CV: Jacks Ashley McNamara
EXPERIENCE
Self-Employed Artist, Illustrator, Designer, Writer, Performer
2007 - present
• Freelance writing and editing projects including articles, anthologies, and poetry.
• Studio artist completing paintings and drawings for sale and exhibition.
• Performing poet and singer/songwriter.
• Art direction for Turning Wheel Magazine.
• Freelance work designing websites, promotional materials, book layouts and book covers for a variety of non-profit progressive projects.
• Commissioned illustration work for print, including album covers, book covers, and article illustration.
Community Organizer and Events Coordinator
2009-present Bay Area Icarus Project, San Francisco, CA
Arts and Outreach Coordinator
2004 - 2007 The Icarus Project, New York, NY
• Founded and developed a visionary collective radical mental health network that now has local chapters all across the US and on 2 other continents.
• Coordinated all aspects of art direction and project management for publications, website, promotional materials, and events.
• Designed organization's logo and open-source community-based website.
• Commissioned other artists to produce work and served as project manager for these collaborations.
• Created original artwork and illustrations for book and magazine covers, promotional materials, and national support network. Designed publications and promotional materials.
• Recruited, trained, and supervised volunteers and interns.
• Co-authored, edited, and coordinated distribution of publications including books and magazines.
• Curated two national art exhibitions in Manhattan involving over 40 different artists and featuring community-building workshops and performances.
• Facilitated numerous workshops, skill-shares, classes, and trainings with youth and adults from diverse populations across the US and Europe.
• Organized and booked 2 national tours with workshops, performances, book-readings, and classes.
• Wrote grants and raised over $100,000 to support arts and education programming.
• Worked in a collective of four activist/organizers to manage the operations of a national non-profit organization focused around mental health and creativity.
Art and Creative Writing Instructor
2006 The Arts Center of the Greater Hudson Valley, Red Hook, NY
• Designed curriculum and taught after-school classes in drawing, painting, and mixed-media to children ages 5 to 14
• Designed curriculum and taught adult-enrichment classes in drawing, painting, pastels and creative writing.
Painting Instructor
2003 San Francisco, CA
• Designed curriculum and taught adult-enrichment classes in drawing and oil painting.
SELECTED PERFORMANCE AND FILM
2010 Crooked Beauty, Featured artist/writer and collaborator in the film Crooked Beauty, a poetic documentary on transforming madness by San Francisco film-maker Ken Paul Rosenthal.
2010 Mad Love: A Radical Cabaret of Mental Wellness, co-curated, produced, and performed in a 10 person show of spoken word artists and musicians at El Rio in San Francisco to benefit the Bay Area Icarus Project.
2010 Anarchist Cafe, Featured poet, San Francisco, CA.
2010 Causa Justa Benefit, Featured musician and poet, in collaboration with Annah Anti-Palindrome and Kim Tillman, Oakland, CA.
2007 Mad World, Featured poet in cabaret with The Icarus Project.
1999-present Performing Poet, Featured in numerous ensemble events and open mics across the US and Europe, finalist in the Providence Poetry Slam competition.
POPULAR EDUCATION
2003-2010 Designed curriculum, trained facilitators, and facilitated workshops, discussions, and classes on mental health and collective liberation at venues including the US Social Forum (2010), Youth in Mind Summit (2010), Reelabilities Film Festival (2010), the UK Feminist Health Gathering (2007), NASCO Conference (2006), the San Francisco and Portland Zine Symposiums (2009, 2007, 2005), the East Bay Free School (2005), Anarchist Bookfairs in SF, Santa Cruz, and Humboldt, colleges and universities including NYU, Brown University, and Evergreen State, bookstores including Modern Times and Bluestockings, and many, many more venues too numerous to list.
GROUP ART EXHIBITIONS
2008 Open Studios, Workspace Limited, San Francisco, CA
2006 Pieces of Mind, Fountain Gallery, New York, NY
2004 Radical Visions, ABC NoRio, New York, NY
2003 Poetry and Song Number 8 Community Space, San Francisco, CA
2002 Reverberations, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2001 Spring Show, Aegean Center for the Fine Arts, Paros, Greece
2000 Fall Show, Aegean Center for the Fine Arts, Paros, Greece
PUBLICATIONS
2010 Editor, Scarsongs: An Anthology Articulating the Terrain of Trauma and Resilience, in progress, expected publication Dec. 2010.
2007 Contributing author, Through the Labyrinth, published by The Icarus Project, New York, NY.
2006 Contributing author, Friends Make the Best Medicine: A Guide to Building Mental Health Support Networks in Our Communities, published by The Icarus Project, New York, NY.
“The Left,” poetry, in A Gathering of the Tribes, New York, NY.
2005 This is About Learning to Do the Things That Don’t Have Rules, Self-published zine.
Sometimes You Think You Are Carrying the Whole World on Your Back, Self-published zine.
2004 Editor, Navigating the Space Between Brilliance and Madness, published by The Icarus Project.
The Book of Ladders, Self-published zine.
1998 “The Scarlet Underneath,” poetry, in The Spread, Brown University, Providence, RI.
1996 “Needles,” poetry, in Scriptorium, Harvard University Press, Boston, MA.
EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS
Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), 2002, San Francisco Art Institute
• BFA in Interdisciplinary Fine Arts. Core subjects were painting, photography (digital and film), and book arts.
Additional Undergraduate Coursework
Aegean Centre for the Fine Arts, Paros, Greece
Brown University, Providence, RI
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
SKILLS
IT Proficiency: Photoshop, Indesign, Illustrator, Drupal, Word, Excel, FTP, HTML, CSS, Internet and Email
Art: Proficient in drawing and painting with ink, pastel, watercolor, acrylics, and oils.
Design: Can create logos, custom graphics, and custom lettering by hand or using digital technologies.
Fundraising: Successful grant-writer and grassroots fundraiser.
Bookmaking: Proficient in a variety of hand-made book forms.
Languages: English and French
REFERENCES ARE AVAILABLE ON REQUEST
