Jesse Clyde.

Jesse Clyde is a cartoonist and artist in Moscow, Idaho.

You'll hear how he connected with his talent or not, how he can't describe his artwork.

His advice to budding artists and their parents, sort of.

And then he asks me some questions.

It's an interview that left me delighted and bemused.

Kind of like art.

And don't make me cry.

The last couple of interviews have been crying.

Don't make you cry.

Make OK me tears of joy.

Whatever comes, comes, OK. OK, you're here.

Be together.

In this moment.

All feelings are good.

Mm hmm.

Mm hmm.

Where did you grow up and when did you move to Moscow, Idaho.

Must have been Colville, Washington.

OK. And then 09, I moved here.

You moved from super rural to rural?

Yeah.

Now, I'm just curious, as an artist, clearly you showed creativity at a young age and where you grew up.

Were you accepted for who you were and your artwork?

Surprisingly, I didn't really run into any problems.

I'm so glad to hear that.

Sweet.

So in this interview, we don't have to worry about the, you know, childhood trauma that's going to make me cry.

I'll figure out another way.

Jesse Klyde, thank you for being with us today.

Thanks for having me.

Oh, yes, of course.

And this is exciting because in here in season two, many of our guests have been through Zoom because, of course, pandemic.

But we are able to have Jesse here because he's local.

We have this two studio podcast set up, which I'm so thankful for, especially because I can see your entire outfit and I'm digging it.

Thank you.

He's wearing a smiley face cardigan, and you should have seen his Daisie mask.

That just tells me that you were very comfortable expressing yourself.

Have you always been that way?

I suppose so.

I don't know.

I'm always comfortable in your own skin.

I'm just here.

Wow.

Excellent.

Now for our listener.

Can you describe your artwork?

Hmm.

Mm hmm.

No, I think that answer actually really helps define it because it's when I see your work, it is because this is going to age me.

It's a bit Ren and Stimpy.

Hmm.

So it's cute.

And yet sometimes the way that you have eyes or eyelids is a little disturbing.

And then there's bold font, which captures my attention and makes me feel secure.

But then you loop in this character with really elongated limbs, and all of a sudden I'm a little insecure, but I'm there for the ride.

I'm so with you.

Same experience here.

I'm so I'm happy that I understood that.

So there's this assumption, Jesse, that doodling or cartoon work is pushed out, especially of children at a young age.

So did you have anybody or how were you encouraged to really go for it?

My mother was always making stuff.

And as soon as I started drawing, I think that was just encouraged.

Seemed to have always found whatever path things need to be expressed through.

I found that and just did it, I guess.

I don't know.

Nice.

Now, I think when, you know, if you talk to somebody and ask them what they think of of cartoons or drawings, they may say something like The Simpsons or.

Yeah.

I mean, this is super old, but Garfield or something like that.

What are some of your earliest memories of some cartoons or drawings that influenced you?

I think it really picked up when I started watching Adventure Time, which wasn't until like college, which is an excellent program.

Yes.

Yes.

Really pushing it as far as what cartoons are capable of doing for sure.

You and a few other local artists have created something called Rumble Lump of Clay.

Can you explain to our listener what that is and how it came about?

Yeah, I can do that.

The Rumble Club is just a monthly zeen thing that we send to our friends in the mail.

Has horoscopes, Fortune's comics, other drawings.

Yeah.

Just came about.

Well, I wanted to make a book for a long time, and I was like trying to like get to publishers and stuff.

I like, wait a second.

I don't need to do that.

I can just do it myself.

So I said, you know, we got together sort of making scenes and just doing it by yourself.

But I assume no salary.

Oh, no.

This is what I.

Worry about with art is that it takes time and effort to create, but nobody seems to want to pay for it.

Yeah.

So Jesse, how do you make a living?

I'm not quite sure.

I'm just making stuff.

You're just here.

Yeah.

Creating.

I do see that quite often.

That is something that comes up.

People wondering how you make money doing something like this.

Do you think that's just the wrong way of thinking about it?

Yeah, I just I mean, I just I can't stop doing what I'm doing.

There's no stopping it.

So so it's not like the art is the product that you sell to make money?

No.

So you could go out to dinner.

It's for something else.

It's almost, I want to say, perhaps spiritual.

I get that vibe sometimes.

Yeah, sometimes, yeah.

Is it a release?

I'm not so sure if it's a release and more just a way to kind of help understand or kind of make more tangible things that are very intangible in a way a kind of doorway for myself to enter through.

That makes sense in some ways.

Oh, yeah.

So then when we bring in something so crass and worldly as dollar signs, it almost is there is no even connection here.

It's all part of it.

I don't know.

It doesn't seem to be any different.

People deserve their attention and different things.

What is your philosophy of life?

I don't think I have one.

Oh, I mean, I know we've just met and I've been staring at your artwork and your website for a while and meeting you.

I'm oh, you're delightful.

Thank you.

You have an air of happiness about you, or perhaps it's maybe a little more deeper, like joy, like you're in the moment and pleasant.

So I almost feel as if the difficulties of everyday life, you can transcend that.

And I'm so curious.

Was it your upbringing or several events that helped you form who you are today?

It was all part of it.

Oh, it's a little building blocks, but I can see where there used to be challenges or things used to be difficult.

But then there was a time when I could also see that it was almost like I was pretending that those things were hard or like these things were difficult, which separated me from that moment.

And I didn't want to be separated from that anymore.

So right now, I feel as though everything is assisting in bringing me closer to here, like where we are now, because I don't want there to be any separation.

That's beautiful.

And with that said, how has the pandemic influenced your life or your art?

It really allowed for a lot of introspection, which I feel like as soon as it like as soon as that happened, it was just like, all right, going inside And I can see how everything beforehand was trying to keep me from going inside a little bit.

So it's been really beautiful.

It's been a really beautiful time.

So about Rumble Lamp Club, have you have you given much thought about expanding that or do you already have subscribers from other states?

Yeah, we've got subscribers all over the country.

And what's generally the feedback you get from the zeins?

Little to none, really.

But people seem to keep subscribing, which is cool.

I'm fine with whether or not I get any sort of feedback.

I don't think it's necessarily or used to be more about the feedback.

But, you know, I would struggle to that.

Like nobody is saying anything like I'm just sending these out and, you know, whatever.

But yeah, it seem to change stuff after I let go of that, needing to have any kind of feedback.

But yeah, they're all over the place.

We got some in Canada, too, and.

Yeah, it's awesome.

Nice.

I'm just now speaking of feedback, I'm so curious about how you use social media for your work.

And if that tendency for us to need and desire those hearts and clicks and likes that feedback, if that has an influence on you at all.

I've just more or less stopped doing social media, and it seems to have somehow made it better.

I don't know.

I feel like this interview stopped.

That's when we started, like pick up subscriber wise, which, you know, I have no explanation for.

How interesting.

Yeah.

And for you personally, was social media was it a positive influence or negative influence for you?

It was a drain for sure.

It was you know, I don't know just the nature of it.

You get stuck in there and you're just kind of like like, what am I doing?

I'm just here putting this weird thing between what actually want to do and, you know.

Right.

The virtual world between you and reality.

Yeah.

So I'm just going to do what I'm doing instead of trying to understand it.

Oh, yeah.

I just am having this terrible memory right now.

I have to share.

Please.

Has nothing to do with art.

I have an ex who.

We were remodeling the bathroom and everything was gutted, so there's just this hole in the floor.

Yeah.

But God of War was just released and it was the first time I flipped over the back of it to read, you know, what it was about.

And then at the very bottom, it said 220 hours to complete this game.

So my bathroom, we did not get done for two hundred and twenty hours.

And that's like a moment where it dawned on me that this effort into this virtual world is sucking away real world things.

Yeah.

That matter.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, it was also symbolic of that relationship, the bathroom.

But also like in social media, it's the truth to you could just before you know it, an hour is wasted and you could have created something or been with somebody.

Yeah.

While we say that about, you know, social media, the technology, though, of the Internet or just of computers themselves, has that had any influence on your artwork or made things easier for you?

Oh, yeah.

No, it's such a beautiful thing.

I mean, as far as being able to connect with people.

So, I mean, just instantaneously, that's like I feel like that's what it's for.

You know, I think people tend to see other things in it, and those are mostly distractions.

But it's like, no, this is meant to bring us like show us.

No, we are very close to each other whether or not we're physically close to each other, you know.

Yeah.

A bit of a help and sometimes a bit of a distraction.

How about the actual techniques of what's available to you and in technology for creating your work?

Like what do you do?

You use a pad or.

Everything I do is hand drawn and then I'll scan it into the computer and coloring if it is color on the computer, on the computer.

But sometimes I'll, you know, color stuff outside of.

But yeah, it just depends, I guess, on whatever is being born at that moment.

Well, Jesse, earlier we were talking about making a career out of artwork.

Where do you make your money kind of thing?

I'm curious, though, you live and have found work in a rural area.

Is there how did you do that?

I really don't know.

I just I mean, I came here for college and then college ended and I was like, oh, I should probably get a job.

And I really wanted to work at the Breakfast Club.

And then I started working at the Breakfast Club, and then eventually they allowed me to be a manager.

And then I stopped doing that and became mostly just an artist for them.

Why?

Why did you stop managing and then.

I don't really know.

I think a big part of it was I've been wanting to do a bit more sort of internal exploration, but I wasn't able to see that.

I was just facing the kind of like friction that came with like having a job where I had to get up super early and like Peter all day .

But it was a thing that was between that I was, you know, using as this kind of like wall.

And as soon as the pandemic hit, I was able to kind of like step back from that.

And they were in a position to kind of like, let me kind of do that.

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Bark, bark, bark.

I when I when I want, you know, what advice would you give to aspiring artists?

Just keep making.

And don't try to make what people what you think people want you to make.

Hmm.

Just do what you do.

And what advice would you give to maybe a parent who has an autistic child?

Don't try to force anything.

Just let the kid be OK.

Here's one.

All right.

I'm ready.

All right.

All right.

What do you wish somebody would have said to you as a young child about art?

Maybe nothing, maybe nothing.

But maybe just having the kind of I mean, everything.

I feel like everything was available, like I was exposed to art and a lot of different or different ways.

And I feel like they didn't really need to say anything.

It was just like it felt natural to kind of go in that direction.

Yeah.

If you see your kid starting to pick something up and and draw with it or know, just be there with them, like see like watch them like discover this new thing, you know.

You know, be there for them.

Yeah.

So my mom drew comics a lot when she was little.

And it was really hard time for them in Korea.

So my grandfather would tell her she was wasting paper and pencil and to save it for school, and they would take it away from her and she would get in trouble.

But what ended up happening is Art came out of her eventually.

It's not like you can stop it.

So she paints and they're amazing and she's self-taught.

But there is some sadness for her, though, because she has that regret that she didn't have the support.

Yeah.

Because what could she have created in all those years, which is kind of a sad thing to think.

But yeah, her journey is what it is.

And so with my children, I see them drawing and it's exciting.

Yeah.

I try not to do what I call the American thing, which is that' great, honey.

That's so amazing.

I'm more like, hey, you got some talent.

Keep at it.

Keep working at it.

I don't want them to think they're that good, too.

Was your mom like.

Good job, sweetie.

Keep going.

Maybe a little bit.

Everybody kind of was.

And there was a that people would say that was like, oh, did you trace that?

Or you must have trace that, which is a compliment.

Which is a compliment.

But it became you know, it was just like, I don't know this.

Just like the thing is like, no, I didn't trace them.

Yeah.

This is me.

This is my stuff.

Yeah.

How about art teachers or any other teachers?

Is there anybody in particular?

Yeah.

At a high school band teacher.

Which is pretty, pretty stereotypical.

The band is Coburn teacher really taught me to open up and be free.

And how I express myself.

You know, it's true that it really is.

It really is.

And it was really beautiful to be able to do that.

What a connection to between music and art.

Yeah, there's no difference.

It's all about opening up and letting it out.

Yeah, I feel like whatever tools one has to kind of like see themselves more deeply, like just use those tools to do that.

Just do it.

And I take a look and I feel like most people are not looking they're not looking for Jesse to look can be scary.

I mean, you're so bubbly.

But I mean, sometimes people look in their art and it's it's dark.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So how do they deal with that?

I don't know.

They can just see that that darkness is there, but it doesn't have to be something that defines them.

These things can be there, but they're not telling me you're this way.

You know, they're just weird objects.

They're floating around in some mental space that we've created.

This is so interesting because a lot of those floating thoughts that can be frightening.

We automatically assume it's us.

Yeah.

When you're saying, no, no, just take it as it is.

It's a thing out there.

Yeah.

And disconnect you or your ego from that, which would make it easier for people perhaps to that knowledge of go in deeper And then when you see the dark, scary things that you don't have to literally take it personally.

Yeah.

See it for what it is, which is interesting because when an artist create something that's so challenging for peopl to look at, it brings up these defensive emotions sometimes.

And that's that's a that is a doorway for them to see deeper for themselves.

That's it right there.

Like when those things come up, it's like, OK, yes, I have some things stored inside of myself, whether it be from a conditioning or whatever.

And these things are putting a wall between my experience of what is here.

So it's like seeing these things that come up as they're just things that come up.

It's going to be here and then it's going to be gone.

It's like, why would I let something that's going to be here for a second and be gone separate me?

Hmm.

Has there.

In any artists that you find challenging that you see.

I don't know about challenging, but I've experienced a lot of artists who I can see.

It gave me more tools to kind of hone what it is that's happening in the kind of comics of the drawings that I'm doing.

Chris, who has been the biggest kind of influence as far as like what is possible, what can be communicated through comics specifically and through the hand drawn line?

OK, now I have to ask you, this is totally weird question.

Have you seen any, like, petroglyphs and you as an artist looking at a petroglyph of ancient people What does it do in your mind?

What are your thoughts?

As I'm making stuff, I get the sense that like spoken language is becoming I'm seeing the limitations of it.

In a way.

It's like, OK, this makes sense that someone would eventually just drop written or spoken language and just go straight to the sort of.

Yeah, it's like a direct.

It feels a lot more direct when speaking, because words can have so many different interpretations.

But if you're just like connecting to whatever that thing is, it's it's like there you're that.

I don't know.

Yeah.

All right.

And do you have an artist goal or a dream that maybe you'd like to be featured on a magazine or those things used to be there a lot more if you.

But I feel like they've been more recently just kind of tending to happen without any sort of like my doing.

Yeah, I just met somebody in an hour, if you're familiar, the Vancouver art book Fair.

But I had gone to the Vancouver Up book Fair to Do the Rumble and with my friends and met somebody who was doing this comics festival and, you know, the Czech Republic.

And I was like, all right, cool.

Yeah, maybe we'll talk some time out of the blue.

She comes like, hey, you want to do the things that.

Yeah, it works.

It works.

And it was just like, yeah, I'm just going to like stop wanting thing because I feel like anything I want could never be as cool as the thing that are like if things are like coming to me, you know even like this, getting the chance to hang out with you.

You know, I was like, I don't know.

I put on my email one day.

I was like, oh, yeah, you know, talk to Sue.

And I was like, yeah, that sounds great.

That sounds awesome.

Oh, that's that's cool.

Well, and I enjoyed getting more familiar with your artwork.

What projects do you have coming up?

I'm just working on the rumble up, you know, to monthly things.

It's a monthly zeen.

That's a lot of work.

Yeah, I think when it starts to feel like work, probably stop.

But, you know.

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Thank you.

All right, Jesse, do you have I hate to go back to money.

I feel like my mind is so stuck there.

I mean, generally speaking, most of us in America live pretty darn good lives, comparatively speaking, to the rest of the world.

And if we could be honest with ourselves, we really don't need a whole lot.

Yeah, just some good food and a place to live and a couple of outfits.

And we're good to go.

But we have so much stuff and toys.

And I'm under the impression and correct me if I'm wrong, but that you don't need a lot of that excess stuff.

Like I don't see you as a consumer.

Yeah.

Okay, good.

So then I feel as if.

Does that make it easier than for you to get the things you need to live so you can create like you do not have a need to have a boat or a fancy car so you can create your work and that stuff doesn't even faze you?

Yeah, I don't need those things.

OK.

I feel like I have everything I need already.

And for somebody who is creative, but their minds are stuck in the consumer world of I must have a high paying job in order to provide for myself, but I have this tension between that and creating my art.

What would you say to them and leave the mind behind?

Just get rid of it.

Do you and I need to do some shrooms some time together?

I have a while.

Right.

I have a feeling your artwork would speak deeply.

Where do you where who and where do you hang out with in Moscow?

I hang out with my partner, Emily, who seems very supportive of you.

Oh, yeah.

I don't know if I have anybody in my life right now who's not very supportive.

How did you do that?

No, I think they just went away.

OK, you got some kind of magic.

Jesse Klyde, he's rolling with life, creating things happen for him.

Did you read The Secret, that book?

No.

Visualize what you want and it happens.

You've been touched by some serious like luck and good vibes, man.

I feel that way for you because so many people are honestly willing in conversations to go into some deep, sad parts of what they do and how they live.

But you're like keeping it real up here and no ungood.

I let that go and I just draw and it happens.

And here I am.

Yeah.

All right.

So, Jesse, thank you so much for this interview and also for this conversation about art.

I think we need to talk more about artwork and how it can help release that thing in the inside of us and tackle some things that we don't even have words for it.

Really?

Yeah, no need to describe it.

Just be here in it.

You know, I love to hang out.

Morto, and you're talking with your three O swing with my machine gun questions.

I enjoy it, too.

Jesse, I have met so many people, especially around this area, that I think they enhance the people that they're with.

And I'm sure you're one of them, too.

And man, when things get better, it will be really nice to have a party at the farm.

I got a little little bit of acreage.

It's a farm in progress.

So, you know, that just is basically like half a shack in Hoia.

Some wayward chickens, but beautiful.

If anything, it would be fun to have a good a good meal together.

What what do you know?

I've got questions.

Ask me, what do you do out there?

Oh, I live my my dreams.

What are your dreams?

There's something very romantic and beautiful to me about growing flowers And then when I think deeply about how those things are connected to life and food, and then it all comes back down to the soil and comes up again, and then the bees and the insects and the interconnectivity of it all.

And that I am allowed to choose what I want and see it come from this tiny little seed and it grows into this enormous big vine with this beautiful, fragrant flower.

And if I had a part in that, it's so fulfilling.

That's just that's the plant part.

The animal part, I think, is because I must like drama.

That's it.

That's that's a big part of.

Right.

Yeah.

Farming.

It's like these creatures have needs.

Yeah.

And they're loud and they're cute, but demanding and sometimes naughty and the poops and everything and clean it.

Yeah, I must like that because I have two kids, one husband who insists on injuring himself every spring.

Yeah, my little circus over there and realize how fortunate I am to be in this area and have that opportunity because not everybody gets a piece of land.

Yeah.

What are your needs?

My needs.

Yeah.

What's your name?

Oh, honestly, Jesse, I think I am too connected to capitalism and consumerism so much that when I'm having a bad day, I go shopping and I don't like that.

And the pandemic has created these moments where I can't and I don't need to.

And so this reexamination, I'm currently in that process of like looking at my closet as an example and realizing no human being needs that many clothes like these clothes are going to live longer than me.

So why why do I keep buying them?

And then I realize about the fast fashion and how it hurts the planet.

And who am I making more rich?

It's not the earth.

And I wore it twice.

What's the point?

I wasted my money and I didn't do any good with it.

Right?

So my needs, I'm still figuring them out.

And they're all clouded by, you know, realization, but working through them.

But I have to say, Jesse, if at all burnt down, the only thing I would run back into the house for this is assuming my children and my husband are out the dog.

I think he can figure it out by not running that canfora for Duke Duke.

So little crazy.

You might call me to death, but yeah.

Duke, I love you.

But yeah, you're on your own.

Is Duke listening right now?

So we need the listeners.

I would run back into my house for the one painting I have for my mother I have actually plotted how I would do that from what entrance, depending on what part of the house is on fire and how I would break the window to get into my room to get that painting out .

Because, I mean, humans you can't replace, of course, but artwork like that cannot be replaced either.

Can you tell me about that painting?

Oh, my mother is a very complicated, deep detail oriented person.

So her oil works is a very Korean American themed with some Christianities.

So this particular painting has this beautiful blue sky and in the top middle is in red and black orb and an Asian style with two hands cupped over the top and water dripping down over the orb that passes through it to the planet Earth, which is flanked by two couples of Asian red crowned cranes flying and then under the earth.

She goes hyper close to the planet with nothing but trees, but Asian style bonsai with tiny little dots all around, and then mountains in the background.

And then over here, down at the bottom in two Japanese red crown cranes who are doing a mating dance.

And when I look at that painting, I feel her and I feel me and I feel God and I feel love and beauty.

So, yeah, I would run into a burning building to rescue that painting.

Do you feel that feeling now, the feeling you get when you look at that painting and pride?

Lots of pride.

Good pride.

You know, as artists, you birthed things.

Sometimes they're like your kids.

That's a that's a good creation.

God damn.

It just came.

And me.

Finally, my one and only task today makes you cry.

Let's talk about your mom.

It's talk about this beautiful painting.

And we try to dig down deep today.

This is my radio voice.

It's groovy.

All right, here we go.

OK, Jazzy.

That's all I got.

All right.

Oh, thanks so much.

Is that all you got?

Oh, no, no.

You got it.

You seem fathomless, just endless.

Well, I hope to see you around, Jesse.

Like, do you have plans to be at the markets or anything?

Yeah, I'm not really leaving the house too much currently.

Yeah, but yeah, I might see you around.

I don't know.

Yeah, but thank you.

Thank you.

Cartoonists and artist Jesse Clyde, you could see his mural on The Breakfast Club in downtown Moscow, Idaho, and online at Jessi Klein dot com.

This is Traverse Talks.

I'm Sue Ann Romila.