Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrea Jablonski.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Andrea. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I am an immigrant. Polish born and Chicago bred. My parents came here as part of the larger migration from Eastern Europe looking for work and a better life. I grew up in Chicago and choose to call it my home. I am an art school dropout. Yup, that’s what you get when you are young, poor and not aware of resources. I did, however, find myself part of the arts community pretty early on, apprenticing and working with several artists and galleries including one Chicago staple – Tony Fitzpatrick. I spent most of my 20s backpacking and living abroad. I saw most of Europe, Asia, and lived in Australia for a minute – working as a migrant worker on farms. My 30s were spent touring with a number of bands (I play bass guitar), most notably a drone metal band I fronted for a number of years. I was lucky enough to see most of this country and meet some amazing people. Through all that I have always supported myself with a variety of painting and creative projects which brings me to now. After many years of building a solid peer and client list I teamed up with a fellow maker and started a small fabrication studio.
My partner, Laura Miracle, is a skilled carpenter and teacher and combining all our skills we started to carve out a niche for ourselves. We create site specific installations for special events (for such clients as SOHO Chicago, Chicago Athletic Association, Pitchfork Music Festival and Johalla Projects to name a few). For not for profits (we work with the Chicago Park District, Opera-Matic, Elastic Arts, the 606 among others) and for other artists. Many people want to create a unique experience and visual impact but do not have the budget for the larger fabrication/special events houses and want to work with a local small business. We take care and effort to really understand and interpret their needs and create something unique. We are extremely hands on and with our experience have the ability to take ideas from concept to creation. We also pride ourselves in a solid “rolodex” of creatives in Chicago who we are happy to collaborate with and share the wealth so to speak. From fancy events to haunted houses to outdoor recreation, I strongly believe there is little we cannot accomplish. For me personally, this partnership is a natural extension of being an artist. I get to make cool weird shit? You need what for you’re what? Sure, Sign me up.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I am grateful and cannot complain. This is a good mantra. There are struggles to making a living as an artist, there are slim, financial times, you get outbid all the time and you want to shake people and tell them they are worth more, you get hurt, your bones ache, you fight and you become your own worst critic. BUT… the ability to envision something and make it a reality makes all that seem trivial. The process becomes important and the way your brain fires to meet challenges is rewarding. Collaborating with others, really listening and letting go of ego becomes like muscular reflex. You train yourself to be open and to learn. You also learn to speak a creative language that many can understand. Explaining concepts and costs in a manner that is not intimidating and understandable is very important. This takes years. So I am grateful. I am grateful for my experience and my abilities. I am grateful for my chosen community of amazing peers. It is frightening to start a business. We do not have one product we sell except our creativity. You have to realize not everyone is going to like what you do and that is fine. Sometimes you have to make compromises and that is fine. These are struggles every artist experiences, but the flipside of that outweighs the obstacles. It took me forever to be able to afford a studio space – I worked out of my basement/living room for the longest time. It took me a long time to find someone to partner with who I trusted to work hard and who had some of the same goals as I do. I remember recently we completed a rather difficult project for Pitchfork Music Festival The installation was interactive as the crowd could participate in covering the pieces with drawing and graffiti. As Laura and I stood watching folks of all ages draw and write and take pictures we both kinda teared up. Seeing projects come to fruition and be successful makes it all worth it in the end. I do not feel that I have had any unique struggles, I am sure other folks have had many more. But I have worked hard and can account for every win and every loss. Again. I am grateful and really I cannot complain.
Please tell us about Play BIG!
Play BIG! is a small fabrication and art studio based out of west side of Chicago. Laura Miracle and I started this about a year ago when we realized we enjoyed working together and our respective talents and personalities worked well together. Laura is a skilled woodworker, fabricator, designer and teacher. I am a painter, muralist, fabricator – a jill of all trades so to speak. Between the two of us we can make it if you imagine it (or we imagine it).
We also have a great network of creatives we can source for help and collaboration. I believe what makes us unique and is our strength is our ability to focus on specific needs, sites and events (and budgets) and really come up with some amazing things. For example – Play Big! built a giant BattleShip game (we called it Bottleship because we used recycled water bottles for the pegs) last year and this year we continued this idea with a giant LiteBrite (BottleBrite- we used bottles for pegs again). We strive to create interactive installations whenever possible. We have built giant chandeliers made out of shoes, a giant foam jumbotron for a fake basketball court (it was used to protect a chandelier), large faux stained glass butterflies, sleighs for people to sit in, so many photobooths and backdrops I cannot even count anymore. We built a haunted house indoors for an immersive theater project, we built custom bars and tables. We built custom garden boxes (Laura is the green thumb). We welded sculptures for formal gardens. Murals – private and public commissions. Pop up installations, I could go on. Play BIG! or go home. We try to inspire interactivity and play. We strive to create pieces that provide visual impact. Not everything we make is huge. We also work small and create hands on items such as puppets, giveaways or even paint by numbers panels for community events. I believe our strength lies in the ability to work with any theme and budget and really listen to the needs of an organization or client and come up with unique solutions and creations. We really like to keep it weird…in a good way!
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I am an only child and being one left me alone a lot growing up. I created my own universes and worlds. One of my favorite toys was a snake my grandmother crocheted from leftover yarn. I dragged that thing everywhere. When I came to America and started school I became more social (and still am today). I was always curious about what others were doing, I wanted to learn and experience. I used to go to Poland for summer vacations (before martial law and Chernobyl) and so I had two sets of friends (I am still in touch with today). I learned about sadness, loss and yearning pretty early on. I used to act out the lives of the martyrs (growing up in a Catholic household) so I must have been very dramatic as a child. I was also (still am?) a huge nerd. Big glasses, loved sci-fi and when I heard punk rock for the first time I was golden.
I do believe you are never too old to try things and to learn new things. I started playing in bands when I was 28. I skateboard in my 40s (badly).I love to travel and see new places, sometimes by myself. I have been told I have a unique style of dress.
I think any artist seeks to explore. We seek human companionship but value our solitude. Maybe I am wrong.
Creating has always played a role in my life. I would sit and draw for hours and hours when I was little (I think mostly to avoid the arguments raging from a broken home). Having this creative outlet truly helped me get through some rough times (even in adulthood). This is something I try to share with people – you can have an outlet. You can try new things. You can love your failures. It makes everyone the individual they are.
To me- artists’ brains are like libraries. We store all this trivia and imagery and experience that we can pull from and create amazing things. Cannot wait to see what happens next.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mixcloud.com/lumpenradio/eastern-block-andrea-jablonski-02-11-2018/
https://www.weareplaybig.com/AndreaJablonski
https://www.andreajablonski.com/
- Phone: https://www.instagram.com/whackminx/
- Email: http://andreajablonski.blogspot.com/
Image Credit:
All photos by me Andrea Jablonski
except photo of me with photo backdrop I made. Credit Girl Group Chicago
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
