Goodbye 2020...

...Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

I haven't posted as much as I had hoped for the year, since 2020 was a bit of a challenge. Aside from the dumpster fire that has been the pandemic and the soon-to-be-exiting president, grad school definitely took the lion's share of my time and nervous system. However, as 2021 begins, I'm entering the last stretch of grad school, looking forward to wrapping up in August, (hopefully) starting a new chapter in my career, and pursuing more creative side projects that have been sitting on the back burner for some time.

This past year allowed me to explore more collage work, which has been a huge blessing. It allowed me to be creative, serve as therapy, and allowed me to look at design and visual communication in a new light. I filled up several art books with collage, had a collage book published and released, created a series of collage trading cards, and mailed out dozens of original collage postcards around the world to folks who could use a surprise other than a bill in their mailbox (a campaign I will continue in the coming months and years.) Below are two such collage postcards that were created and mailed, measuring 4" x 6".

I'm afraid things will still be a bit quiet on this end for the next few months, as I continue to work on my grad thesis research and design exhibition. Part of the Visual Communication MFA requires is creating a visual representation of the research and a design solution to the presented problem. Given we are still in a pandemic, I think my grad thesis exhibition will be in the form of a website, rather than a physical exhibition. Regardless of the manner in which I design around my thesis research, I'm very much looking forward to the next few months and seeing how all of this comes together. It's been a long 2.5 years, and I'm ready to wrap this thing up soon. I'm pretty dang tired.

I'll still be making and posting my collage work on Instagram, should you be interested in following along (@jonathonkimbrell). It's still much easier and quicker to update there than here on the website.

I hope everyone was able to have a decent Christmas and start to the new year. This past holiday season was definitely not like others previously, needless to say, but hopefully you were able to find some semblance of peace and joy in these weird times. Better days are a-coming, rest assured.

Until then, see you again soon. -J

Ps...sorry I don't have more news to share. Like I said, I'm pretty dang tired and I can't rightly remember everything right now, lol.