Rebecca Juliette Interviews Artist James Bouché
Artists Work is a BmoreArt interview series that explores the work that artists do to make a living while they work on their ‘real work’ – their art.
James Bouché is an artist living and working in Baltimore Maryland. He graduated from MICA in 2012 with a BFA in Printmaking. Recent exhibitions include New Destruction (LVL3, Chicago) and Real Rocks are Heavy and Hard to Find (Gallery Four, Baltimore).
Name: James Bouché
Age: 26
Website: jamesbouche.com
Instagram: @jamesbouche
Description of Art You Make: Right now my art is mostly sculpture and material based 2D work. I’m starting to get back into working in print but very slowly. The content of my work might be a little misleading. People take it really seriously but it’s mostly about things I like (LOTR, Tripp pants, MTG, Minimalism, etc). Nothing too heavy though.
Day Jobs:
Dog walker for Walk the Dog owned by Julie Benoit
Sales person at Trohv owned by Carmen Brock
Fry cook for The Mushroom Stand owned by Ferial Welsh
Hours per week at work: It varies anywhere from 35 to 50.
Hours per week in studio: About 20.
Duties or tasks performed at day job:
Pick up poop. Fry mushrooms. Stack merchandise. Not necessarily in that order though.
Best thing about your day job: I work for three amazing women who run their own successful small businesses. They’re all extremely supportive of my artistic endeavors and they treat me like family. You can’t ask for better than that.
How does your day job enhance or detract from your studio practice?
I’m always thinking about art and future projects and my jobs allow me to do that. My schedule is flexible and always changing, which I really like.
Favorite job ever: I’m not able to answer this hahaha.
Job you couldn’t wait to leave: One of the summers during college I worked night shifts at 7/11. I really hated it but looking back I’m sure my attitude didn’t help. I was young and still angsty and unfortunately decided to leave on a bad note. Not proud of that and still scared to go back in there.
Is it your goal to become a full-time artist? Why or why not?
I don’t know. Sometimes I daydream about that but right now I can only afford to focus on the immediate future. The odds don’t look good though.
What advice do you have for young artists just out of school, in terms of balancing your work and studio practice? It’s really different for everyone. I was lucky enough to get a studio at Current Space two weeks after graduating, and for me, being around other artists kept me working. It’s an uphill struggle though. There are a lot of reasons not to go to the studio.
What’s coming up next for you as an artist? What projects are you working on or looking forward to? Color. During and since college I’ve worked exclusively in black, white, and grey. Until now, color hasn’t really interested me (mostly because I’m colorblind). I can’t really understand the nuances of color but I want to approach them analytically one at a time. The first one is blue.
BmoreArt is Rebecca Juliette’s day job. She facilitiates the Artists Work Interview Series and acts as Assistant Editor and Events Manager. Email her your events and calls for entry at events [at] bmoreart.com.
All images courtesy of the artist.
** Feature photo from group show with Laura Judkis and Colin Schappi**
