Duluth artist Jonathan Thunder on his inspirations, influences

CATHY WURZER: We like to talk with creatives around the state from time to time to get insight into their art and their lives. Duluth multidisciplinary artist, Jonathan Thunder, is a citizen of the Red Lake Nation. He was recently honored with the Jim Denomie Memorial Scholarship . And his work is currently on exhibit at the Watermark Arts Center in Bemidji. Jonathan Thunder joins us right now. Hey, welcome to Minnesota Now, Jonathan.

JONATHAN THUNDER: Hey. Good to be your guest.

CATHY WURZER: Thanks for being here. I mentioned you received the honor from Jim Denomie's family. And Jim for many people, of course, know died. He passed this past March. He was so talented and just a wonderful painter. He's a member of the Lac Courte Oreilles band. I understand he was a mentor of yours. So tell me about your relationship.

JONATHAN THUNDER: Yeah. Jim was a good friend of mine and both of us being like-minded painters. I always enjoyed talking about-- I guess having a lifestyle and a career as an artist with him because he was somebody that whose opinion that I trusted. And I guess more than most, he was definitely in my corner. And I was rooting for me to keep going.

CATHY WURZER: How important is that as an artist, to have someone rooting for you?

JONATHAN THUNDER: I suppose just about with anything, it's pretty important. And as an artist, which is I want to say somewhat of a rare career path, it's nice to have somebody who is just as excited about your work as you are that also is a professional. So it was huge. It was like having a brother to talk to or somebody that just understood.

CATHY WURZER: For folks who are not familiar with your work, you create multimedia work. And I'm curious, how do you decide that something is an illustration or a painting or a film? How do you make that decision?

JONATHAN THUNDER: That's a good question. I feel like I get an idea. And then from there, it will go into probably a sketch. And then from there, it'll either go into the canvas. Unless it's something that, and this is only on maybe every couple of years if I have time, something that I want to explore in the sense of a film.

Because I think that a lot of times when I'm trying to tell the stories that are in my canvas or that are in my short animations, I try to think of it from like what a short-- nice, short film look like with like the protagonist, the antagonist, some light, some dark, some life, maybe some death, and some excitement. I like to paint what's exciting.

And the same with animated films that I create. I like to keep it exciting and absurd, surreal. So I think it just depends-- it depends on where I'm at I guess at that time of the year.

CATHY WURZER: Your work melds what I would call social commentary with your personal experiences. You've got some cartoon characters in there, modern tribal imagery. Tell me something about a piece you're working on maybe now or recently and the inspiration behind it.

JONATHAN THUNDER: Well, that is a good question. And I guess it's a good time to ask that question because I just put together two solo exhibits, the one at the Watermark Art Center of Bemidji and one at the Muskegon Museum of Art.

And I tell you that's a big push creatively. So you're catching me at a time right now where I'm just-- I'm literally looking at a blank gesso panel in my studio, asking myself, what am I going to work on now? So I guess we'll see what comes next.

CATHY WURZER: Sure. Absolutely. I've talked to a number of artists, and they say that making art is vulnerable because it can be so personal. Do you find that to be true as well?

JONATHAN THUNDER: Yeah. And I was-- that's a question that I was actually talking about at my artist talk in Michigan last Thursday, where I was describing how the evolution of my work from when I was a student and creating very personal themed stuff and how over time I think-- and it was always really difficult to talk about that work at exhibits and in front of a group because they are so personal.

But over time, as you find your audience, you find that a lot of people are feeling the same way or they're going through the same thing. And pretty soon, you have supporters of your work. And it becomes less difficult because if you're feeling it, the person that lives next to you might be feeling it or somebody in the different country is going through the same thing. And it's all interrelated to what's happening in our community, which is all connected to what's happening in the world.

CATHY WURZER: Tell me about your art. You've said your art is both political and personal. Talk a little bit about that if you would, please.

JONATHAN THUNDER: Well, I'm not a politician. But I do pay attention to how politics in our country inform how we react to each other. So sociopolitical commentary is something that I feel push to create or at least make a nod to I guess in my work.

And considering myself somebody who creates more poetic, like surrealistic dream structured visuals or content, I guess it's my interpretation of what's happening around us. And I guess to structure those literally would put me in a different I guess category.

But the way that I like to paint, I like to keep it more of a dialogue about what's happening. And when I go to the exhibits and when I start talking to people who are at the exhibits, it's always great to hear other people's take on it before I go rattling off what I was thinking when I created the piece. And a lot of times, I'm not even really sure like the whole story about [LAUGHS] what I was creating. So it's nice to go back down that-- I guess that road with people.

CATHY WURZER: Well, I'll tell you what. I'm excited to get to Bemidji to the Watermark Art Center to see the exhibit.

JONATHAN THUNDER: Yeah, that's a beautiful space.

CATHY WURZER: It is.

JONATHAN THUNDER: And I'm really happy to have had a chance to show there because I was born in Red Lake, which is just about 30 minutes from there. And if that-- so that was real nice for me to have that door open.

CATHY WURZER: That's terrific. Jonathan, thanks for your time today.

JONATHAN THUNDER: Thank you.

CATHY WURZER: Jonathan Thunder is a multimedia artist. Lives in Duluth. He is a citizen, as he mentioned, of the Red Lake Nation. And he was recently honored with the Jim Denomie Memorial Scholarship. His work is on exhibit. Go check it out and you have an opportunity. Watermark Art Center in Bemidji. The exhibit opened in August, runs through November 26th.