Speaking to Jamie, I got the impression that she is exemplar of what is happening at Shō. She is both a writer and graphic designer and is currently working on multiple diverse projects. This includes publishing a second graphic novel with her partner Frank D’Angelo called Blood Sucking Lawyers and writing /producing the web series, FRANCIDENTS about a character (I assume called Frank?) who can’t stop messing up. She was even the one who came up with the name “Shō Art, Spirit, & Performance.” The reason I say I got the impression Jamie is exemplar of what is happening at Shō is because of her great diversity. I see that same diversity in the many different types of creative people operating out of Shō all working together to create a hub for creativity in Windsor. I think that Jamie’s story is quite inspiring in a way, too. She told me that despite her mother being an artist/writer and her dad being a musician, they weren’t very supportive of her desire to go into the commercial art world (graphic design) or of her passion for writing. They wanted her to have something to “fall back on”, so instead of pursuing what she truly wanted to do she worked “normal” jobs until she was 28. At that age she decided she was going to go to school to become a graphic designer and do what she wanted to do. She told me that in those years before she went back to school, she wasn’t doing much of anything creative, and especially not in the field she wanted to. As a young person aspiring to have a career in visual arts, Jamie’s story is quite inspiring as it tells me that your career doesn’t have to be a straight line and likely won’t be. I believe that well-versed people like Jamie who have many skills in different creative fields are the kind of people who will drive Shō forward. To me, she exemplifies the idea of Shō as a place where different ideas from many different people come together to create something entirely new, which is greater than the sum of its parts.
