The limitless as limitation

Creativity has no limits. The freedom to express, within any given medium, is a liberating process and brothers John and David Jenson not only understand this process but are taking it a step further. What started as an idea in 2005, or rather a bouncing of ideas, later grew into what is now Soar Studios, an art-studio space that allows the freedom of expression to transcend across various mediums. Soar Studios encourages people from all walks of life to collaborate in the creative process while utilizing such diverse tools as screen-printing, digital media, sound, photography, illustration, carpentry – really anything that you can get your hands on. Their philosophy is kinetic, collective and maximizes freedom through exploring without limitation. With collaborations from such local studios as Lucky Star and Donebestdone, John and David’s idea for Soar is piloting the sky. So, ladies and gentleman, fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a hell of a ride.

John and David were born in Edgerton, WI. After a few short years their father, Hugh, relocated the family to Eau Claire where he found work as an insurance agent. It was around 1976 when the family decided to move back to Central Wisconsin, first to Mukwonago then finally settling in Oconomowoc. Their mother, Kathleen, became the proprietor of a vintage clothing store and from the back-stock of all her threads was able to fashion purses and other garments to sell at local farmers markets. Undoubtedly, her creative endeavors were the first exposure the young brothers had to the creative mind.

After graduating UW-Madison with a degree in industrial engineering, David improbably found work in New York as a proofreader/editor translating Russian text for scientific journals. Back home, brother John was freelancing as a designer and doing commercial art. The brothers kept in touch, bouncing creative ideas off each other that eventually hatched a plan. “Hey, why don’t we go into business together? We’re brothers,” John recollects asking David one day after a particularly lively exchange. So David moved back to Wisconsin and the two landed work for GMR Marketing, a local company that handles design work for such companies as Nintendo, MGD and Airwalk Shoes. “It was a team effort for GMR,” David says. “We collaborated on flyers and marketing tools for promotion.” Shortly after, the experience with GMR segued into graphic design work in the publications industry. However, disenchanted with commercial art and the various filters it goes through, the two brothers grew a craving for a broader form of artistic expression. So they branched off on their own and started the design team, Designaholix.

Designaholix was really the fodder for what would later become Soar Studios. With the initial start up, Designaholix generated enough income through freelance projects to purchase new equipment and prepare for the launch of Soar Studios. The intended purpose was to allow a space for collective creativity to evolve where each step influences the next and opens doors to fresh artistic outlooks and experiences.

The artistic process is sometimes hindered through social influences, academia, cultural structures and mores. For John and David, creativity should always be moving and expanding without having to go through such filters, or guidelines of what can and can not be used. Their approach is about freedom of style – where having no form is form – and incorporating everything, even mistakes. The process then becomes one of trial and error, which produces the quality of freshness. However, this paradigm initially faced some challenges, especially the fusion of technology and traditional art mediums. “We’ve gone through the trial and tribulations of learning how to use everything on our own,” David says. “Losing hard drives, you know, from that to not using the media correctly the first time.”

But for the Jenson brothers, trial and error is all part of the process. Even their mistakes offer the means to “develop a whole new way to utilize that media, even through ignorance,” says John. The open doors of collaboration have also been of great service. “A thing that we like to use – messing around and bending Casio keyboards…bending TI 99’s,” John says. “It’s more of a super-bent multimedia thing that wouldn’t be possible without Donebestdone and will be an exclusive feature of our upcoming show together.” Through sharing in the creation of a piece, the process becomes collaborative and not just concentrated on the “self” of a single creator.

Currently, Soar Studios is working with multimedia collective Donebestdone, Eric Von Munz of Lucky Star Gallery and a slew of local visual artists on Dreambubble: Let’s Dream Together, slated to open July 27, Gallery Night, at Art Bar. Art Bar owner Don Krause initially approached Soar to stage Dreambubble, working with them on rounding out the concept. “Quite frankly, we had no idea what we wanted to do,” John says. “We knew what we wanted as far as interactivity, but Don really helped out with the idea.”

More than a static exhibit, the opening night of Dreambubble will be an interactive art experience where the audience will become the elements of a future show. Sights, sounds and interactions will be recorded on DV cameras, still cameras and audio cameras. Attendees themselves will create art in unusual ways, and the material collected will be used to create a new piece that captures the immediacy of the evening as experienced by those present.

Party-goers will also have the opportunity to take some of these creations home. Using a mad scientist mixture of tile grout, paint and a new printing process, John and David have created colorful “chalkboards” that will be for sale. They’re more an “interactive, functional piece of art for sale than standard classroom blackboard,” John says. There will also be magnetic boards for the more literary crowd to express themselves through words. The subject matter is wide open and will be a complete interaction of creativity.

What started off as a bouncing of ideas has given birth to not just integrated art and an all encompassing studio space, but also an open-minded philosophy about what art is and how it’s made. Soar is about going above and beyond, the limitless as limitation. Their goal as artists is simply to sustain themselves and their creativity through their work. And, of course, to have a good time in the process. VS

Dreambubble: Let’s Dream Together opens Gallery Night, July 27, and runs through September 6 at Art Bar, 722 E Burleigh. For more information on Soar Studios, please call 262-391-7160 or visit myspace.com/soarstudios.