Tag: musician

Artist Spotlight: Laurie Dameron

Post author By The Layered Onion Staff
Post date May 11, 2022

In the Artist Spotlight series of blog posts, The Layered Onion highlights an artist in the community. We’ll get a chance to learn more about them and their work.

In this post, we are featuring Laurie Dameron. Laurie is a talented musician based in Colorado.

A Billboard Magazine award recipient, Laurie has been playing the guitar for over five decades. Between solo performances and performances with her band, Laurie D and the Blues Babes, she has performed for hundreds of venues in and out of Colorado over the past 20 years.

Laurie is extremely versatile and includes selections from all genres, allowing her to play a variety of venues. She has entertained at Boulder Creek Festival, Capital Hill People’s Fair and A Taste of Colorado and the 2008 Colorado Democratic Convention to name a few. Other performances include Denver’s popular clubs, including Dazzle Jazz Club, The D Note, Mead Street Station and the historic Stanley Hotel in Beautiful Estes Park.

Get a 60 second intro to Laurie in her own words here.

Laurie did a Q&A with The Layered Onion, talking about her music and activism:

You have a lovely voice. What first got you into music?

My mom probably got me singing shortly after birth! I learned three part harmony driving in the car with my mom and sister.

You’ve been a musician your entire career. When did you know this was what you wanted to do?

I was in love with music nearly all my life. But probably when I was about 7 years old. I wrote my first song, with three part harmony, in 4th grade and we performed it at the school talent show.

What do you enjoy most about being a musician and songwriter?

I am happiest when I’m playing music and so happy when making other people happy with my music! I LOVE entertaining – can’t even describe it – my spirit soars when playing!

What influences your musical style?

The first album I ever owned was James Taylor’s “Sweet Baby James,” my second was Bonnie Raitt’s “Give it Up” and then Pat Metheny. So there’s your folk, blues and jazz.

What’s your favorite song you’ve written?

“Sunlight in a Snowstorm.” On my birthday, May 5th in 1978, it snowed three feet here in Boulder, Colorado. So I was stuck inside for a couple of days and wrote this instrumental. I had two old cassette decks and recorded the rhythm guitar on one deck and then added bass while playing along with the other deck, then added the lead guitar by bouncing one more time. I finally recorded it professionally in 1999.

Do you have a favorite song that you perform?

Oh gee – there are so many. But maybe “I Can’t Wait to See You Again.” It was the fastest song I wrote. My date dropped me at home and I came into the house thinking “I can’t wait to see her again!!!” and I wrote it in like 30 minutes! The song received Honorable Mention in the 2008 Billboard Magazine World Song Contest.

As an environmentalist, you have a multimedia approach to activism. What led you to creating music videos to promote sustainable habits?

I’ve always shared simple actions we can all do every day to be more healthy and sustainable when performing but in 2012 I created Spaceship Earth: What Can I Do? I believe by combining art, music and science, it uses both sides of the brain making an even stronger impact. I’ve had several science teachers agree with that.

We’ve had an eventful last couple of years in terms of the climate – seeing an increase in fires, tornados, and more. What worries you the most when you think about the future? What gives you the most hope?

What worries me the most is that so many folks are apathetic, not paying attention and not taking action. Of course this has a lot to do with our economy. Folks are working two and three jobs to barely get by! So they don’t have the time to learn and understand. But I’m hopeful as Mr Rogers said in his 60 second YouTube video “Look for the Helpers” and there are a lot of helpers out there!

You make it a point to actively engage children in thinking about the future. Have you had any memorable interactions that have excited you?

I was very excited to share Spaceship Earth: What Can I Do? with around 60 5th graders and afterwards they said they were going to get their school to stop using Styrofoam in the cafeteria! One other time kids were asking for my autograph! That was so very cute and exciting!

Anything else you would want to share with the community?

As Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org said in 2016: “We’re under attack from climate change — and our only hope is to mobilize like we did in WWII.” I implore EVERYONE to practice simple actions every day. And if you need a list of simple actions please write to me or watch “Spaceship Earth: What Can I Do” on YouTube for free.

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You can see – and listen to! – more of Laurie’s work and music on her YouTube channel and Instagram.

Thanks, Laurie!

Tags Laurie Dameron, LaurieDMusic, musician

Artwork Spotlight

Artwork Spotlight: John Gerrard’s More in Both Directions

Post author By The Layered Onion Staff
Post date May 7, 2022

In the Artwork Spotlight series of blog posts, The Layered Onion highlights a specific work by an artist in the community. These works could range from short stories to visual art to music and more!

Today, John Gerrard (he/they) will be sharing his piece “More in Both Directions.” John took the time to participate in a Q+A with The Layered Onion, but before we share the dialogue, here’s a little bit more about John in their own words:

“I am a multidisciplinary artist, with a focus on visual art.

As a visual artist I’m currently focused on making drawings that are text based and speculative. The work is meant to be enjoyed for its form and aesthetic quality, but also invites investigations into the strands of literal meaning. The text is readable in linear and non linear ways, and is themed on subjects such as the mind, free will and how that relates to whether we discover or create identities.

order to the disorderly nature of the vast and varied text. It holds the tension of a middle zone. The finished work is presented as an image that is playful with the rational and the chaotic. There is structure and randomness coexisting with design.”

*John Gerrard, More in Both Directions. Fine art rag paper, archival pigment-based inks. January 2021.*

Want to see it closer? John has some zoomed in views available here that are worth digging into to engage further with the piece.

Getting into the questions:

This piece is so meticulous and detailed. How did you approach creating it? What were your initial starting thoughts?

I had pieces of paper that were cut into triangles which I used to draw/write about some of my experiences in the psych ward as well as my mental health journey in general. It’s meant to be a speculative zone where I can explore ideas and memories in a way that helps me organize and reflect.

I find the use of shapes, both the diamonds and the diagrams fascinating in how they break up the piece and emphasize certain statements. What was your thought process behind these?

I think using the shapes is a good way to highlight and emphasize like you said. It’s a way to organize the content as well as give the eyes something else to look at.

What inspired you in terms of color scheme?

I really love the aesthetic of white line on black. For me, it evokes a sort of chalkboard feel, as well as the line being like light in the dark.

I notice you kept cross outs throughout the work. Did these start out as intentional or a combination of spontaneousness?

I keep the cross outs to be honest with the process. There are some things I don’t feel comfortable keeping on the page, or places where I make mistakes. It’s human!

You repeat the title throughout the work. Is it a representation of a constant thought? A mantra?

I live with a type of bipolar, and the title represents that excessive happiness as well as sadness that I deal with sometimes. Finding a balance between the lows and the highs can be hard when you have bipolar.

Anything else about the work that you would want to share or say?

There are a lot of painful moments that I signify in this piece. It was therapeutic for me to process them on the page, as I changed my relationship with them as I went. If people have felt similar things I hope they feel less alone looking at the drawing.

Definitely a message that I can get behind. Thanks for sharing, John! You can see more of John’s work at their website.

Tags artist, John Gerrard, john_f_gerrard, musician, writer

Artwork Spotlight

Art Spotlight: Emma Paunil’s Soul Flame

Post author By The Layered Onion Staff
Post date March 19, 2022

In the Artwork Spotlight series of blog posts, the Layered Onion highlights a specific work by an artist in the community. These works could range from short stories to visual art to music and more!

Today, Emma Paunil (she/her/hers) shares Soul Flame, a song and music video that reminds us that even in our darkest hour, there exists hope and purpose to re-ignite our “Soul Flame.” The song debuted on World Suicide Prevention Day, September, 10, 2021, and goes beyond the music as many of the cast and crew involved shared their personal experiences with suicide in a series of companion interviews.

soul flame album cover — Emma Paunil, *Soul Flame* Album Cover

Emma herself is a pianist and musician of over 20 years. Her passion is emotional intelligence and healing, and integrates her various art forms – including her self-help and children’s book authorship, her acting, directing, and other creative outlets – in order to inspire this emotional understanding. Soul Flame embodies this passion and is rooted in her experiences. Emma is making it a mission to demystify and de-stigmatize available therapy techniques available for those who need help.

The music video features a story-teller (the artist), painting the experience of a young girl who experienced loss, bullying, and other emotional trauma. In the end, after we witness the harmful emotional effects of burying emotions as the young girl becomes a teen, we learn that even in our darkest hour, there exists hope and purpose to re-ignite our “Soul Flame.”

The video offers each of us the chance to watch and engage with our own thoughts and struggles and find our own meaning. From Emma, “As Soul Flame has been played across the world, there have been many interpretations as to what actually happens in the music video. People ask me if the father commits suicide in the music video, or if the mother does. I’ve even had a group reflect upon watching the video that, ‘this is exactly what happens with many teens — they feel they cannot reach out to anyone, sometimes even if they have the best parent in the world. Parents need to reach out to their teens.’” The video highlights experience and perspective to allow us, the viewers, to reflect on our own.

The accompanying interviews here expand on creators’ experiences and engagement in this work. The cast and crew reflect on their own experiences and offer thoughts (“Does my life look like what I want it to look like?”, “There is no set formula for [mental health]”, “a new angle/view/perspective can help”) and pull in experiences from past professional life as well, including a look at law enforcement and mental health and where we can keep striving for better. For me, watching the videos and the interviews gave me the chance to engage with myself and think about my own struggles and what I’ve been working on in therapy as I engaged with the story and the words. In Emma’s words – “I feel that whomever watches the music video will take the perspective in which they need the most for their well-being.” Words have power, but we also have the power to reframe them and support ourselves by finding our Soul Flame.

Emma’s art engages with many formats – including children’s books, music, and crafts. If you would like to see more of Emma’s work, visit her website here and check out the Etsy shop EPMCreatives.

Tags Emma Paunil, emmapaunilmusic, musician, singersongwriter, songwriter

Artist Spotlight

Artist Spotlight: John F. Gerrard

Post author By The Layered Onion Staff
Post date January 14, 2022

Today, we’ll be sharing our very first artist spotlight! In this series of blog posts, we’ll get to know an artist in the community and learn a little more about them and their work.

For our first post, we will be featuring John F. Gerrard. John is sharing his artist statement and a little bit more about him. Take it away, John!

Photo by Emma Palm

I am a multidisciplinary artist, with a focus on visual art. In my teens and 20s I was active creatively as a musician, touring across North America and playing locally. During this time I got my feet wet with visual art, doing graphic design work for bands and small businesses. I went to ACAD with the intention to pursue a design degree, but became obsessed with creating with charcoal and paint. I majored in drawing at ACAD and then went to work at a commercial sign company. In 2016 I left to pursue art full-time.

In 2018 I was trained by the Canadian Mental Health Association as a peer support worker. Since then I’ve been developing my art practice with mental health advocacy work.

A highlight for me has been working with Branch Out Neurological Foundation, making images based on interactions with neuroscientists, and taking part in their charity events for three years in a row now.

In 2019 I had my first international show in Chicago as a part of the Some People Everybody exhibition. This multidisciplinary project examines the ethics, people, processes, and systems that constitute the maintenance of, and barriers to, health for human beings.

Here is John’s Artist Statement:

Formally, the work usually consists of compositions of multiple panels. I draw each panel by hand and then invert the black and white digitally. After they are inverted and in a grid, I mirror the piece both vertically and horizontally. This symmetry gives order to the disorderly nature of the vast and varied text. It holds the tension of a middle zone. The finished work is presented as an image that is playful with the rational and the chaotic. There is structure and randomness coexisting with design.

I’m influenced by other artists who approach their work without direct representation of the physical world, as well as makers who could be classified as “outsider” artists. I find myself coming back to the work of Jean Michel Basquiat, Hilma af Klint, and Agnes Martin, and I’m inspired by the way they make images. When I was at art college, I was exposed to the beatniks, as well as the godfather of beatniks, William Burroughs. His non-traditional use of text as well as those of the Dadaists motivate me to create in the way I do.

Being introspective, it is a very personal project. I think externalizing our inner worlds in this way can be very rewarding, and that so often our thoughts and our guesses at their implications swirl through our heads in an awful repetition. A lot of it I don’t think we’re aware of. By making this work, I continue to learn about myself, making conscious the issues and ideas I’m encountering.

These drawings are so natural and exciting to make. Working on each panel, I feel connected to something beyond, and that my language to do so is developing further with each image. There is a story being built between and within each piece, and it’s an exercise of rationality and intuition to find or make those next steps with it.

I’m often faced with conflicts that force me to rethink things and consider and reconsider possible end games, of what I could be suggesting or not suggesting inadvertently. I do my best to record that process on the page, as I want to reflect the realities of being conflicted or of not knowing. There is this back and forth, between doubt and feeling sure.

Art is a great space for us to experiment with hard topics. The drawings serve as a way for me to explore my own beliefs and values, by examining my thoughts through a physical process on the page.

You can check out more about John and his work by visiting his website www.johnfgerrard.com. Here’s a preview of some of John’s work:

Tags artist, John Gerrard, john_f_gerrard, musician, writer