to the community.
