How Are You Today – Jeremy Eaton

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Resources

Instagram handle @jeremy.w.eaton
jeremyeaton.org
kingsartistrun.org.au

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Transcript

Kiera Brew Kurec 0:04
Hello, and welcome to Pro Prac I’m Kiera Brew Kurec.

Nick Breedon 0:07
And I’m Nick Breedon.

You’re listening to How Are You Today? a spin off series where we’re calling artists and chicken with how Coronavirus is affecting them mentally and physically, and ask them to share their worries and their hopes for the future.

Jeremy Eaton 0:23
Hello.

Nick Breedon 0:23
Hey, Jeremy,

Kiera Brew Kurec 0:25
Thanks for joining us on the call.

Jeremy Eaton 0:27
My pleasure.

Kiera Brew Kurec 0:28
We were wondering if you could kick off by unpacking a little bit how you’re feeling at the moment?

Jeremy Eaton 0:35
Yeah, just been running that through my mind, I think. I mean, you’ve called probably on one of the most roller coaster weeks, throughout the entire period, I don’t know if it’s because we’re coming out of lockdown. But I’m beginning to, you know, really feel the, you know, the strain and effects This is having on a lot of peers and friends. I think people are kind of really concerned about what’s happening in the future and where they’re going. And, you know, it was all such a rush and almost had elements of novelty at the start. And now the reality I think it’s beginning to sit in for people. So

Nick Breedon 1:18
yeah, do you think that’s has a little bit to do with the fact that everybody’s starting to kind of see each other again? Yeah, it has that has that kind of been a factor?

Jeremy Eaton 1:26
Yeah, I think you know, that things are opening up, you know, like, I think there’s a, a pull for people to go back to work, but lots of people don’t have work to go back to. You know, that’s, that’s a big factor. And, you know, like, like, where everybody in the arts is really curious to see what that’s gonna look like, in the coming month or coming few months. Yeah, it’s just some reason this week, it’s really set in a little bit. Yeah, the reality of what the future is possibly.

Kiera Brew Kurec 2:01
I’ve heard a few people bring that up, actually, and say that and actually even people overseas in the UK, also feeling it so I’m wondering if it’s also like a time thing like it, this kind of like the momentum has finally caught up with us. And we’re like ohhh….

Nick Breedon 2:16
This is out reality now. (Laughter)

Jeremy Eaton 2:19
Yeah, totally. I saw my partner’s mum on the weekend. And she was the first person I’d really seen, face to face aside from my partner for like a couple of months and was like, Oh, my God!

Kiera Brew Kurec 2:30
it’s really confronting!

Jeremy Eaton 2:32
Seeing another human. (Laughter)

Nick Breedon 2:33
Serious brownie points. They’re nice choice. (Laughter)

Kiera Brew Kurec 2:39
Have you been at all personally affected? I mean, everyone’s been affected in so many different ways. But has there been anything that you want to share about how this has affected you either, like personally, or in your practice, or professionally, as well?

Jeremy Eaton 2:55
um, I’ve been relatively fortunate, I think, you know, I’ve managed to keep my casual jobs and work from home. And, you know, I’m in a relatively secure position. So I’ve been really fortunate and lucky. And, you know, from within that position, just like hoping to try and help others as much as possible, you know, whether that’s through projects or, you know, being able to communicate with them on a day to day basis. And so direct effects on me like I yeah, like I said, I’ve been, I’ve been pretty fortunate. So yeah.

Nick Breedon 3:38
Have you been working on any projects while you’ve been in isolation?

Jeremy Eaton 3:43
Um, yeah, we’ve had I’ve had a number of things going on. It’s actually uh, you know, the start of isolation was sort of great in that it gave me time to get back into the studio and like, clean out the shed and get get in there again. And, you know, then through Kings as well, I think you had Amelia on talking about the Constant Ecology project. Kings, Blindside West Space, and Caves have been doing, commissioning eight in home residences. That’s been really exciting to get that off the ground. And, you know, support artists without outcomes necessarily in mind, as well throughout this period, has been really good. And also through Kings, we’ve been, you know, we had a range of artists lined up for different programs throughout the year. So we’re trying to work with them to provide additional kind of fees and funding and find different avenues to be able to, like bring that to life in ways so working on those so it’s been, you know, there’s been things in the works, throughout the period and having isolation and being forced to stay home and focus on some things is probably been beneficial?

Kiera Brew Kurec 5:01
Yeah. Have you found that you’ve created any new routines? while you’ve been in isolation?

Jeremy Eaton 5:09
I think listening to radio national every morning. That’s actually good. I think like not having to travel so much has been, like, it just kind of frees up a certain amount of time, like, space for exercise and cooking. And yeah, you know, all the things you see people on social media doing.

Kiera Brew Kurec 5:32
Yeah, yeah.

Nick Breedon 5:34
Kind of extra time, you can extract out of the day, when you kind of take take out those little, you know, trips to and from the city or, you know, to meetings and things like that. It’s like, oh, wow, how much of my day was actually spending just getting around.

Jeremy Eaton 5:49
Totally. And you’re not getting home at 6.30 and then, you know, trying to scramble things together for something to eat. So, in that sense, it’s actually quite beneficial for health. And you know, I’ve had people with children saying that that’s really great as well. Being able to kind of take what could be, you know, two hours a day of travel and go for a walk, or do something that’s more conducive to mental health.

Kiera Brew Kurec 6:27
I need some radio national in the morning, I think.

Jeremy Eaton 6:30
Yeah, it’s good. I mean, it’s kind of it’s quite repetitive, because it’s Corona. virus, or COVID-19 on tap, and the global effects. But, you know, there’s some good, quite intensive interviewing of different people in politics, and across the board.

Nick Breedon 6:52
I used to listen to radio national in the morning when I was a teenager, but I made it a habit to set my alarm one minute after the hour, just because of the really intense like, sound that ABC Radio national voice has, at the start, it would like freaked me out, like having it as my alarm every morning. (Laughter) Horns! Get out of bed!

Jeremy Eaton 7:21
It sounds like they’ve had it since like the 40s and it just hasn’t changed?

Kiera Brew Kurec 7:26
Is there anything that you’re kind of feeling worried about at the moment? you’ve kind of already touched on some of these things before.

Jeremy Eaton 7:34
It’s gonna be very interesting to see the role on effect this is going to have on, you know, the arts industry. And yeah, I think, you know, movement for people going forward in terms of, you know, career trajectory, or opportunities, and things for artists as well.

Kiera Brew Kurec 8:04
I was thinking about this actually, the other day with Christina Hayes, who we had on the podcast, last season, she is a gallery manager, and she’s been putting out for the gallery of the university that she works in, in Dallas, Texas, the students are all graduating and they’re doing like an online graduate exhibition. And I was just thinking about how those students have had to adapt so quickly, and everything that they’ve been working towards had to be changed to a digital format at that last moment. And what what that would mean, if you are being, you know, your first year out of art school is this next year coming and that, that there are going to be very different opportunities for those artists, and they may be limited, they may have to be more adaptable than others. And that, like you said, the trajectory is going to shift, I think, and we don’t know what that looks like yet. But I think we need to make sure that we give, especially really young emerging artists spaces, or opportunities to grab onto something because they might be very easily left behind because there’s not a physical space to show or they might have a year or two with nothing on their CV.

Nick Breedon 9:25
Or they might be missing those practical skills that somebody is there to literally teach them like he’s had a hand painting.

Jeremy Eaton 9:31
Yeah, Yeah, of course. And, you know, like, I’ve noticed with a lot of, you know, the huge amount of grants and quick turnaround things that have come out a lot of the younger artists or people that are fresh out of art school are exempt. You know, you have to have at least X amount of years of experience to be demonstrated in your CV and you know, they’re hard enough to get at the best of time. So, if you’re fresh out and you don’t really have any of that background, Or the vocabulary to be able to speak.

Nick Breedon 10:03
Or you know, like, just knock together a really quick application and yeah, know how to know what they’re what they’re asking for, like what they really want to hear from you.

Jeremy Eaton 10:15
Yeah, I still don’t know what they’re asking for. (Laughter)

Kiera Brew Kurec 10:20
But yeah, it took me years to be able to craft that. To even be able to kind of feel confident in going into just, you know, calling someone up at a grants office or anything like that, and not having that support, or like, physically being able to be around your peers at this time to ask for help, like, how many conversations have you had with your friends, like at the pub, or, you know, catching up over coffee, or whatever to talk those things through. And when you don’t have that, you know, place to be in the presence of each other to support each other. That’s, that’s going to be really tough. And I think we need to be mindful that, you know, there’s going to be certain people who are more disadvantaged than others, and making sure that we hold space for those that need it.

Jeremy Eaton 11:14
Yeah, no, definitely. And I think, you know, working in that emerging artists sphere, like, it’s really pronounced and, you know, like, you’re saying a lot of students now shifting to trying to do things digitally or remotely, I mean, that they don’t even have the same facilities to generate work, or which be the first images that the artworks that they make, that they get images of to get shows. And so what some of those kind of, you know, lines of engagement mean now, and how can they be supported?

Kiera Brew Kurec 11:54
Yeah, like, all of my first images for of my work was shot in my studio at uni, those white walls around it became, you know, look, it looks like it’s in a gallery.

Nick Breedon 12:07
Yeah you had, you know, those facilities and resources available A lot of people wouldn’t have them at home.

On a slightly more positive note, is there Is there anything that you’re hopeful for moving into the future?

Jeremy Eaton 12:26
I think, you know, people have like really risen to the occasion on lots of accounts to try to support each other. I mean, I’ve had such great connections with friends over this period, where sometimes we can go like almost a month or two months, without seeing each other. And it’s like, oh, we talk on a regular basis. So cultivating and keeping some of those relationships going, would be really amazing. And I think it’s something that we’ve all craved, but just haven’t found time for. And so we’ll be able to do that. And similarly with the arts and getting to work with, you know, the great people at West Space and Blindside and Caves. And everybody just wants to help and support each other. And I don’t know if we can keep some of those connections alive and find ways to, you know, be able to access funds to do that, I think will be really generative space moving forward.

Kiera Brew Kurec 13:32
Yeah, that’s really nice. I’m really hopeful for that, too. So thanks for sharing that. Well, we might leave it there. But thank you so much for speaking with us today. That was really lovely to check in with you.

Jeremy Eaton 13:46
My pleasure. Thank you.

Kiera Brew Kurec 13:48
And for anyone listening, do you have a public Instagram or website that you would like to share?

Jeremy Eaton 13:54
You can find me at jeremyeaton.org an organization apparently (Laughter). And @jeremy.w.eaton is my Instagram.

Kiera Brew Kurec 14:06
Cool. Thank you so much.

Nick Breedon 14:08
Thanks so much, Jeremy.

Jeremy Eaton 14:09
Thank you. See you later.

Nick Breedon 14:14
We respectfully acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we have recorded and pay respect to elders past, present and emerging and the elders of the land on which this podcast reaches you on today. We extend that respect to all First Nations people listening and acknowledge that sovereignty has never been ceded.

Kiera Brew Kurec 14:30
How Are You Today? has been generously supported by the city of Melbourne’s quick response grants. Follow us at @propracpodcast on Instagram or email us at propracpod@gmail.com. If you haven’t already, please subscribe on whatever you listen to podcast on.

Nick Breedon 14:45
Please stay in touch. We’d love to hear what you’re up to as well.

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