Interview: Justin Vining

Tell us about yourself, give us a short run down on far back until now?

I grew up on a small family farm in Northern Indiana and helped farm the very land that three generations of Vining’s had farmed before me. I went on to attend Purdue University, majoring in art education and fine arts with a minor in art history. After graduating, I taught elementary art for three years at Maple Ridge Elementary in Pendleton, Indiana.

During my last year at Maple Ridge, my brother, who is three years younger, was graduating from Valparaiso University with a major in Meteorology. One day in the fall of 2006, Nate called me up and told me that he was going to take the LSAT and go to law school. It didn’t really take much thought on my part, I responded, well, if you are going to go, I am going to go too. We applied to law schools all over the country, both got accepted to Valparaiso University among other universities and the choice was easy. Currently, we are in our last semester here at Valpo and have very much enjoyed our time here.

When did you discover your talent for art and painting?

My interest in art can be traced back to high school when I took the class as an elective which sparked a genuine interest. I was then immersed in the subject while at Purdue and subsequently in my teaching career at Maple Ridge. However, it was not until the end of my first semester here at Valpo Law, when I very much needed an escape from the books that I think my talent emerged. At this time, I picked up a paintbrush and subsequently painted a series of work that was leaps and bounds stronger than anything before. Since this time, I have not stopped painting, remained a full time law student, clerked for over a year at a civil litigation firm here in Valpo, and found time to paint and sell over 300 paintings all over the world.

What influences your artwork?

I believe the inspiration for my work is derived from three primary sources along with many other life experiences that often come into play. The main influences are: growing up on the farm, the creative minds of my former students and the artists whom I so admire and often pay tribute to in my work (van Gogh, Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood, Andrew Wyeth)

Where do you find your subject matter?

It is very rare that I actually look at photographic references to paint or draw anything. I enjoy being able to sit in front of a blank canvas with nothing other than some brushes, paints and my imagination.

Tell us a bit about what surfaces you paint on and what type of paint you prefer to use.

I paint with both watercolors and acrylics along with the occasional mixed media collage. When I paint with acrylics, I most often use a traditional stretched canvas surface, however as of late I have been enjoying painting on found objects more and more. Watercolors are a bit more tricky and because of this I prefer painting on Twinrocker Handmade papers because of its ability for forgiveness when making an occasional mistake all the while holding the most brilliant colors right at the surface of the paper.

Many of your paintings feature a house along with a landscape of some type, can we have some insight on that?

Well like I mentioned before, I grew up on a family farm and during the late 90′s, with the emergence of larger corporate farms, it became more difficult to manage a small farm and were faced with a difficult choice. Like many of other small family farms in America, we sold out. This happened in January of my senior year of high school and I can vividly remember the day of our auction. Watching your barns being emptied and everything you have come to know disappear in a day is not something easily forgotten.

Needless to say, this was a very difficult time for our family. In the years to come I reflected upon this experience through my artwork and painted a series of old abandoned farm houses trying to express the longing and sadness I have, not only for our lost family farm, but generally, to the end of the era of small family farms dominating the countryside. So, over time these abandoned farmhouses in my paintings have evolved and taken new life in the more simplified forms that are common in my work today.

How long does it take you to do a typical painting?

A watercolor that is 16×22” about 4-6 hours of direct painting time but due to the drying time of the paint and waiting between layers, it generally takes at least two days.

An acrylic painting that is 24×48” (one of my favorite sizes to work in) takes about 8-10 hours of direct painting time over the course of several days.

Because of the way I work, with very watery paint, I most generally work with my paintings flat on the ground and use a thin layering process to create my compositions. This layering process creates a lot of down time when waiting for the paint to dry before painting the next layer. So it is not uncommon for me to be working on many different paintings simultaneously. At one point this summer, prior to my solo exhibit at the Lala Gallery, I had nearly 30 paintings in progress at the same time ranging in size from very small at 5×7” to huge at 60×96”.

How long have you been interested in art?

In high school we had to take so many credit hours of art, choir, or band for the academic honors diploma. I am not musically versed and I knew the art would be a fun class with an awesome teacher so the choice was easy. After my freshman year I had so much fun I decided to continue to take art throughout high school. As high school progressed and I started thinking about what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I can remember thinking that if I could have any job in the world I would want my art teacher’s job and this is where the interest began.

Why do you feel the need to paint?

This is the toughest question you have asked and I have spent quite a bit of time trying to explain exactly why I paint and cannot find the right words. So, in short, I have a lot of hope for humanity and want to have a positive impact on people’s lives. I believe creating is an effective way in which to share this hope while having the impact.

Of all your paintings, which is your favorite?

I like this question because it challenges me to weigh and balance the qualities that I believe make one particular painting more or less successful than another. My favorite piece to date is a collage titled “Wheatfields at Twilight”, which is currently hanging at Uptown Café in Valpo. This particular piece carries a bold composition with a lot of personal meaning and is even more autobiographically than my other work.

What are the biggest challenges you have faced being an artist to date?

One of the biggest challenges that I have found as an artist has to do with the business side of things, finding a balance between promoting and creating. Obviously my primary goal is to make remarkably beautiful artwork, but beyond that, my ultimate goal is to be able to create full time, which brings a whole new element to the work of an artist. Promoting, marketing, and selling not just paintings but yourself takes a whole different skill set than creating. I am lucky to have formed a close group of advisors whom I have been working extensively with to help me tackle this challenge.

Where do you see yourself in ten years?

In ten years I see myself based out of Warsaw, Indiana continuing to create while working with my brother in our law firm, Vining & Vining. By this time I would like to have international gallery representation along with becoming one of the prominent figures in Midwestern contemporary art.

Anyone you’d like to give thanks or show appreciation to?

My brother has played a very integral part of the last few years and I would not be where I am now without him. We have lived together, gone to school together, worked together, pretty much done everything together for the last three years. And what amazes me the most is how well our strengths and weaknesses compliment each other (it’s almost scary). Also, something that I really believe speaks to our character, is that after three years of literally not having separate lives, it has not driven us apart, rather brought us closer together, which gives me great confidence in moving forward with both my artistic career and our future plans of practicing law together.

Visit: http://www.justinvining.com

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 31st, 2010 at 1:42 pm and is filed under Share. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.