Meet JD Fridlund | artist, musician

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

Hi JD, how do you think about risk?
My whole life has been about taking risks. Not for the sake of taking risks, but out of a conviction and a passion for my work. I dropped out of school after ninth grade, was accepted into a one year art school program and after that went on to another, two year art school, and then one more two year school.
This was all in Sweden, where I am from.
In 1998, my mother committed suicide and I started writing songs about it as a way of dealing with the grief. I got a band together and we recorded our first EP in 2001 and our first album came out in 2002. We toured a LOT and gained popularity, lots of praise and even a grammy nomination for our second album. Right after our third album was released, the band split up and my wife and I moved to Austin, TX, starting a new life from scratch with no savings, no jobs and really nothing there for us.
We started fresh and we have struggled a lot, but I sincerely believe that taking these quite insane chances in life has made me a better person, in spite of, or maybe thanks to the struggle.
Has it elevated my career? Maybe not. But it has elevated me, for sure.
I gave up, or “forgot” about art for a decade before finding my way back into it again a few years after moving to Austin.
In 2016, we moved to Santa Fe, NM and started over once again. We have lived in extreme poverty for a long time due to my wife struggling with severe health issues, but despite the struggle, I have created my best work.
Risk is necessary, I believe. If everything was safe and laid out, you wouldn’t be able to find your true voice.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I do believe my artistic expression is unique and somewhat different. Though I went through several years of art school, what I do today is totally different. First of all, I work with color pencils, a medium apparently considered a “lesser” medium and a medium that you don’t see that often. For me – it’s cheap, not messy and something I can do at home without stinking up the place; those two factors are huge. I try to capture what I see around me; places I pass, walking to work, places in my neighborhood, spots that may not always be considered beautiful or special. For me, being from Sweden, I think I see those things differently, because what may be everyday sights for you, are unique to me. I’m proud that I have managed to stay creative through my life, even though I’ve lived extremely poor for a very long time.
It hasn’t always been easy to find time or peace of mind to draw, or write songs, but it has become my therapy, if you will, although sometimes I tend to get lost in it when I probably should be doing something else…

I was 16 when I was accepted to the first art school, I’m 47 now, so I’ve been doing this for a while. It has taken a lot of hard work and suffering, actually, but I have always known that my work, both my music and my art, is just as good as any other recognized and successful artist or musician, I just haven’t been “discovered” yet…and with my luck, it probably won’t happen until I’m dead, haha!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Ok, first of all I would take them out in the incredible nature we have ALL AROUND US here in Santa Fe. Literally 10 minutes away is the most amazing landscapes one will find. After a long hike, we would probably stop by Izanami for food, then head down to either Honeymoon Brewery, (which is a hard kombucha brewery with amazing drinks), or we would go to Leaf & Hive, where they make an amazing hard Yun, equally great to Honeymoon, similar but yet very different.
Breakfast the next morning at Iconic on Lena street.
Then, of course I would take them to Abiquiu Lake (there’s a song on that theme on my latest EP on band camp) to show them Cerro Pedernal and more amazing landscapes.
Since weed is legal in NM now, we would get some smokes and talk about stuff.

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?
My wife, Sara Culler. I don’t know anyone else who has been through more struggle than her and still been able to create and inspire. She does amazing photography, find her at www.instagram.com/saraculler My mother, who in spite of her own struggle always told me to believe in myself and who encouraged me to do art when I was 16 and didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. It was thanks to her that I was accepted to art school, which completely changed my life.

Website: www.jdfridlundart.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/jdfridlund www.instagram.com/citizensbandorchestra