Local Threads

Molly: 00:08

Welcome to this week's episode of Local Threads. I'm Molly, your host. And this week, I'm sitting down with Jeff Palmer, the artist, filmmaker, and designer behind Pixel Palmer. Jeff and I talk about his journey through the arts, filmmaking, music videos, a little bit of ghosts, and one may or may not be in the room with us when we are talking. So sorry about that, I guess.

Molly: 00:41

Let's get into it.

Jeff: 00:43

K. Hey.

Molly: 00:43

Cheers. Cheers. Welcome to this undisclosed recording session of Vocal Threads.

Jeff: 00:51

Yeah. Yeah. Secret clandestine cation.

Molly: 00:54

This is Luna.

Jeff: 00:55

Hey, Luna.

Molly: 00:55

She's gonna be co starring today. Yeah. Luna, come here. This chair is also making noise.

Jeff: 01:03

Right.

Molly: 01:04

Yep. So that's a problem.

Jeff: 01:05

Oh, that's right. Yeah. Of

Molly: 01:09

course, that would happen.

Jeff: 01:10

Yeah.

Molly: 01:10

I just have to be really still.

Jeff: 01:13

Thanks for having me on Local Threads.

Molly: 01:15

Yeah. So you live in New Bedford or your studio's only in New Bedford?

Jeff: 01:19

Well, current the shop in its current iteration, you know Yeah. Is in New Bedford. I live in Marion. I never knew about Marion until I met Anita, my fiance. But, yeah, I live in Marion, and we live together, and it's a it's a wonderful place.

Jeff: 01:35

I'm just grateful to have met someone. It doesn't matter where we lived, you know, where or where we'd end up, but that's where we are now. And she's originally from from Philly. I'm from New Hampshire.

Molly: 01:45

Okay. What part of New Hampshire?

Jeff: 01:47

Sea Coast.

Molly: 01:48

So you ever been up to like Portsmouth? I've heard

Jeff: 01:51

of it. Yeah. Portsmouth. I grew up in Dover. Born in Dover, New Hampshire.

Jeff: 01:55

I worked in high school, I worked at Tuttle's Red Red Barn, which was America's oldest family farm.

Molly: 02:02

Oh, cool.

Jeff: 02:03

Established in 1632, I believe.

Molly: 02:05

Is it

Jeff: 02:05

still around? Remember that because it was like on the push cart, established 1630.

Molly: 02:09

Is still around?

Jeff: 02:10

Yeah. Yeah. I think it was I think the family sold it. I think it's but it's still a functioning farm.

Molly: 02:16

No. What I've noticed here, like, there's so much more local food production and more farmers markets and things like that. I don't know if it's like now that it's happening more or has it always been like that around here?

Jeff: 02:30

You know, the growing season here is short. Right? When I lived in California so I was in Davis, California for about six years. That's UC Davis. You know, it's between the Bay Area and, Sacramento.

Jeff: 02:43

And I gotta tell you, that was my that was my eye opener eye opener in terms of year round farmers markets and year round fruit and produce. And every Saturday, there was this massive farmers market. And it that to me was even though growing up in New England, we had gardens and, you know, produce and all that. But the idea of, like, going to a farmers market

Molly: 03:06

Yeah.

Jeff: 03:07

It didn't really strike me until we ended up there.

Molly: 03:10

Yeah. I mean, there's one right down the the road, and they have, like, the CSAs you sign up for. Yep. I don't know what that stands for.

Jeff: 03:18

I think it's a yeah. I don't know. I don't

Molly: 03:20

You pay? It's a subscription for food

Jeff: 03:23

something. I yeah. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah.

Jeff: 03:25

CSA.

Molly: 03:26

Should You get a box of food.

Molly: 03:27

It's great.

Jeff: 03:28

Alexa, what is Yeah.

Molly: 03:30

No Alexas at this place. But oh, wow. Do we have a ghost?

Jeff: 03:35

Probably. I love ghosts. Do you like ghosts?

Molly: 03:37

That was one of the questions I was gonna ask you.

Jeff: 03:38

Oh, okay.

Molly: 03:39

So was gonna ask you, one, have you had a paranormal experience? Or two, depending on the answer.

Jeff: 03:47

I've had experiences that are very kind of spine chilling, coincidental, bizarre confluence of, like, of things that just align in a way that you're like, how is this possible? And you want me to tell you a story? I'll try to make it I'll try to make it brief because it's it can my speaking of Tuttle's Red Barn where I worked, in the greenhouse, I worked in the greenhouse department area, there was a stray cat that would come in. And eventually, someone's like, does anyone you know, what are we gonna do with this cat? So I took the cat home, and then it became my grandmother's cat on my mom's side, my nanny.

Jeff: 04:26

We called her nanny. And so she had the cat. She named it Sammy. And Sammy would she had a piano at her place, and so Sammy would, like, go up and down the piano and play music, and she found that very charming. Anyway, you know, time goes on.

Jeff: 04:43

My grandmother died. We adopted the cat.

Molly: 04:47

The piano playing cat.

Jeff: 04:48

The piano playing cat. Yeah. Sammy. Who's this big, fluffy, gray I mean, just a one just a really lovey cat. Yeah.

Jeff: 04:55

Kinda like a Garfield. And then over time, Sammy developed, I think it was, like, liver disease or something. And, so you we had to eventually put put him down. It was super sad. And the day that we put him down, it was an in in home euthanasia.

Jeff: 05:13

We had a background NPR on. Remember Garrison Keeler's Prairie Home Companion

Molly: 05:21

Mhmm.

Jeff: 05:21

Was on, and they would usually have piano guests or musical guests. And as we were kind of in the midst of giving them the shots and everything, the song the favorite song of my grandmother, which was is it Claire de Loon or some I think it was a Schumann song.

Molly: 05:42

Mhmm.

Jeff: 05:42

Trauma Ray. Okay. It was called Trauma Ray, and I included it in my feature film because it was my grandmother's favorite song, came on the on the radio.

Molly: 05:51

Oh, wow.

Jeff: 05:52

So the connection between my grandmother's favorite song, you know, Sammy Mhmm. And all of a sudden it's on the radio while we're putting him it was just kind of odd, bizarre, like, her spirit was kinda it was just so it's kind of like even even just talking about it, it's like, woah. That was just a weird, bizarre coincidence.

Molly: 06:17

Yeah. That's not a norm like, something you hear on the radio all the time.

Jeff: 06:21

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. And and it just, you know

Molly: 06:25

She was ushering him home.

Jeff: 06:27

Exactly. Yes.

Molly: 06:28

That's really cool.

Jeff: 06:29

So I feel like that was a Yeah. Spirit spiritual or a what did you? Paranormal. Paranormal. I yeah.

Jeff: 06:36

I I think it was. Yeah. I wonder who's with us.

Molly: 06:40

Yeah. I don't know.

Molly: 06:41

Go away.

Jeff: 06:43

Do you do you have do you get vibes here?

Molly: 06:47

So, no. This is I'm the the places that I have had vibes at mostly have been Louisiana

Jeff: 06:55

Okay.

Molly: 06:56

Where I grew up, the house I grew up in.

Jeff: 06:57

Yeah.

Molly: 06:58

It was super scary.

Jeff: 07:00

Yeah. In what way?

Molly: 07:02

So my grandmother died in the home. Okay. And I think also someone else died there. Yep. We did not have a phone most of the time, just economic

Jeff: 07:16

Then it would have been landline. Right?

Molly: 07:18

Yeah. Just didn't have the money to pay for a phone bill or whatever or something. But so we didn't if we did have a phone, it wasn't usually plugged into the wall jack. Mhmm. My mom or my grandmother did die on the phone.

Molly: 07:32

So we would hear phones ringing and someone answering the phone and so it was very creepy.

Jeff: 07:38

Wow.

Molly: 07:39

Yeah. And, I think we had an auction when she died.

Jeff: 07:43

Mhmm.

Molly: 07:43

Like an estate sale, but it was pretty big because she was a farmer.

Jeff: 07:47

Okay. Was it a big house?

Molly: 07:50

No. Was just it was a small, like, nineteen twenties house, but, you know, it had 75 acres and farm equipment.

Jeff: 07:57

Wow. 75 acres.

Molly: 07:58

Yeah. So my mom and her sisters were arguing in the garage and things were flying off the shelf because my grandmother

Jeff: 08:08

was For real?

Molly: 08:09

I mean, I've only heard that story secondhand. Oh, But it's not something that, yeah, we That's And, you know, growing up in the nineties as a kid, you know, you find a Ouija board, you're gonna play with it, you know, and then naturally naturally, we did.

Jeff: 08:26

For sure.

Molly: 08:27

So I

Molly: 08:28

probably lived in a a portal. Oh my god. This chair.

Jeff: 08:32

This chair. Well, does

Molly: 08:33

I'll just not stop moving. So I'm just frozen

Jeff: 08:37

in time.

Molly: 08:37

What are

Jeff: 08:38

you gonna do? If there's squeaks, there's squeaks.

Molly: 08:39

Yeah.

Jeff: 08:41

So yeah. When when you use the Ouija board, did you ever have one of those, oh my god, this is real? This is

Molly: 08:49

Well, I mean, I I never felt like I was moving it. Right. You know, whether that's Jedi mind trick or not. Mhmm. Like and all my friends wanted to play with it.

Molly: 09:00

And eventually, I had to, like, just stop because it told one of my friends, like, the day and time they were gonna die Mhmm. And now they're forever traumatized, you know, like

Jeff: 09:09

Wait. Has it and do you are you still in touch with that friend?

Molly: 09:11

Yeah. But I don't remember what he said that they the day and time was, so I just Yeah. But every time I've seen him, he's brought it up.

Jeff: 09:19

Oh, wow. So he must remember.

Molly: 09:20

Yeah. Yeah. He's definitely

Jeff: 09:22

not. Beyond.

Molly: 09:23

Yeah. Well, I don't know if they there's a year attached to it, you know. So it's just like, you just gotta every year think about that.

Jeff: 09:30

Wow. That's a what a great Movie. Premise of this movie or story, like Yeah. Just knowing when you're gonna die and

Molly: 09:36

It would suck.

Jeff: 09:37

Or or yeah. When something might happen like that.

Molly: 09:39

Yeah. That's

Molly: 09:40

I wonder how you would live differently. I would probably just be curled up in a ball, knowing me. But, yeah, like, I had a couple friends that would play with played with it. They left my house. Uh-huh.

Molly: 09:52

And their tire fell off. Like, all the lug nuts fell off. Wow. Which, you know

Jeff: 09:58

That's rare like Rare. Very, very unlikely for that to happen.

Molly: 10:02

Yeah. It did. And it was it's strange. So I don't know.

Jeff: 10:06

Yeah. I'd used a I used a Ouija board once at a Christmas at a Halloween party. It was high school. And it was a homemade Ouija board, and someone spilled wax on it. It was a candle, you know, so wax got spilled on it.

Jeff: 10:21

And and at one point, I think I think it said we were asking, like somehow wax came up as a Yeah. So it was, oh, it's reacting to the wax. And I had the same thing that we were all we weren't moving it. It was Yeah. It just really felt like it was moving and everyone kinda freaked out and it got spooky chills and everything.

Molly: 10:42

Yeah. Those moments of the unexplainable are just

Jeff: 10:45

I love that.

Molly: 10:46

They yeah.

Jeff: 10:46

I think there should be you know, I was thinking about mysteries, you know, that's what I love about mystery, whether it's books or TV series or crime thriller. Like, there's something about not knowing. Yeah. You know, who who how did this person die? Or how did this you know, what's the secret?

Jeff: 11:04

And Yeah. Always trying to, like, uncover the secret. I think that's you know, there there's something about that. Without that in life, I don't know if

Molly: 11:12

Yeah. Well, what do we do? You know? Are we so bored?

Jeff: 11:14

You know, like, if there's no mystery, if everything's kinda spelled out and and face value, that's boring.

Molly: 11:21

Yeah. I wanna believe in vampires and aliens.

Jeff: 11:24

I do. I do.

Molly: 11:25

Take me away. Maybe there's

Jeff: 11:27

alien Please,

Molly: 11:29

just come

Jeff: 11:29

down and do something. Fuck shit up.

Molly: 11:33

Yeah. Save me.

Molly: 11:35

Yeah. I'm cool.

Jeff: 11:36

Yeah. Sorry. I'm totally fine with it.

Molly: 11:39

Yeah. Yeah. So you are a printmaker now.

Jeff: 11:42

Yeah. A lot

Molly: 11:42

of print.

Jeff: 11:43

Yep. Artist. So do what I'm known for. Yeah.

Molly: 11:45

So how did you go from doing film, like, film industry to that?

Jeff: 11:51

Yeah. So Or actually, let's take

Molly: 11:54

it even further back. Did you go to school to do film?

Jeff: 11:58

I did. Well, I went to state school in King, New Hampshire Mhmm. Keane State College, which now I think has a much much more developed robust film program among other programs they have. But, at the time, it was fledgling film program. But I didn't go to that that was not my intention.

Jeff: 12:16

I went to Keane State College because it was in state. It was super cheap. Yeah. This was this was 1989. And it was like, great.

Jeff: 12:23

It doesn't cost a lot. My mom, you know, at that point was like, you know, we can afford this. Yeah. And I didn't know what I really wanted to do. Something with something about, you know, art writing, right brain stuff.

Molly: 12:35

Yeah.

Jeff: 12:37

And the first semester there, I thought I was gonna be Jack Kerouac and write, you know, write the great American novel and all that. And I'd still I still love writing. I still write, but it wasn't a didn't turn out to be my career path.

Molly: 12:51

Mhmm.

Jeff: 12:52

And then the second semester, I got into three-dimensional design. I started to, you know, design chairs and and just kind of go go deep into or at least explore what it meant to design in a three d scent. Mhmm. And then sophomore year sophomore year, first semester, I took a filmmaking class. I took a, actually, an avant garde class.

Molly: 13:18

Oh, nice.

Jeff: 13:18

So avant garde film. And I'm so I'm in this dark theater with all these weirdos and freaks watching bizarre content Mhmm. From the sixties, from the fifties, from the you know, just all sorts of abstractions. Yeah. No real storyline.

Jeff: 13:38

And I thought, this is

Molly: 13:41

I love silent.

Jeff: 13:42

This is cool. Yeah. Yeah.

Molly: 13:44

Like, you get the stories whatever you

Jeff: 13:46

Yeah. Yeah. There's so many you know, I won't go into all the filmmakers' names, but Maya Darren was a big influence. Bruce Connor, Dan Brackage, blah blah blah. So I just kinda fell in love with that crowd Mhmm.

Jeff: 14:01

And which also tied into the theater. So it's like acting and plays and which is all, like, writing characters, environment, atmosphere, music, fabric, costumes. You know, it's like Yeah. It's all there. And so I was like, you know what?

Jeff: 14:18

I think this is where I wanna what I wanna do. And I wasn't a very studious person. I was not like, I'm never gonna get

Molly: 14:28

A PhD. Yeah.

Jeff: 14:30

Straight a's. I just studying wasn't my thing. I was more more into messing around and making videos with my friends. And so I did graduated with a film degree, got into some marketing, got a did some advertising. I worked graphic design.

Jeff: 14:46

I did some of that and made a you know, made some films, made some short films, well, which weren't really that short, which should have been shorter. Ended up making a feature film in had the premiere in 02/2001.

Molly: 15:04

Oh, wow.

Jeff: 15:04

Yeah. 2001 in Dover, my hometown, at the local theater, which was a real

Molly: 15:11

How fun.

Jeff: 15:12

Yeah. It was a really really fun experience. I mean, a lot of people helped out. You know, it was like early on. I I should have edited it.

Jeff: 15:18

Yeah. You know, I really but it was like, this is my masterpiece. You know, this is my epic film. And but I learned a lot. And then ended up going to Calif Davis, California for six years, then moved south and yada yada.

Jeff: 15:34

But in all that time, I was doing video editing. I was doing production. I was doing camera work.

Molly: 15:39

Was In the movie industry? Or

Jeff: 15:42

I'd say adjacent. You know, I wasn't like down in LA hustling film wise, but I was I was in the Venn diagram of like Yeah. Oh, your your your media, your video, your your film, all that kind of stuff. And then California was where I started to do a lot of music videos. Yeah.

Jeff: 16:00

Which I which I really loved. Yeah. Because you can you know, it's it's a way of interpreting someone else's song Yeah. Slash writing, and I found that to be very liberating. It was a great experience.

Jeff: 16:15

The collaboration was the process was great.

Molly: 16:18

You kind of get to have the say when you're the director of that or just

Jeff: 16:23

I I I kept it very like, I gave whoever whatever band it was or solo musician, I was like, here's what I see. Here's what I think would be would work for this song. And then for the most part, they would get they would get it, but they'd wanna, well, what if we did this or what if, you know, we went in this direction or that direction a bit? Okay. Sure.

Jeff: 16:47

We could do, you know, modify it and that kind of stuff. But a lot of the times, you know, I found the bands and musicians were like, hey, you do you, you know? You're the filmmaker. If you think this is gonna work, that's great. We'll give you some ideas or we'll give you some input, but for the most part, this is your project and this is our song, so we come together.

Molly: 17:07

Really? Yeah. I would think they'd be more precious about it.

Jeff: 17:10

Yeah. I think that the bands that I've worked with there was a band that they were like, they didn't know what the heck they wanted. And I was willing to, like, give them a really cool music video.

Molly: 17:20

Yeah. I won't tell you know, I won't

Jeff: 17:22

say who they were, but they were a young band and they were real kinda hotshot. I was gonna put together a very down the pipe solid music video for them, which is what they wanted. And they just they needled me with every little thing. Yeah. And it's like, I sent them an early edit, and they they just they just didn't see the The vision.

Jeff: 17:43

Potential yeah. They didn't see the vision or they didn't see like, oh, wow. It's he's doing it for free, and it looks pretty cool. They just oh, this isn't the direction we wanna go as a band. Of course, I don't think they're a band anymore, but you know?

Jeff: 17:56

Oh, no. Yeah. So it's like, alright. You know, I I I hustled. I was making I was willing to go above and beyond, but they they just didn't want that.

Jeff: 18:05

So Yeah. So it hasn't happened a lot. I did a really wonderful project with an artist up in Boston, Daniel Laurent, DL as he's known, and called Outside. And it was about inner city youth, the intersection of violence, it was a real urban setting, and it was about young black adolescents or young black men being targeted. Mhmm.

Jeff: 18:34

And that was a really strong, compelling song. And and it spoke to me and we really collaborated together on that. And he actually had his son in the video as like a younger version of himself. That's cool.

Molly: 18:51

Is it on your website?

Jeff: 18:52

It is. It's Outside. I'll link that. Shout out to DL.

Molly: 18:55

Yeah. I'll link that in the show notes. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody can find all your all your work.

Molly: 18:59

So you've done music videos. Mhmm. You did screenwriting Yep. As well.

Jeff: 19:04

Yep.

Molly: 19:04

You did behind the camera work.

Jeff: 19:07

Yep.

Molly: 19:07

Both editing and camera.

Jeff: 19:10

Yeah. The the feature film I made yeah. I've done all of that. But the feature film I made in my hometown, I did I did you know, I I I shot it. I produced it.

Jeff: 19:20

I directed it. I edited it. And wrote

Molly: 19:23

fun was that? Because I just imagine it was just fun as hell. You've got nobody breathing down your neck with budget. You can do all the creative things that you wanna do.

Jeff: 19:32

Yeah.

Molly: 19:32

And you're on your own time.

Jeff: 19:34

Yep. I was I you know yeah. Absolutely. I loved it. It was indie it was independent filmmaking at its

Molly: 19:42

Yeah.

Jeff: 19:42

At its finest, but also at its most challenging in terms of, like, like, no money, you know, asking for favors.

Molly: 19:52

Yeah.

Jeff: 19:52

And getting a lot, you know, getting a lot of people at that time, you know, it was like, oh, cool. You're making an indie film, you know. And, yeah, I'll help out. Nowadays, it might be good luck with that. Yeah.

Jeff: 20:01

You know? But, yeah, I had a lot of lot of friends kinda rally and help out. And there were some there were some magic happen that happened, but then there was also some real trying challenging Yeah. Days.

Molly: 20:17

I mean, I definitely don't think it was all sunshine and rainbows, but that's kind of how I look at art.

Jeff: 20:23

Yeah.

Molly: 20:23

Whenever you are concepting and you're thinking about an idea, you're just like riding high. Mhmm. And then when you hit that wall of like, oh no, like we you guys won't be able to see this, but we just had some technical difficulties because it happens every single time. But it's normally happening after the guest is gone. I'm editing and, oh, no.

Molly: 20:45

I forgot to turn on the audio, and it's just like chaos. Yeah. And then you if you're not working with a team, you don't have somebody to, like, pick you up when you're on No. When you're down. You know?

Jeff: 20:54

And you can you I mean, I've been in situations where I panicked.

Molly: 20:58

You know?

Jeff: 20:58

I was in I had a video shoot once where I got back, and I and I thought the mic was plugged in and it wasn't so there was literally no audio. Or the audio that I had was just complete, like, junk. And so I had to go back to the client and be like, hey, so, you know, and that's not a great feeling.

Molly: 21:18

No, it's not. No. Even with this podcast, that's my nightmare. I've already had to rerecord once. Oh, But luckily, shout out to Amelia.

Molly: 21:28

She was super nice.

Jeff: 21:29

Amelia. I

Molly: 21:29

love it. You rock. Thank you. I thought I was gonna have to rerecord like three.

Jeff: 21:35

Yeah.

Molly: 21:35

But my editing skills got better. Good. So

Jeff: 21:38

Yeah. It's tough because you also you could you you lose you might lose this amazing story. Yeah. You know? And it's hard to

Molly: 21:47

You can't recreate that.

Jeff: 21:48

Yeah. You know? That's lightning in a bottle. So it's like sometimes it's like, let's talk about that story we talked about and it's not the same. Yeah.

Jeff: 21:55

You know? So, yeah. Technical difficulties can really throw that monkey wrench in. And, yeah, you just we we all just have to learn how to how to

Molly: 22:04

keep a

Jeff: 22:05

cool head or, you know, pivot and just be like, you know what? Like, I had when I was shooting the the feature and again, this is like a really micro budget feature, but it was this one location that was like, I was so

Molly: 22:19

Set on.

Jeff: 22:19

Yeah. So set on. Exactly. Just like, this is where it's gonna be. We show up, there's construction happening, so the audio was Oh, gonna be no.

Jeff: 22:28

Yeah, total disaster. But I was like, you know what? I'll put on my filmmaking hat and just go we'll shoot it from afar, we'll have them walking, we'll get all these different angles, and then we'll go record the audio up in the cemetery where there's just birds chirping or So I made it work, and so there was no, like, synced audio of the two of the couple walking. Yeah. It was just it was just edited in such a way you didn't, you know.

Molly: 22:52

Yeah.

Jeff: 22:52

And it worked out.

Molly: 22:53

Yeah.

Jeff: 22:54

It and I maybe it was like, it was the best situation I could have come up with.

Molly: 22:59

Those are the best moments in hindsight, of course, because you learn Yeah. Oh, so much in failure. Not failure, but like. Yeah. I guess it is.

Molly: 23:08

Yeah. Failure.

Jeff: 23:09

Well, it's like you you learn so much in the face of adversity, in the face of, like, you know, being forced to chain change it up. Yeah. You know? Like, you you're not gonna get what you want. Yeah.

Jeff: 23:21

So what are you gonna do? Well, do you send everyone do you bitch about it? Or do you just go, alright. Let's see what we can do.

Molly: 23:28

Yeah.

Jeff: 23:28

And, you know, if you're if you've done it enough, those that muscle that those muscles of adaptation Yeah. Are a little more they're they're a little refined. So you could be like, yeah. You know what? Let's do it this way.

Jeff: 23:42

Or you know what? We're gonna be able to do it tomorrow. I'm not gonna worry about it. Yeah. So yeah.

Jeff: 23:47

Just kinda like

Molly: 23:48

Life's like that too.

Jeff: 23:50

Exactly. Like pulling out of that turbulence. You know?

Molly: 23:52

Yeah. Yeah.

Jeff: 23:53

So film and video and then music videos and then writing. I was working with this media creative agency in Providence, and I was their director. And so basically, that meant I would go in and ask the questions, you know? Yeah. You know, kinda glad hand the client and get them comfortable sitting in it opposite me and then the cameras and lights and everything.

Jeff: 24:16

And I still do that freelance work. But when the pandemic hit, a lot of that work dried up or a lot of that work was put on hold. And that's when I started to do some artwork, and it was and it also came about with Breonna Taylor and George Floyd and the protests and Black Lives Matter and, like, all that really just came to a a fever pitch. Yeah. And I went to some protests, I started to do some art that was sort of I just call it protest art, but it's just sort of in your face art, you know?

Jeff: 24:52

And it was mostly painting. And so that's that's when I started to, I guess, open that book again of, like, of doing artwork that I've done in the past, but not not to the extent that I've done since, you know, since the pandemic. And so I just started to do more and more painting. I started to get into spray paint art. And, and then I started to vend.

Jeff: 25:15

I I someone said, oh, you should vend at Providence Flea, and I didn't know enough about it. So October 2020, I set up a booth and did gave it a shot for my first, you know, first time. But that's when I was doing primarily paintings. Yeah. No prints.

Jeff: 25:33

And then I started to get into that Thanksgiving twenty twenties. I saw people on Instagram making prints of

Molly: 25:41

Yeah.

Jeff: 25:41

A block print, you know, lino cut. And I thought, that's pretty cool. You can So

Molly: 25:46

you just taught yourself that.

Jeff: 25:48

I did. Yeah.

Molly: 25:49

That's

Jeff: 25:50

That was

Molly: 25:50

That's cool.

Jeff: 25:51

That was yeah. It was trial and error, you know. I got the kit. I got the little I got the blades. I got the the the substrate, basically, the it's linoleum or it's I use a lot of rubber Mhmm.

Jeff: 26:03

Right now. But, yeah, I just kept doing it and doing it. Some something about it just stuck. Something about it just clicked. I don't know if you've ever had that with maybe your fabric.

Jeff: 26:14

You're still searching, but maybe maybe your maybe your fabric work or something.

Molly: 26:18

I used to ride horses, and that was something that

Jeff: 26:20

Horses?

Molly: 26:20

Yeah. Oh, okay. But

Molly: 26:23

I don't do that anymore. I'm old, out of shape, can't do it. But, like, as far as trying to find something like that

Jeff: 26:28

Yeah.

Molly: 26:29

I don't know yet.

Jeff: 26:30

Yeah. Oh, you're still on the search. Yeah. Yeah. That's great though.

Jeff: 26:33

That's great. I mean, I I what I saw was when I was selling artwork, the paintings, it was one one of a kind. And that's great, but then they're gone. And then Yeah. I saw the printmaking, I thought, oh, you can make a negative split mold or whatever.

Jeff: 26:51

Right. And then you can keep making prints. Yeah. And so you sell one, you have another one. And that little light bulb went off.

Jeff: 26:59

I thought, oh, maybe that's a way to, you know, just create a collection of work where it's sort of infinite.

Molly: 27:06

Yeah. You know? And then so many possibilities like you've made this, and and those of you who are listening, you can't see this, but he what is this thing called?

Jeff: 27:16

So they call it a a winged skull or a death's head, I think, or something like that.

Molly: 27:22

So the thing on on the gravestones in New England specifically, I don't know if they're everywhere. I don't think they are.

Jeff: 27:28

Not everywhere. No. But here, let me just get it down here. We can I can, hold it up here? So death's head or winged skull.

Jeff: 27:42

It says one of the earliest gravestone symbol symbols is the death's head or wing skull. These symbols reflect the strict orthodox Puritan values which were in practice from the sixteen twenties to the early seventeen hundreds. It's, you know, life and death and

Molly: 27:59

I just love them. I always see that in Salem, you know, the or Yeah. Tombstone. And I was like, I need that for my house. So I hit you up and you made it for

Jeff: 28:08

me. Yeah.

Molly: 28:08

And then you made this wood piece, which is a wall hanging, but then you also make prints and you do t shirts too. Right?

Jeff: 28:15

Yeah. Yeah.

Molly: 28:16

Yeah. I'm not gonna stand up. Oh, sure. Lazy. But it's so cool.

Molly: 28:22

And I think people forget, you can just ask an artist to make you something. And that what's the worst that can happen? No. I don't wanna do that.

Jeff: 28:32

Yeah. Like Yeah. And I'm glad you did. I I see the that's the kind of thing where I feel I wasn't even thinking about doing anything like that. You asked and I said, oh, yeah.

Jeff: 28:43

Let me let me get my head around it and figure out, you know, what to do. And Yeah. And, you know, and I appreciate that. And and then I also, you know, if it's something very specific, like, if you wanna do a pet portrait, that's not something I'm gonna be like, oh, great. And I can go sell this, you know, or the prince of it.

Molly: 29:00

Well, Luna is pretty famous.

Jeff: 29:02

Well, I mean, hey, you know, maybe a whole line of Luna merch.

Molly: 29:05

Yeah. Exactly.

Jeff: 29:06

But I have had I've I have had clients or or commission pieces and the people are like, oh, you could totally make some prints and if you wanna sell them, that's great.

Molly: 29:15

I'm like Yeah.

Jeff: 29:15

Okay. I don't make a habit of it, but that, I thought, you know, that's universal. That's very Yeah. Accessible. Was like, alright.

Jeff: 29:23

This is cool.

Molly: 29:23

Salem crowd.

Jeff: 29:24

I'll definitely yeah. I'll definitely make that, you know, and and then I can I decided to add it to this is Neil Young's Hey My My Rock and Roll Mhmm? Can Never Die because I've started to do some screen printing on vinyl, and I thought, Oh, kinda ties into that.

Molly: 29:42

It's perfect.

Jeff: 29:43

So anyway, I

Molly: 29:44

And it's using something that's, you you didn't need the vinyl anymore, and now you've made it into an art piece. Sure. Oh, And then you make these what kind of art is this when it's a is it pop art?

Jeff: 29:59

When it's

Molly: 29:59

a a food item?

Jeff: 30:01

Oh, this one right here. Like I wish we could so for those watching, this yolk actually lights up. This one doesn't have a ball behind it, but they that's the whole idea. So there's a ball behind it. So it's an egg that lights up.

Jeff: 30:15

And, I would say very, very pop art, modern home decor.

Molly: 30:24

And you've got a lot of that. Like, you've got the Cheez It table, the worm table, the Ouija board table. Like, those are really cool. And it sucks that we've got to be in this this state of marketing ourselves that is so it doesn't allow you to continuously I don't know. It it drains me even with a podcast.

Molly: 30:46

Like, I'm not gonna do cartwheels, you know, people to listen.

Jeff: 30:51

Yeah.

Molly: 30:51

But maybe I guess I should.

Jeff: 30:52

No. I'll I'll do cartwheels if you want me to. They won't be pretty.

Molly: 30:56

Update my insurance.

Jeff: 30:58

Yeah. No. I know what you're saying. You know, there there is this constantly waving the flag like, what about me? Hey.

Jeff: 31:05

Look over here. Hey. I have this. And I I get exhausted, you know. But I but I at the end of the day, it's like it's like I have to do it.

Jeff: 31:13

I'm, you know, I'm putting I'm doing these little daily table, you know, videos. And it's like, here is this table. It's $300. And if you're interested in a worm or a, you know, Cheez It or something, hit me up because it's available. And so it's like, there's making art that I love, and I'll never stop making art.

Jeff: 31:33

I will certainly be doing it for a long time, and I love it. But then there's also the selling of the art. Yeah. And that can that can be, I think those two wearing those hats are it can be difficult.

Molly: 31:48

It is. I mean, I had a I thought, okay. I really love the idea of people slowing consumption, whether that's fashion or art. Mhmm. And really putting money in the hands of the artist or, you know, not a big business.

Molly: 32:03

Yeah. I was like, I'll have a vintage store. Turns out, hate selling things. Hate it.

Jeff: 32:08

Yeah. Hate

Molly: 32:09

it. Hate sitting at a store. Not my vibe.

Jeff: 32:12

Yep.

Molly: 32:12

But what I do love doing is hyping up everyone. Oh. That's one of my favorite

Jeff: 32:18

things to found your I mean, maybe that's maybe something that you're Yeah.

Molly: 32:23

You're I mean, that's what I kind of pivoted to and with this podcast and where I was going with that is like, you can't like, if I wouldn't have done that, I wouldn't be sitting here with you today.

Jeff: 32:34

Right. Yeah. Yeah.

Molly: 32:36

Some people might think of that as like, oh my god, Molly, you've had a vintage store, then you had a bigger studio, and now, like,

Jeff: 32:44

it's like a fuck up or something. Downsizing or Like,

Molly: 32:48

are you not doing well? No. I am discovering what the fuck I wanna do with my life because I spent my whole life doing what everybody else wanted me to do. And, oh, I better not do that because it's gonna look a certain way or, oh, you just wanna do something creative because your husband is doing something creative.

Jeff: 33:04

Mhmm.

Molly: 33:04

It's like, no. I really just wanna surround myself with creative people. It's so inspiring. Yeah. Like, just even, talking to you about the film stuff, like, gets me just, like, thinking, like, why don't we just why don't we make a film?

Jeff: 33:19

Totally. And we were talking about that earlier, like, the this this idea of potential and and and evolving and always feeling like we need to grow. You know, we need we we need to feel I think it's totally okay to feel stagnant, but it's also maybe that is what inspires you to feel, you know, aim for growth and aim. And I think as people, as humans, learning learning how you fit or where you fit in the world and then where you're most comfortable. Mhmm.

Jeff: 33:52

And what gives you the most joy. Yeah. That's really what it's all about. You know?

Molly: 33:58

Yeah. It really is. I mean, we're taught to chase a promotion.

Jeff: 34:02

Yeah. Yeah.

Molly: 34:03

And while that's great and, you know, necessary for survival, it'll only get you so far if you're not enjoying it. Right. There's nothing there's nothing wrong with it if you're enjoying it. It's you're getting something out of it.

Jeff: 34:15

Sure.

Molly: 34:15

But if it's just taking from you, then it's time to figure

Jeff: 34:19

out what Taking and not filling Yeah. Your You know? Yeah. If it's if you're not able to replenish that, you're gonna hit a point where you're just bone dry. Yeah.

Jeff: 34:28

It's like the well is empty. Yeah. And I know a lot of people get to that point in their career where they're like, this isn't satisfying. This is not what I wanna do in life. And it's, you know, we here in The States, you know, we live with this constant, not to say fear, but

Molly: 34:49

Productivity culture.

Jeff: 34:50

Productivity culture. Exactly. Like, you know, keeping up with the Joneses, you know. What'd you do today? Right.

Molly: 34:57

What did you get done?

Jeff: 34:58

Right.

Molly: 34:58

What'd you get done this weekend? Yeah. What are you gonna get done

Jeff: 35:01

next What do you achieve?

Molly: 35:02

You know? Yeah. It's

Jeff: 35:03

What mountain are you, you know, cresting today and tomorrow and the next day? And it's like, it can fuck with your head.

Molly: 35:10

Yeah. Big time.

Jeff: 35:11

And I'll be honest, like, sometimes I would just love to make art and not even worry about Yeah. Trying to make a living or make money off of it. But I am not independently wealthy. Yeah. Therefore, I have to figure out a way to market my work that I don't feel like a complete, you know, snake oil sales.

Molly: 35:33

Yeah. Know? Because it there is a there is an aspect of it that just feels inherently grimy. Yeah. And it's I don't know what it is about it.

Molly: 35:42

I think it's because we're in we've hit influencer culture Mhmm. And the way everyone is selling you something. However, when it's an artist selling their work they've worked on versus someone selling you a discount that they're paid to promote to you.

Jeff: 36:02

Yeah. Yeah.

Molly: 36:02

And, you know, our president is a literal influencer. I mean, that's when you know you've hit you've hit fucking rock bottom when you're the president is fucking selling perfume and tennis shoes. That is I mean, among all the other bullshit, and we won't go into it. Just know we don't fucking support that here.

Jeff: 36:24

Fucking way.

Molly: 36:25

I Yeah. Exactly. And I I can't stress that enough.

Jeff: 36:30

Yeah. We're anti fascists. Yep. You know, anti oligarch. Yeah.

Jeff: 36:35

You name it.

Molly: 36:37

Yeah.

Jeff: 36:37

But it it's it's awful to think we're in a we live in a culture now in a world where we even have to bring that shit. Like, I It's absolutely baffling. And yeah. We that's probably a in a a podcast on its

Molly: 36:55

own. For sure. It is. But it you know, it's I see a lot of artists now. Well, one, the New England area doesn't get enough representation in how, like, creative Mhmm.

Molly: 37:09

It actually is. You know, people think New England from outsiders. At least I was, you know, I've

Jeff: 37:15

still feel What did you think of New England?

Molly: 37:18

So I used to work for a company

Molly: 37:20

in Connecticut, but I was I worked away from Connecticut. So when I thought of New England, I thought of it at I thought New I thought New York was part of New England. Okay.

Jeff: 37:29

It's not. Yeah.

Molly: 37:30

Yeah. Which I've only just recently

Jeff: 37:32

I think that's I think you weren't alone on that thing Yeah.

Molly: 37:34

And so when I thought of New England, I was like, I'd never wanna live there. It's cold.

Jeff: 37:39

Mhmm.

Molly: 37:39

And that's pretty much it. I didn't really think about it.

Jeff: 37:41

Meanwhile, we we we needed to be in air conditioning today because it's so effing hot.

Molly: 37:46

It's so hot. My studio and if you watch on YouTube, you will see, a lot of different, locations. I'm taking this out on the road.

Jeff: 37:57

Yeah. We're on the road with Molly.

Molly: 37:59

Too hot Yeah. To be in a mill building with no AC. Yep. Don't have a death wish this week, so we're staying inside in the cool. But, where was I going with that?

Jeff: 38:09

Well, this this weather probably reminds you of Louisiana.

Molly: 38:13

Honestly, I would die in the South. Like, I haven't lived there in twenty plus years. I lived in Texas before, let's see, twenty nine before the pandemic, I was in Texas and Austin, and then I lived in Poland, which is similar to the same climate as here.

Jeff: 38:27

Oh, really? Yeah. I didn't know that.

Molly: 38:29

They have four seasons.

Molly: 38:33

No. But New England, I didn't know what to expect.

Molly: 38:35

Yeah. Because I've lived so many different places. It's almost like in rush I didn't enjoy them until, like, I retrospectively enjoyed them because in the moment, I was not present. Yeah. So Vegas, I it has a special place in my heart because

Jeff: 38:51

of Right.

Molly: 38:52

All the things that Vegas is. Vegas.

Jeff: 38:55

Yeah. List do do me a favor. Just if off the top of your head, list doesn't have to be chronologically, but list as many places you've lived as you can remember.

Molly: 39:04

Okay. Louisiana, North Dakota, Las Vegas, Texas, Indiana, Poland, Massachusetts, and I think I also Alabama, Wyoming.

Jeff: 39:21

Yeah. So you so

Molly: 39:23

Some of those who lived in this did, but

Jeff: 39:25

many states and then Poland.

Molly: 39:27

Yeah. And

Jeff: 39:29

for how long in Poland?

Molly: 39:30

I was there for a couple years.

Jeff: 39:32

Yeah. So long enough to kinda immerse yourself in the culture.

Molly: 39:35

Yeah. Yeah. Well, it was during the pandemic, so not a great time to be trying to live your European best life. And because, like, we thought we would be there for, like, ten years or more. But just things kept happening.

Molly: 39:49

And Wow. Yeah. It's a great place, though. Well, you've lived in a

Jeff: 39:54

lot more places than I have. That's for sure.

Molly: 39:56

I will say that this area has such I don't know. It just is there's so much going on. There's, like, an art show every week. There's a fashion show every sometimes multiple times a week.

Jeff: 40:10

Yeah. And sometimes you can't you know, it's like, well, if I wanna do that, I can't do this other thing.

Molly: 40:15

That that and you know, and it's great because there's so many hubs of creativity, and they all have their great, like, their own thing. So when you Mhmm. What is your favorite film or video that you worked on?

Jeff: 40:30

That I worked on? Yeah. Oh, that's a good question. You know, I I think the short film I made called Split Costs.

Molly: 40:40

Okay. With the the two people in the car.

Jeff: 40:42

Yeah. The two young women on a road trip in Massachusetts. So they basically go from, like, the Boston area to Amherst and and, you know, West well, Western Mass is even further than that, you know Yeah. Into Pittsfield and that kind of thing. But anyway, that was filmed during the winter.

Jeff: 41:02

And it was me with a camera, with a couple cameras rigged in the car, and two actresses, and that was pretty much it.

Molly: 41:12

That's cool.

Jeff: 41:13

And, yeah, it was it was a really just a super intimate shoot. Mila Hudson, who was the main, I'd say sort of the main character, they both kind of shared the screen, but Mila Was

Molly: 41:27

she the driver?

Jeff: 41:28

Yeah. Mila had kind of a She had to do some heavy lifting in terms of the character Mhmm. And what happened in the The story. In the story. But, yeah, the two of them really were wonderful together.

Jeff: 41:43

It was a wonderful experience. It was just like the opposite of a Hollywood

Molly: 41:48

Yeah.

Jeff: 41:48

You know, production. It was just bare bones.

Molly: 41:51

Are they local actors?

Jeff: 41:53

Well, Mila was from Hudson Valley. She was down down in, I believe it was Poughkeepsie. Unfortunately, she passed away.

Molly: 42:02

Oh, no.

Jeff: 42:03

Yeah. A very, very tragic loss of an actress who was on the ascent. But she did this film and really it took off. I mean, it really punctuated her career to a point where, you know, it was in film festivals, it was winning awards, she was winning awards, she was getting out there. And she had such this amazing amazingly positive, upbeat personality.

Jeff: 42:30

Laurie Hall, who was the other actress, she I don't think it was ever on her radar. Was like, oh, I'm gonna be an actress, and this is I think she wanted to give it a try. And and for whatever reason, you know, we met, and I'm like, she is, like, good for this role. Yeah. And I don't think she made it a career move for herself, but we had a wonderful time.

Jeff: 42:56

You know? Yeah. It's cool. And that was I think I've done a lot of I I think one of the other wonderful moments of filmmaking for me was when I made the Mulligan's Island music video.

Molly: 43:10

That one's really fun.

Jeff: 43:11

Did you yeah. You saw that one? Yeah.

Molly: 43:13

I love the carnival aspect and also there's some stop motion in there.

Jeff: 43:17

Yeah. That's Yeah. There's Super difficult. There's just like there's some yeah. I I tried to throw it all in Yeah.

Jeff: 43:24

You know, and make it feel like a very fantasy based experience where you really It

Molly: 43:30

just looked fun. Yeah. Like, you wanted to be in it. Oh. You know?

Jeff: 43:33

Yeah. That's that's a great you know, it's great to hear that because I you almost wanna feel like you're missing out on

Molly: 43:41

Yeah.

Jeff: 43:41

That world, you know?

Molly: 43:43

I wish there were more music videos. They I mean, I want MTV to have

Jeff: 43:48

music videos in to be MTV again. Yeah. Well, I remember filming that in the bassist's backyard, and we set up the these all these sheets that were part of set of the band in the middle. And I remember at one moment, I was filming from afar, and this was kind of like the last shot of it where you saw all the shadowy creatures moving around and everyone dancing. Yeah.

Jeff: 44:18

And I remember there was, I think one of the moms was next to me and I remember looking over at her and she just had this glow on her face Mhmm. Where she was we were experiencing this magical thing that was happening. And and it was for me, those moments are just precious. Yeah. You know, those are just, wow, this is why we do this.

Jeff: 44:45

I think that's more of, like, as creatives, we wanna we want to create an experience for someone else, whether it's a singular piece of artwork or a bigger thing like a film

Molly: 44:57

Yeah.

Jeff: 44:58

Or or song that, you know, transcends. And I feel like sometimes those moments are that's the magic you're trying to capture.

Molly: 45:07

So would you say and I guess you can compare this to art the art you're doing now, the block print or film. Do you have more fun in the process or with the finished product?

Jeff: 45:20

It's definitely the process.

Molly: 45:22

Yeah. Yeah.

Jeff: 45:24

Yeah. It's it's because you're you're chasing that. Yeah. You're you're chasing, you know, you're tiger's sail. Know, you're Yeah.

Jeff: 45:30

What's that? All those moments. Yeah. Know? It's the trial and error.

Jeff: 45:34

Yeah. It's the this didn't work, that didn't work. It's the it's the exploration

Molly: 45:39

Yeah.

Jeff: 45:39

Of like, I didn't know this was gonna work out, but it did. And how cool is that? And we caught it on film. Or we got it I got captured it

Molly: 45:47

in Yeah. I love these lamps. And you just sent one of these egg lamps to Japan?

Jeff: 45:52

I did. Yeah.

Molly: 45:53

How did they find you?

Jeff: 45:54

I so I vented at the Plymouth Pride.

Molly: 45:56

Okay.

Jeff: 45:57

Which was a wonderful day. Had we had great weather. You know, it was a good turnout. And it was my first time there. And this guy, I believe, was, like, husband and wife, and funky dude came by, big beard.

Jeff: 46:08

He's like, that egg lamp, that's awesome. Can you ship that to Japan? And I was like, I think so, yeah. I've never had done that.

Molly: 46:15

He's

Jeff: 46:15

like, I'm gonna get that.

Molly: 46:17

You said it was an APO address. Was it someone

Jeff: 46:19

on a

Molly: 46:19

military base?

Jeff: 46:19

Yeah, was. Yeah. But yeah, there's gonna be an egg lamp somewhere in Japan. That's cool. And yeah, it's like, I love that.

Jeff: 46:27

I think that's the reaction I think any artist wants, is like someone walking into your store, or even like when you had your, was it a thrift store or what was it?

Molly: 46:39

Yeah, was like a vintage shop.

Jeff: 46:40

Vintage shop. You you want that like, I gotta have, like, I gotta have that.

Molly: 46:44

Or even just like, I love the vibe in here. That was like mission complete. Know, that was Yep. Good enough for

Jeff: 46:52

Yep. I love what you're doing here.

Molly: 46:53

This really

Jeff: 46:53

is, yeah, a feel good place.

Molly: 46:55

It's just you wish that would pay the rent,

Jeff: 46:57

but it doesn't. And with my shop in the mill is exactly where I'm at, you know? Yeah. It was a wonderful experience. I love setting it up.

Jeff: 47:08

I love taking over a big space like that, but it all comes with a price tag. Yeah. And and if it's not funding itself, if it's not being able to

Molly: 47:19

And you're at the Kilburn Mill.

Jeff: 47:21

I'm at the Kilburn Mill now. And I'll be there now. I I found out I'll be there like all of August.

Molly: 47:27

So Okay.

Jeff: 47:28

So I'll be slowly kinda taking, you know, putting packing things up. And Mhmm. So folks, if you want a table, you know, hop on it now.

Molly: 47:36

Or if you want a custom.

Jeff: 47:38

Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. That too. T shirt, whatever.

Molly: 47:41

Yeah.

Jeff: 47:42

Yeah. But when you had your space, was it something that you always wanted to try?

Molly: 47:48

Yeah. I thought yeah. I thought it like, oh, yeah. I think I

Molly: 47:51

would really love just in my mind, it was simple.

Molly: 47:56

Simple little shop. No, it's not simple. Not simple at all. No. The build out plus, you know, the pricing and the taxes and the

Jeff: 48:08

Where was it?

Molly: 48:09

Winsmith Mill. So the same place that my studio is.

Jeff: 48:12

Oh, okay. So it was here when so it was Massachusetts?

Molly: 48:16

Yeah.

Molly: 48:16

Yeah.

Jeff: 48:17

Okay. I didn't know. Alright.

Molly: 48:18

Yeah. Yeah. Definitely far from what I used to do. Mhmm. But

Jeff: 48:23

Well, I think I heard you say that you didn't like the loneliness or you didn't like. Yeah. It's boring. And I think you said that on the previous podcast. And I heard that, I was like, I totally get that because I don't wanna be sitting around in this big store waiting for people to come in.

Molly: 48:41

And you start thinking about all the things you could be doing. Yeah. Rather be doing.

Jeff: 48:45

Totally. So Or even I'm there with you.

Molly: 48:48

That you wanna work on or

Jeff: 48:51

There's only so much sketching and, you know, to do list you can make before Yeah.

Molly: 48:56

And then I don't know how the Kilburn Mill is, but at least where I had my shop, there are people to talk to, like other shop owners. Yeah. And I don't know

Jeff: 49:05

how It's it's lonely up

Molly: 49:08

there on the Third Floor.

Molly: 49:09

They're very spaced out.

Jeff: 49:10

But at the end of the day, it there there is the the monthly nut. Yeah. You know, that you gotta come up with on top of all of on top of every, you know, all the other life bills.

Molly: 49:23

Yeah. And then also like, are you even paying yourself?

Jeff: 49:26

Right.

Molly: 49:26

Not usually.

Molly: 49:27

No. No.

Jeff: 49:28

And and so, you know, I feel like I'm making the smart move of just going, you know what? It's not working out. It's totally okay. I tried it out. You know, and maybe retail isn't my thing.

Molly: 49:38

Yeah. But like, I I feel like too, like there's so many places that should have your prints.

Jeff: 49:46

Should have what? Your prints. Oh, my print. Oh, thank you.

Molly: 49:49

Your prints, your your If you have a local shop in and around New England or wherever and you see this, hit up Pixel Palmer.

Jeff: 49:58

Pixel Palmer is one of I got I I do have to kinda celebrate this is I I got a really big order from a place called Rebel Supply down in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Okay. And it turned like, I didn't know anything about it, but showed up and ordered all these cool prints and stickers and stuff. Oh, that's amazing. Turns out they're like a vintage store, but they also do new stuff.

Jeff: 50:20

Yeah. And somehow they came across my work, and I'm like, I love that, you Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. And I think that's those those are the wins that I feel.

Jeff: 50:29

Yeah. Maybe maybe I'm gonna be more of a wholesaler and ending up in stores in Chicago or Austin or Portland, Oregon. And I I would love that. You know? I I feel like my art is very accessible, you know?

Jeff: 50:44

It's like divine, or cats, or dogs, or

Molly: 50:48

Yeah.

Jeff: 50:49

You know. I I try to make art that speaks to me, and if it speaks to other people, awesome.

Molly: 50:54

Yeah. I think it does. I mean, you've got Oh my god, the light went out again.

Jeff: 51:00

The spirit has left us, maybe. Or

Molly: 51:04

You wanna come back? Turn the light on if you think my podcast is good. Oh. It's not good.

Jeff: 51:12

Okay. Wrong question to ask.

Molly: 51:15

Do you want me to get out of here? Turn it on. Okay. I'm not I'm just gonna Alright. Ignore.

Jeff: 51:21

We'll pretend that didn't exist.

Molly: 51:23

Yeah. So with moving out of the shop and you being very public about it.

Jeff: 51:31

Yeah.

Molly: 51:32

No. I I appreciate like Oh, okay. Positivity because it's like it's not a negative. It's not a negative thing. It's like, okay.

Molly: 51:40

Would it be smart to just hold this information tight to the chest and grit and bear it and continue to try?

Jeff: 51:50

And be miserable and be and be, you know, feeling stressed about

Molly: 51:54

being there and stuff.

Jeff: 51:56

Yeah. No. I I I'm glad you mentioned that because it's it is definitely something I was on the fence with. It's like, how transparent should I be? You know, should I just disappear?

Jeff: 52:05

You know? Should I just be like, here today, gone tomorrow? Or should I just be a little more public with it? And I just think the nature of

Molly: 52:13

Everybody's going through it. Right. There's so many people going through it.

Jeff: 52:16

And I think, unfortunately It's healthy to have that connection. It's healthy for other people to know like, oh, I'm right there with you, dude. Yeah. Or, you know, I know there's some people who are more successful than others and having better shows or better

Molly: 52:30

Even the bigger places that have a falling and everything, they're struggling too.

Jeff: 52:35

Are they?

Molly: 52:36

I mean, I I don't with Amazon and TikTok and Yeah. All of these places that are, know, hijacking other people's work Yeah. And Totally. Selling it for, you know, $5. TMO.

Molly: 52:52

Yeah. TMO is the worse and Shein. But like, I still have a lot of hope for the small artists.

Jeff: 53:00

Yeah. Well, that's good. Thanks. I mean, I'm I'm a I'm a cheerleader for any artist. Any any So if you're hearing this, you know, I know it's like I'm here to talk about what I do, but look, if you're out there making anything that you believe in, whether it's a restaurant, whether it's a bookstore, whether it's a frame shop, whether it's who knows what.

Jeff: 53:24

Whether it's a service based or you're just creating something, like, do it. Go for it.

Molly: 53:29

And We only get to live one time.

Jeff: 53:30

Yeah. It's, you know, and if it's not working, you know, then you gotta make those decisions to pivot and do something else. Yeah. But it's not a failure. No.

Jeff: 53:40

You know? Because I

Molly: 53:42

It's only a failure if you can if you are on your deathbed and you're like, oh, I wish I would've tried that.

Jeff: 53:49

Totally. Yeah. And Nelson Mandela was quoted as saying, you either win or you learn. Exactly. And I learned.

Molly: 53:58

I'd be learning a lot.

Jeff: 53:59

And I think I won. Oh, school of hard knocks. Right?

Molly: 54:03

Yeah. Oh my god. It's the light keeps flickering. Was on and then It was on and then it turned off.

Jeff: 54:11

Oh, that's really neat.

Molly: 54:12

Maybe it likes our conversation?

Jeff: 54:13

I think it does.

Molly: 54:14

I think when we maybe when we laughed. Laughed. Yeah.

Jeff: 54:16

Laughter. Weird. I think that's yeah. That's you know, we have to learn from, you know, the failures. I don't think it's The failure would have been not trying.

Jeff: 54:29

Yeah. Right?

Molly: 54:30

And it's only like a failure if you let it be a failure. Yeah. Because for so long in my my life, and I'm sure everybody goes through this, you have this pressure of outside opinions.

Jeff: 54:41

Totally. Yeah.

Molly: 54:42

Hanging over your head. What are people gonna think if I don't have this shop anymore? What are they gonna think if I do this instead of continuing down the path of aerospace that I did for so long? Mhmm. And I switch it up.

Molly: 54:57

And you just gotta stop caring.

Jeff: 54:59

Yeah. Yeah. You gotta listen to your gut, your heart, your

Molly: 55:05

And if you have people in your corner that are talking to you like that, cut them out.

Jeff: 55:09

Yeah. Find the people who want to lift you up instead and of I think it's when friends or colleagues or whatever discuss or talk about your life goals or your where you're at, it's so important to just listen and not be so heavy handed when it comes to your opinion on what other people should

Molly: 55:35

Yeah, there's so much nuance in what happens in your day to day life, your choices and the paths, the path you take. Yeah. I can't work a normal job anymore.

Jeff: 55:45

Right.

Molly: 55:46

So I had to pivot Yeah. Into something else. And so I chose to do something I'm interested in over the path of least resistance.

Jeff: 55:54

Some people, it just works for them. And Yeah. Good good

Molly: 55:58

And they believe in the the mission and the job, but for me, I just didn't do it. And that's not good.

Jeff: 56:05

Exactly. Yeah. You don't wanna be, like, just so wound up over it, you know? Yeah. Just tight tight coiled emotions and everything.

Jeff: 56:13

Yeah. Because that can lead to depression, that could lead to Anxiety. Addiction, anxiety, all of those things.

Molly: 56:21

Yeah. When you live a life for someone else instead of yourself, yeah, anxiety tends to be your number one.

Jeff: 56:29

Yeah. You lose who you are.

Molly: 56:32

Yeah. I did not have a personality. Like, did not know any I didn't have hobbies, I didn't have I had some friends, but

Jeff: 56:40

Yeah.

Molly: 56:40

Yeah, for the most part, I was career.

Jeff: 56:42

Career When did when did when did you have an epiphany? Was there like a moment that of clarity, or like, holy shit, I gotta do something? Or was it like a slow?

Molly: 56:52

I think I was miserable for a long time. I knew I was miserable, but

Jeff: 56:56

Yeah.

Molly: 56:56

Then I started chasing the degrees, started chasing, you know, that pat on the back from a a boss or whatever. Yeah. Like, high performer, which I wasn't good at any one thing, I don't think. I just worked too much. And so I was always looking for that approval from someone else.

Jeff: 57:17

Mhmm.

Molly: 57:18

And then eventually, I just couldn't do it anymore.

Jeff: 57:21

Yeah. You just you you ran out of gas. Yeah. You're like, I am done. Yeah.

Jeff: 57:26

Yeah. I never worked, whether it's good or bad, corporate. I never worked a big job. Yeah. The the extent of my full time job was like working for a small, like, kind of family owned thing, editing video.

Jeff: 57:42

You know? I've worked for retail, know, Ace Hardware and those kind of things. But I've never I never did the big, that traditional job and it just wasn't in my

Molly: 57:57

I always envied people that didn't do it. And I think that's why I wanted to try retail because I always thought I just wanna have not simple in the degrading sense, but it's something that is there's no pressure on me. There's no life or death decisions that I'm gonna make, whether that's an immediate life or death situation or a ten year down the road life or death decision. I just don't want didn't want that pressure anymore. And so I was like, man, it would be so cool.

Molly: 58:28

And even when I was in the military, I was like, man, people that can just go to work and go home and not give a fuck. Right. That's that's that's what like, that's it.

Jeff: 58:37

Yeah. My friend my friend would always say, like, drop hammer and, you know, like, okay, I'm doing the work and then I'm not doing the work. Yeah. It's just like real binary. Yeah.

Jeff: 58:46

And that's, hey, if that works for people, if they can get through the day working a warehouse job or whatever. Yeah.

Molly: 58:52

And then you get home and then you're like, I hate my life. Every day. But Yeah. So with you moving so you got till the August. So everybody go visit the Kilburn Mill.

Jeff: 59:06

Kilburn Mill, Third Floor, Suite 40. Come on by.

Molly: 59:09

But in general, people should just go to places like that more often.

Jeff: 59:15

Yeah. Yeah. There are plenty of spaces where artists, craftspeople are setting up and that.

Molly: 59:23

Go to the events.

Jeff: 59:24

There's a big mark there's a big event happening. Harbor Harbor View or Harbor Days in Metapoissit is a two day event. And it's just like vendors and food and music.

Molly: 59:36

But I love to, like, I just love talking to people and finding out,

Jeff: 59:39

you know. You do. Yeah. I I I sense that. I I heard that on the when I listened to the other Yeah.

Jeff: 59:43

Podcasts.

Molly: 59:44

Yeah. It's really cool. You never know someone's journey until you talk to them. And we're so conditioned to not talk to each other.

Jeff: 59:51

And ask questions too. I think some people aren't really great about asking questions. You know? There's some folks out there who are very self centered. So it's nice to have a back and forth and feel like you're being heard, but also feel they care about where you've been, what you're talking about, that sort of thing.

Molly: 01:00:13

Yeah, it's so crazy. Like, you look back at your life and if you don't get to talk about it ever in any kind of length.

Jeff: 01:00:23

Yeah.

Molly: 01:00:24

What was it all for? You know? Yeah. If people never ask you things about your your your life, you know?

Jeff: 01:00:34

It helps put things into perspective. And it also helps I think sometimes it can help clarify what you your memories of, like, what what impacted you. Yeah. You know? Or what like, just talking about that story with my cat, Sammy,

Molly: 01:00:51

and Yeah.

Jeff: 01:00:52

The song that came on the radio and it had something to do with my grandmother. It's like, I don't think about that all the time. Yeah. But it's it's kinda like, wow, that happened and that was really powerful.

Molly: 01:01:05

Yeah.

Jeff: 01:01:06

And it didn't define my life or anything like that, but it certainly added to the color of it. Yeah. For sure. And I think, and I've mentioned this before about Pixel Palmer because some folks think it's my nickname.

Molly: 01:01:23

Oh, yeah. I never asked you how you decided that name.

Jeff: 01:01:25

Yeah. So I'm glad you asked, mom. So when I decided to get on Instagram, I was doing more video and more film. Mhmm. And Pixel Palmer just had a ring to it.

Jeff: 01:01:39

Yeah. And pixels pixels are part of what make up video. And I was like, okay. Pixel Palmer. So that was my handle on Instagram, and has been.

Jeff: 01:01:48

And then when I started to do more artwork, it almost didn't make sense. You know, it's like pixels or video, and I'm doing hand drawing, you know, I'm doing carving and all that kind of stuff. But then I I'm trying to so then I started to think of the brand, like, Pixel Palmer, I'm gonna stick with because that's what people know on Instagram. And then I thought, pixels are like mosaic tiles. Right?

Jeff: 01:02:11

Yeah. They make up an image where you have to you have to kinda step back. Like, lots of these little pixels make up something that you can make sense of. Yeah. You know?

Jeff: 01:02:22

And I then I thought, that's a little bit, I think, a little bit of what I've done over the years is like, all these little things like music videos and, you know, short films, and art, and this and that. When you step back, sort of like these pixels make up a little bit of who I am, or at least what I put out there in

Molly: 01:02:43

the world.

Jeff: 01:02:43

And so then it started to it sort of makes sense now.

Molly: 01:02:46

Yeah. Well, mean, it's a good name.

Jeff: 01:02:50

Oh, thanks.

Molly: 01:02:51

It is. It like, I never thought once about how that's film only. It can't

Jeff: 01:02:58

be print. Oh, good.

Molly: 01:02:59

I never even considered it.

Jeff: 01:03:03

Oh, I that's good.

Molly: 01:03:04

Two, I wanna wrap this up because I think we've been going a

Jeff: 01:03:06

long. Yeah. We have been. It's too much, Molly. Well,

Molly: 01:03:09

I wanna make sure I still have enough room for my the audio.

Jeff: 01:03:13

This is a chunky file.

Molly: 01:03:15

Yeah. Alright.

Jeff: 01:03:17

High five. High five.

Molly: 01:03:19

I hope you enjoyed this week's episode of Local Threads. Check the show notes on where you can find all of Jeff's work. If you are local, Jeff will be open his his shop, Pixel Palmer, will be open till the August. Go check him out. And if you're not local, follow Pixel Palmer on Instagram and check the show notes for his website where you can get prints and more.

Molly: 01:03:43

And if you've been thinking about pivoting, starting something new, take this as your permission slip. The path isn't always linear, and it doesn't have to make sense to anyone but you. Bye.