Meet Jerry Allison | Artist/Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jerry Allison and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jerry, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I think it has always been part of my nature to be a risk-taker. In high school in the South, I had two sets of friends – the super-smart kids who were in the academic clubs, and the juvenile delinquents, who were their own outsider club. The smart kids were intellectually exciting and the hoodlums knew how to party. Fast forward to being a young adult (a) in a collapsing marriage and (b) finding that working as an Architect was not nearly as creative as I had imagined and (c) left me no time to pursue my passion for drawing and painting. When the marriage ended, I got a map of the United States and threw a dart at it. It stuck in New Haven, Connecticut and I thought “That’s a message from the Universe – seek a New Haven” and I did.I knew no one there and arrived with no job and very little money. That risk-taking opened up my life and exposed me to the East Coast world of museums, galleries, serious music, film and theater, all the aspects of “high culture” that were (and are) so absent from the South. Without that leap into the unknown, I could never have become the Artist I am.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I always have more than one body of work in process at any given time. In my interview in Voyage Denver (http://voyagedenver.com/interview/conversations-with-jerry-allison/) I talked about the “Nature Morte” photographic series and the mixed-media series “The Coyote Drawings”. Rather than show more images from those, I will introduce two other bodies of work. “Ordinary Poetry” is the result of having a camera with me at all times. I try to follow the mantra BE HERE NOW and pay attention to things in the environment that might be overlooked, passed by without notice. To me, these little things are part of the magic of the everyday. The other series has no better name than “Animals”. I am not a “wildlife photographer” who ventures out into nature before dawn with a yard-long lens. I just try to stay alert and photograph those fellow creatures on earth who kindly present themselves to me. Another aspect of my creative work is teaching. I regard it as a way to mentor young artists and raise awareness of the arts in the general public. Long term, I see it as a way to lift up the aesthetic standards of our environment and create a happier and more fulfilling cultural life for all.
I taught at small public colleges and a private art school before finding my best teaching gig of all. This was an Arts Magnet High School in New Haven, the Educational Center for the Arts, better known as E.C.A. It was a multi-district school and acceptance was by portfolio review. It offered not just Visual Art, but Dance, Jazz and Classical Music, Theater and Creative Writing. The faculty were all working professionals in their discipline, and often commuted long distances to be there. The students were super-serious and delighted to be there, having often felt themselves to be outsiders in the high schools they came from. Divisions of class, race, ethnicity and language are sometimes a source of tension in a typical high school setting. Here, there was a cross-pollination of cultures that were a spur to creativity. Everyone pulled together. Faculty and students were on a first name basis, and I often felt I was in the eye of a creative hurricane. I believe this model of secondary education should be more widely implemented, and would be one answer to the problem of struggling schools and falling attendance.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
First we go to the Denver Art Museum, a striking modernist structure on a great pedestrian plaza. They have an excellent permanent collection and an interesting variety of travelling exhibitions. Two recent ones I liked were :Desert Rider”, a look at the visual culture of Skateboarding and LowRider Cars, and “American Artists from the Phillips Collection”, American modernist works that seldom leave Washington DC. I’m a member of DAM and proud to help support such exhibitions. For lunch or a drink, I would suggest we walk around the corner to Leven Deli Company, a neighborhood deli, bakery and wine bar. Great sandwiches, but it can be noisy inside. If weather permits, I would choose a table outside. Anothar day we would wander around the Santa Fe Arts District, making sure to stop in D’art Gallery. It’s a member owned Co-Op and incredibly professional in design, appearance and quality of work shown. Full disclosure – I was a guest artist there in Denver Month of Photography 2023. Then, explore the residential neighborhood adjacent Santa Fe. Small houses lovingly renovated in styles ranging from Boho Chic to totally funky. Pick a bar at random and stop in for a beer – I love this neighborhood.
Two restaurants have to be on this list – and they could not be more different. No one would go to Bella Italia for the ambiance. It’s a small place in a strip mall on Leetsdale Drive. But the food – ahhh – if you are a fan of excellent Sicilian cooking, you will feel you have been welcomed home.
We finish our list with a place I find not just memorable, but unforgettable. That is El Five – Tapas de Gibraltar. Spanish and Pan-Mediterranean influences are combined in a manner I find delightful and original.And the views! On the fifth floor overlooking Lohi and downtown Denver, this place offers unpretentipous elegance and a staff as helpful as the food and wine are excellent. I asked our server a prep question about the Paella (I had been struggling to make Paella at altitude and have it come out as good as when I lived at sea level) and he arranged for the chef to come out and speak to me as we were leaving! That is a level of concern for the dining customer seldom seen. Oh yes – weather permitting, there is a large patio, also with views. Pricey, but very worth it.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
This is an easy one. Without question, I dedicate this to the woman I share my life with. Wife, Lover, Best Friend, Comrade, Companion, Trusted Climbing Partner, Fellow Foodie and Adventure Traveller, Mother of our Daughter – I could go on, but you get the idea. Back in the day before Dating Apps, I was having a beer in a neighborhjood bar one weekday evening. I noticed a very iontoxicated guy harrasing a lone woman. I put myself between them and quietly suggested he leave her alone. He did, and I thought my Sir Galahad action would have at least earned me a little conversation – NO! But I persisted and persisted until we conversed and found we had so much to say to each other that we ended up closing the bar that night. We have basically been together ever since. Among the many amazing things she has done was to convince me to go to graduate school and get an MFA (I did – School of the Art Institute of Chicago) so that I could teach and get out of all the dead-end jobs I was doing to support myself as a working artist. I say without reservation that meeting her was the single best event of my life.

Website: coyotesboneyard.com coyotesdream.com

Facebook: Jerry Allison (Jerry Allison Artist Photographer)

Other: par-A-dox FINE ART scott@paradoxfineart.com

Image Credits
All photos mine…Jerry Allison