Brett Whitacre 0:00

Well, there's one that I did on the side of Ernie's a couple years ago.

Bridget Finn 0:03

Ernie's Midtown Pub.

Brett Whitacre 0:05

Yeah, in Midtown, yeah. Because I did not design that. Vic Rivera designed that for his love of Rockford.

Bridget Finn 0:18

Right, right.

Brett Whitacre 0:19

And he's friends with Andrew over at Ernie's. And Andrew wanted me to do something, and we're trying to figure out exactly what that was gonna be, and then that came along. It's like, oh, this could be on my wall.

Bridget Finn 0:29

Right.

Brett Whitacre 0:30

And so just kind of a collaboration.

Bridget Finn 0:32

Cool. [Lo-fi Music Plays] Welcome to the Rockford Public Library Podcast. Today, we're joined by local artist Brett Whittaker, who's sharing the stories behind his newest exhibit titled Everything's Fine, cheerfully poking at the disconnect between bright pop imagery and underlying struggles. It's showing right now in our main library's first floor gallery. And in this conversation, Brett gives us a personal look at his career as a colorblind, self-taught artist, the paintings featured in Everything Fine, the inspiration behind them, and how he mixes bold, bright visuals with themes that make us stop and think. Hi, Brett.

Brett Whitacre 1:27

Hello.

Bridget Finn 1:28

Thanks for being here with us today.

Brett Whitacre 1:30

Thanks for having me.

Bridget Finn 1:31

I'm happy to have you. We're thank you for being here at the Rockford Public Library Podcast. We have Brett Whittaker with us today. He's a local artist, muralist, painter, and he's showing his exhibits in the first floor gallery. Everything's fine. Cheerfully poking at the disconnect between bright pop imagery and underlying struggles.

Brett Whitacre 1:55

Yep.

Bridget Finn 1:56

Brett, that's fantastic. Let's start, let's talk a little bit about your history. You're a self-taught artist.

Brett Whitacre 2:04

Yep. Just was a doodler in high school, you know, was not a good art student, actually got bad grades in art class.

Bridget Finn 2:14

Did you?

Brett Whitacre 2:14

For not applying myself, you know. Because it was someone idea to give, you know, you give someone an idea for art, but art should come from, you know, something you want to do or something you care about.

Bridget Finn 2:28

You think the ideas in art should be original to the artist?

Brett Whitacre 2:31

For me to care about it, yeah.

Bridget Finn 2:33

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 2:34

It's been kind of my idea and did not know that was happening early, but or maybe I just wanted to socialize.

Bridget Finn 2:41

But you learned that about yourself as time went on. You learned that if you had your own idea, you would pursue it pretty heartily. If a teacher assigned you an idea, you might not give it all your energy.

Brett Whitacre 2:52

Yeah, and now professionally, like given a commission versus just making art for myself in my studio, it's very different.

Bridget Finn 3:00

Is it?

Brett Whitacre 3:01

And for a commission, I have to kind of nowadays make sure that I somewhat like their idea that they want me to do.

Bridget Finn 3:09

Otherwise, it might be hard for you to get motivated?

Brett Whitacre 3:12

Yeah, or like do a really good job on it.

Bridget Finn 3:15

I believe it.

Brett Whitacre 3:16

So I do say no to some things that I don't really want to spend my precious time doing.

Bridget Finn 3:21

What's an example of the time you said no?

Brett Whitacre 3:23

I'm saying no to personal portraits or like someone gets married and like, can you paint a picture of us, a snapshot from our wedding, and like the lighting's bad, there's weird shadows, and I've done it a few uh enough times to know that I could mess this up. And, you know, it wasn't really my fault, but like some bad shadowing. I'm like, well, that's what the picture looked like you gave me.

Bridget Finn 3:49

Right. So I could see where that might have an impact on your um ability to get excited about a project, whether it's your idea or someone else's.

Brett Whitacre 4:01

Sure. I'm pretty selfish when it comes to creating art nowadays, especially.

Bridget Finn 4:06

Yeah, yeah. Why do you think that's

Brett Whitacre 4:07

Time is precious?

Bridget Finn 4:08

Right. Time is precious.

Brett Whitacre 4:09

You have kids, you have a family, and if I'm gonna I do need money, yes, but if money isn't an issue at the time, like you better want to do that commission.

Bridget Finn 4:19

That's right.

Brett Whitacre 4:20

Yeah.

Bridget Finn 4:21

Tell me how you learned to paint, self-taught. How did you teach yourself?

Brett Whitacre 4:25

It didn't come until like I didn't mess with paint. You know, a little bit in high school we were forced to, but not until I was living in Chicago. I was a bike messenger, and I would start finding junk in the alleys and bringing it home.

Bridget Finn 4:41

Like windows.

Brett Whitacre 4:42

Windows, luggage, analog television sets that everybody was chucking at the time because everything was going digital.

Bridget Finn 4:52

Ah, gotcha.

Brett Whitacre 4:53

But I like those little relics, you know, those small TVs. So was never fond of painting with brushes. I don't know. I think it takes a long time to get really good at that, but choosing spray paint, I find out that it's it takes a long time to get good at that too.

Bridget Finn 5:11

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 5:12

You know, being able to control it and have it do what you want to, you know, what you want to do, what you envision.

Bridget Finn 5:20

Well, maybe this presents a good opportunity for us to talk about the style of art that you produce

Brett Whitacre 5:25

Sure

Bridget Finn 5:25

and what a lot of the pieces in the show at the library are on this cool spray paint on the reverse side of a glass. You have many pieces that are on recycled windows, found pieces. You also have some paintings on found pieces of plywood, right?

Brett Whitacre 5:48

Yeah, found plywood, or if I have a specific size I want to do in mind, I'll just buy it now and build the canvas sort of frame. Yeah.

Bridget Finn 5:58

Excellent.

Brett Whitacre 5:59

And then it's what I've resorted to doing with glass too, because I used to be, you know, the thing that I found in the alley and brought home, and the shape and size of that, I'm kind of stuck to like painting within that. And I used to let that dictate like what's gonna look good in the inside this, you know, what can I compose within inside here? But now it's more like I have this idea and what would be the perfect size and shape for this.

Bridget Finn 6:25

The perfect shape for the idea you have, rather than creating a work to fit inside the shape of your found item.

Brett Whitacre 6:31

Yep.

Bridget Finn 6:32

Okay. I understand what you're telling me.

Brett Whitacre 6:34

And it's really not that expensive to buy a piece of glass, hop over to Nicholson's, and they'll cut it any size you want. And now they know I'm making art on it, so they're kind of excited to like play a part in that.

Bridget Finn 6:46

That's cool.

Brett Whitacre 6:47

Yeah.

Bridget Finn 6:47

Tell me about how you discovered this method of reverse glass painting and how it is that you achieve the look of your work. It's so saturated and the colors are so bright, and contrast, I think, is really showcased in the really obvious, beautiful way when you look at your work. Your lines are really sharp. Tell me about that.

Brett Whitacre 7:11

Yeah, this is gonna turn into something very complex. What was the first question? Because we're going in the colorblindness thing and

Bridget Finn 7:22

Colorblindness being that you are a colorblind artist.

Brett Whitacre 7:25

Yeah, pretty bad, yeah.

Bridget Finn 7:26

So that's so interesting. You say pretty bad. What do you tell me about that?

Brett Whitacre 7:30

I have a brown filter on everything I see.

Bridget Finn 7:33

Wow.

Brett Whitacre 7:34

My red and green keys in your eyes are overlapped all the way. Like some people are colorblind and it's like a little overlap. This is 100% overlap. So do I see a true red and green? Not really. Everything is messed with, and then every other color yellow, blue, purple, orange, it's all messed with.

Bridget Finn 8:02

It's all affected by this color.

Brett Whitacre 8:04

It's muddied up and it's always changing with the light that's coming in. Like daylight outside in the sun, that's the best chance I have of seeing a true color, like a true red.

Bridget Finn 8:18

Right.

Brett Whitacre 8:19

But like if a cloud comes across and creates that shade, then it'll flip-flop to green.

Bridget Finn 8:26

No.

Brett Whitacre 8:27

Sometimes or the grass is fire orange or something.

Bridget Finn 8:31

Oh, your artwork is so bright. There's so many colors, it's so interesting that you're a colorblind artist because

Brett Whitacre 8:39

That's one reason they are so bright. Like the stronger colors like break out to me.

Bridget Finn 8:45

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 8:45

And when I'm creating art in the studio, I'm using like extreme light.

Bridget Finn 8:50

Right.

Brett Whitacre 8:50

Very bright.

Bridget Finn 8:51

Okay.

Brett Whitacre 8:51

Yeah.

Bridget Finn 8:52

So you can get a true sense of it.

Brett Whitacre 8:54

Yeah.

Bridget Finn 8:54

And then did you just learn by doing the effect of the paint on glass?

Brett Whitacre 9:02

Yeah, so bringing home the canvases from the alley. Like I saw them as already frame canvases.

Bridget Finn 9:10

Cool.

Brett Whitacre 9:10

I didn't have a lot of money when I lived in Chicago, just a musician, bike messenger. So I started painting on that. I didn't want to use brushes, don't really like that. And if you've ever painted with a brush on glass, you just see the streaks of the bristles, unless you have the world's softest paintbrush, which are very expensive. So I just got a hold of some spray paint and going with the concept like if you're gonna put a racing stripe on your car, you put some tape along the sides and you keep it, you control that color. So I started taping off images on glass or on the TV screens or on luggage and just experimenting and having fun and doing painting silly things to make my brother laugh or something.

Bridget Finn 9:57

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 9:58

Really. Things that I thought were neat looking aesthetically and a little whimsical, I would paint on suitcases and then like take them with me on the weekend when I go out of town with the band and see if I get a reaction from my friends at least. Yeah, just to be silly.

Bridget Finn 10:15

So was there a defining moment when you knew you wanted to pursue art seriously?

Brett Whitacre 10:21

Oh yeah, actually, a good friend of mine who I was playing in a band with, I joined a band in Chicago with guys I did not know. And then a friend of theirs came along who was a great musician. I ended up starting another band with, and then come to find out he had a legit art degree from Boulder, Colorado. And I really respected and looked up to the way he could sketch and stuff just from out of nothing. And he stepped over to pick me up for practice one day, and I had been experimenting with my art stuff. I'd never showed him before, but he just saw some things in my house. He's like, Did you make these? Said, yeah. He's like, hey, those are really good. You should do more of that. And he's like looking at me like, you should do more. And that's all I need, like validation like that.

Bridget Finn 11:15

Nice.

Brett Whitacre 11:16

My mom always liked my stuff, of course.

Bridget Finn 11:18

Perfect.

Brett Whitacre 11:19

But like someone who's got an art degree who I respected. Bold art, right? Yeah.

Bridget Finn 11:24

Yeah, create inspiration. So that was a defining moment. You started to create art?

Brett Whitacre 11:28

Yeah, I think I started mass producing that summer on my porch in Chicago.

Bridget Finn 11:33

And then who were your first customers?

Brett Whitacre 11:36

I amassed like almost 30 pieces one summer. Just bike messenger for four or five hours, come home, listen to the Cubs on my porch, and grab a window and start doing something on it. And then I amassed like 28 or so pieces. And then I wanted to have an art show. Like, why not? Like, I got all these pieces.

Bridget Finn 12:00

Right.

Brett Whitacre 12:00

So I knew how to book my band. So I booked my band in a music venue, asked the music venue, hey, can I do an art display on the night of our show?

Bridget Finn 12:10

Perfect.

Brett Whitacre 12:10

So I brought in lights and hung up art, and they didn't even know about like charging commission or anything, so it was like, do whatever you want. And I sold half the show. Wow. 14 pieces.

Bridget Finn 12:22

Wow.

Brett Whitacre 12:22

Yeah.

Bridget Finn 12:23

That's wonderful.

Brett Whitacre 12:25

And that was validating too because I I had friends that came there and they supported me. Some people bought pieces, sure. But complete strangers were buying stuff.

Bridget Finn 12:35

That's really validating.

Brett Whitacre 12:36

Yeah.

Bridget Finn 12:37

Nice.

Brett Whitacre 12:37

Like, oh, this is something I could do potentially to make some extra money.

Bridget Finn 12:42

Make a living.

Brett Whitacre 12:43

So and I like doing this, so you kept producing? Yeah.

Bridget Finn 12:47

Okay.

Brett Whitacre 12:48

And that was like 2005.

Bridget Finn 12:50

That's cool.

Brett Whitacre 12:51

Yeah.

Bridget Finn 12:51

So do you have anyone who you would consider an influence of yours artistically?

Brett Whitacre 12:58

Yeah, there's a local artist, Damien Davis, who was my first roommate when I moved out of the house. Not for college or anything. We're just, you know, living above the train tracks in Belvedere or something.

Bridget Finn 13:11

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 13:12

But he was the first friend I had that was just those just paint for fun, for leisure.

Bridget Finn 13:18

Uh-huh.

Brett Whitacre 13:19

And he had these huge canvases and he's doing like nudes and like beautiful like abstract things with paintbrushes and stuff.

Bridget Finn 13:26

Is he still working?

Brett Whitacre 13:28

Yeah.

Bridget Finn 13:29

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 13:29

Yeah. He's in like the video game production field.

Bridget Finn 13:33

Cool.

Brett Whitacre 13:34

He's an artist.

Bridget Finn 13:34

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 13:35

Yeah.

Bridget Finn 13:35

Amazing.

Brett Whitacre 13:36

Yeah. Musician as well.

Bridget Finn 13:39

How would you describe your artistic style to someone who's never seen it?

Brett Whitacre 13:45

I'd say if you like things that are, you know, hardlined, they call it. Like really sharp looking, crisp looking artwork and dynamic.

Bridget Finn 13:56

Right.

Brett Whitacre 13:57

Because I tend to make whatever it is, however silly or you know, inanimate it is, make it like an icon. You know, it could be a ice scraper for a car, because I did that once. Did a portrait of it.

Bridget Finn 14:14

So cool.

Brett Whitacre 14:16

I don't know, dynamic and accessible. Accessible and whimsical. It may make you feel good, you know. It's not too deep. I don't do a lot of deep things or a lot of loaded pieces. I do have one kind of political thing here, but you know about the FDA.

Bridget Finn 14:40

Why don't we talk about that piece? Like since we kicked into it.

Brett Whitacre 14:43

 Since I brought it up 

Bridget Finn 14:44

Yeah, right. So Brett is talking about a massive painting that he has on a found piece of wood, right? What's the title of the piece?

Brett Whitacre 14:55

FU FDA.

Bridget Finn 14:56

FU FDA. Several letters. And you will find a collection of identifiable fast food logo characters around the McDonald is present, the Jack in the Box guy is there, Jared from Subway. I can't

Brett Whitacre 15:13

The Colonel.

Bridget Finn 15:13

The Colonel, of course.

Brett Whitacre 15:15

The Burger King,

Bridget Finn 15:16

Yes, the Burger King guy.

Brett Whitacre 15:17

The Chihuahua Taco Bell.

Bridget Finn 15:19

The Taco Bell Chihuahua, and they are all kind of serving as pall bearers around a casket.

Brett Whitacre 15:26

The idea was like an oversized casket.

Bridget Finn 15:30

An oversized casket, just in case you're not catching it.

Brett Whitacre 15:34

Yeah. It doesn't, it you know, in retrospect, it doesn't look too oversized, but I had to fit it within that window I found.

Bridget Finn 15:40

Right. So tell us about the idea behind that painting.

Brett Whitacre 15:45

Well, I was married to a organic farmer at the time, and she had me on my knees hand weeding a bean, a row of beans, like a hundred-foot row of beans one day.

Bridget Finn 15:59

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 15:59

And I'm not steeped in the knowledge of like the GMOs and stuff, but she's filled me in on a lot of stuff over the years.

Bridget Finn 16:06

Right.

Brett Whitacre 16:07

And brought things to light. And this company, chemical company, I guess, Monsanto, they were buying up seed companies and then infusing those with chemicals like Roundup. So like if an insect comes in into contact with that plant, it dies.

Bridget Finn 16:24

Right. Wow.

Brett Whitacre 16:25

But that's for food production.

Bridget Finn 16:27

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 16:27

For humans.

Bridget Finn 16:28

Right. We don't need that.

Brett Whitacre 16:29

It's kind of scary. And there's been lots of lawsuits, but they're very powerful.

Bridget Finn 16:33

Yes.

Brett Whitacre 16:34

And they're allowed to do what they do because of the FDA.

Bridget Finn 16:37

Right.

Brett Whitacre 16:37

Yeah. Capitalism. And the fast food giants, why them, you know, like they benefit from that, from everything costing less, and allowed them to develop a dollar menu at the time, which is now like the $2.50 menu now.

Bridget Finn 16:52

Right, right.

Brett Whitacre 16:52

Or $3.99 or everything's gone back up. But yeah, just a lot of cutting corners and cheating, and you know, it's not healthy for humans, and people are getting bigger and less healthy, and then the oversized coffin.

Bridget Finn 17:08

Right.

Brett Whitacre 17:08

I put them in a setting of Beverly Hills Boulevard for whatever reason.

Bridget Finn 17:12

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 17:12

It's just like a lane of wealth.

Bridget Finn 17:15

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 17:16

Yeah.

Bridget Finn 17:17

Just saying it right there. Well, that's perfect. That's is that the piece that you consider the most political piece in the in the exhibit?

Brett Whitacre 17:25

Yeah, I don't do a lot of political stuff or yeah. I really steer away from that. I did a piece of Charlton Heston, you know, the picture of him holding the gun.

Bridget Finn 17:37

Yes.

Brett Whitacre 17:38

But he doesn't have a gun. He is a corn dog.

Bridget Finn 17:40

Oh, that's right. [Laughs]

Brett Whitacre 17:41

And the mustard's dripping on his shoulder from my cold dead hands. You know, that's as political I've got.

Bridget Finn 17:47

There you go.

Brett Whitacre 17:48

Yeah.

Bridget Finn 17:48

Okay, that sounds great. How about your process? You spoke a little bit about your found objects and how you used to make the pieces kind of fit the shape, but now you do more of finding the items to create the shape that you want to.

Brett Whitacre 18:06

Yeah, just buy it and build the frames myself.

Bridget Finn 18:09

There you go. Do you have any rituals or habits that you do that help you get into creative flow?

Brett Whitacre 18:15

Just getting away from like the stresses of the day somehow.

Bridget Finn 18:22

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 18:22

Just escaping into that. Like during the day, it's usually me taking care of actual business. You know, I do, you know, in my mural business, I do all this invoices and everything. I'm a one-man shop.

Bridget Finn 18:34

Okay.

Brett Whitacre 18:35

And so there's a lot of business to do. And then I'll do family time. My family goes to sleep early from still, you know. And just like me from years of being a rocker and playing rock shows at night, that's when I do my best work, like after 9 p.m. So I'll go back to my studio and that'll be where I have a clearer head, you know, the work's out of the way.

Bridget Finn 18:58

Right.

Brett Whitacre 18:59

You know. And all you really need is a few good hours of creativity to come up with, you know, to reconnect with your ideas or

Bridget Finn 19:07

Can you pull it together like on demand like that, or do you have to work through blocks?Do you ever experience blocks?

Brett Whitacre 19:15

Blocks? Yeah, I don't know. Creativity? I don't really feel like I have low points or like, what do you call it, artist block. I'm always just trying to steal the time to go and execute my silly ideas.

Bridget Finn 19:29

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 19:29

And I keep the notes in my phone. You know, if I have free time, I'll just read through notes because I will just be driving and drinking coffee or something one day and have a really good idea for a painting and just rattle it off into my phone. Right. And often the voices text picks it up really bad too and interprets it in a different way, and I'm like, what the heck was I even talking about? But sometimes that misspelling or something can bring about a better idea.

Bridget Finn 19:59

An even better idea. That's so great. It's all kind of magical how it comes together, I imagine.

Brett Whitacre 20:04

Yeah. I've been in bands that were named because of one person said something and the other person heard it completely different, but it was a better name.

Bridget Finn 20:14

Yeah, I love it. That's great. How many murals do you have around town here?

Brett Whitacre 20:21

I counted a couple years ago, or maybe a year and a half ago. And I, you know, with I do a lot of indoor stuff too, so you don't see it maybe for a private business or a home. But I counted at that point like 28. And I've had a pretty strong last couple years.

Bridget Finn 20:38

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 20:38

And so it's gotta be close to 40 now.

Bridget Finn 20:41

Cool.

Brett Whitacre 20:42

In the state line here. South Beloit I've done this year and Pecatonica. I'm kind of grouping all those in.

Bridget Finn 20:49

Yeah. We're gonna feature some of them in the exhibit as well in the cases we wanted to just kind of showcase.

Brett Whitacre 20:56

Yeah.

Bridget Finn 20:56

Because I think that a lot of people in Rockford know your work and don't realize they know your work. We were greeted when we opened the new main library by one of your murals on the north facing side of the Jefferson Street Bridge. Am I correct?

Brett Whitacre 21:12

South facing.

Bridget Finn 21:13

It's south facing. Yes, it's the south-facing side of the Jefferson Street Bridge.

Brett Whitacre 21:18

Yeah.

Bridget Finn 21:19

So it's a beautiful mural, but you know, it speaks to your connection to the community. And you know, I think a lot of people will come see your exhibit because they recognize some of your murals. What do you think is your most, some other famous murals around town that people might recognize?

Brett Whitacre 21:37

Well, there's one that I did on the side of Ernie's a couple years ago.

Bridget Finn 21:41

Mm-hmm. Ernie's Midtown Pub.

Brett Whitacre 21:43

Yeah, in Midtown, yeah. That one is different because I did not design that. Vic Rivera designed that for his love of Rockford.

Bridget Finn 21:56

Right, right.

Brett Whitacre 21:56

And he's friends with Andrew over at Ernie's and Andrew wanted me to do something, and we're trying to figure out exactly what that was gonna be, and then that came along. It's like, oh, this could be on my wall.

Bridget Finn 22:07

Right.

Brett Whitacre 22:08

And so just kind of a collaboration.

Bridget Finn 22:10

Cool.

Brett Whitacre 22:11

Yeah. And yeah, Victor, he designs stuff all the time, just for the love of it.

Bridget Finn 22:18

Yeah, he really does. He's a member of our foundation board and a huge collaborator with the library. We're big fans of Victor. I'm curious, do you work with, do you collaborate with other local creatives?

Brett Whitacre 22:34

There's one other one that happened recently, the disco chicken mural. Which I mentioned that and everybody's seen that.

Bridget Finn 22:41

Sure.

Brett Whitacre 22:42

Yeah. It's really hard to miss if you ever go to City Market or cross the river on State Street at all.

Bridget Finn 22:48

Right.

Brett Whitacre 22:49

That one is another collaboration, and it was it was my idea. Because I don't pretend to be good at everything, especially design-wise. I'm a good I often say I'm a good composer. But Paul Sletten, the owner of Disco Chicken, he needed, he wanted to have people dancing. I don't pretend to be able to draw people or create them from nothing. You know, if I'm gonna do people in a piece, I will either hire people to photograph or, you know, just cut and paste from the internet and compose them on my laptop in the way that I want them to look.

Bridget Finn 23:30

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 23:31

And that's just not what I wanted to do with this. So when, that was Paul's idea, I said, Joe Tallman, he's here. He's like a great illustrator. He does this really well. And so I suggested to Paul, like, why don't we get Joe to design it and then I'll just paint it? And he's like, I like that idea.

Bridget Finn 23:49

Yeah, good.

Brett Whitacre 23:50

And Joe designed it 100%. He got paid separately, and then I painted it up. And but I can mention that to anybody around here and they've seen it.

Bridget Finn 23:58

Yeah, that's true. It's a really recognizable mural. Everyone can kind of picture it right there in a good spot.

Brett Whitacre 24:04

Yep.

Bridget Finn 24:05

What role do you think local art plays in building community?

Brett Whitacre 24:10

I think it largely just shows care being given to it, you know. Just like fixing, you know, taking pride in your home, your personal living space. We're taking pride in our what our town looks like and feels like, and if we can bring some, I don't know, safety or some feeling of safety or community cheer through these colorful murals. I think that's a great thing.

Bridget Finn 24:38

I do too.

Brett Whitacre 24:39

The big floral piece down here that Weezy did.

Bridget Finn 24:43

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 24:44

I mean, that's like cream of the crop.

Bridget Finn 24:46

On the chocolate brown background and the yeah, I love that pie that one too.

Brett Whitacre 24:50

I wish that was me. I mean, that's an amazing mural. I do flowers too, but not that good.

Bridget Finn 24:55

That's a great compliment. I also like the idea that these murals are the independent ideas of local guys. I think it not only shows that we're caring for the buildings and the communities and the sidewalks and the people on them, but it's also that we're, you know, kind of investing in the ideas of our local creative artists.

Brett Whitacre 25:15

Yeah. Rockford Ice Hogs have been doing that with the Hat Series. I think they've done three of those.

Bridget Finn 25:21

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 25:21

And then Arts Council with the electrical boxes. I think there's a second round of those and getting a little bit of everybody out there on those boxes.

Bridget Finn 25:30

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 25:31

Yeah. More recognition.

Bridget Finn 25:32

I think that's a great idea too.

Brett Whitacre 25:35

Yeah.

Bridget Finn 25:36

Well, I think the title of your show, Everything's Fine. You want to talk about why you chose that?

Brett Whitacre 25:46

Yeah, I mean maybe it's a fault of mine, but I try to just look over top of like the serious issues beneath everything, you know, the country, the town, you know, crime, whatever, just kind of portray like or kind of like hang kind of aloof, you know, in my artwork. I don't know, above it, not ignoring it, but like everything's fine, you know, kind of with a smirk.

Bridget Finn 26:18

I like how you said look over the chaos because it's you know, it's I like

Brett Whitacre 26:24

Not ignoring it.

Bridget Finn 26:25

Not ignoring it, it's there, but like being above it, looking over it and maintaining optimism, if you will, knowing that it's there.

Brett Whitacre 26:35

Yeah.

Bridget Finn 26:36

Knowing that it might be, you know, an optimism that doesn't easily fit, but it's over on top of it, on top of what's concerning.

Brett Whitacre 26:46

Yeah. Yep. And I could find narrative in a lot of things that I create first, and then I'm like, oh, I bet this was about a reaction to this that was happening, like the cowboy with the lasso and like the ice raids and roundups, you know.

Bridget Finn 27:04

Oh yeah. So when you created that painting.

Brett Whitacre 27:07

I was thinking it just popped in my head when I was creating it.

Bridget Finn 27:10

Oh, that it might have that same response.

Brett Whitacre 27:12

Yeah, like maybe that's why I chose this image.

Bridget Finn 27:15

Oh yeah.

Brett Whitacre 27:16

Yeah.

Bridget Finn 27:17

Interesting.

Brett Whitacre 27:18

Yeah.

Bridget Finn 27:19

Do people often have different responses to your pieces than you intend.

Brett Whitacre 27:27

I think so. Yeah. You know, when I host for Art Scene or any gallery show and I talk to people about it, I like when someone says something about a piece that maybe nobody else has even remarked about, and I just hear what it, you know, what it means to them.

Bridget Finn 27:44

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 27:44

Yeah, that's always, you know, value added for me, you know?

Bridget Finn 27:48

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 27:49

To get some feedback. I'd like more feedback, probably. You know, I don't receive a lot of negative feedback. I'm sure it's there. You're not getting that direct. People aren't just giving that up. Thank them for that. But yeah, I like to, you know, I should ask people what they think about it more. You know, some artists will ask right up front, like, what's this mean to you? or you know.

Bridget Finn 28:14

It's valuable for you to know that.

Brett Whitacre 28:17

Not terribly.

Bridget Finn 28:18

Yeah, no, not terribly, but it's fun for you to know that sometimes.

Brett Whitacre 28:22

I like to hear the oohs and ahs and stuff. Sure. When I used to do fairs, art fairs, like Greenwich, I've only done that once, but it used to be like my main thing after I quit the touring band as a drummer and went into selling art full time.

Bridget Finn 28:36

Okay.

Brett Whitacre 28:36

I would book myself in several street fairs in Chicago and Milwaukee and do about 10 or 15 a year. So you're like an animal in your cage and people walking by in droves and you hear sounds. Like it could be, it could really bring you down if people just like side-eye your stuff and just keep on walking.

Bridget Finn 28:59

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 29:00

But I always tried to have something that was funny, you know, like back there or a little edgy and hear people's reaction, and that actually get them laughing or something, brings them in.

Bridget Finn 29:13

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 29:14

And then they start looking at everything you have. That's great. And that I've kind of missed that.

Bridget Finn 29:18

Yeah. Showcasing your humor and letting people react to it and seeing my strangers enjoy it.

Brett Whitacre 29:25

Yeah. And I get a similar feeling, usually a negative feeling when I'm out doing murals in public.

Bridget Finn 29:31

Yes.

Brett Whitacre 29:32

And people come up, I don't like people seeing unfinished work. But it's murals are very unfinished for a long time.

Bridget Finn 29:39

Sure.

Brett Whitacre 29:40

And I always tell people, like, it's gonna look bad before it looks good, you know.

Bridget Finn 29:44

Right.

Brett Whitacre 29:44

And so people will just someone that doesn't know me will just, you know, start looking from afar and then turn and walk away.

Bridget Finn 29:54

Show a little judge.

Brett Whitacre 29:55

And I'm thinking they probably are thinking, well, what the heck are we doing here?

Bridget Finn 29:58

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 29:59

I get really self-conscious and really negative in my head, but then all I need is one person to say, you know, something positive and it turns me around usually.

Bridget Finn 30:10

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 30:10

Yeah.

Bridget Finn 30:11

So you'll look for a positive. That's that's good information. I mean, it's hard, Brett. You're, you are a successful and recognizable artist in town. And how do you manage when you hear someone criticize your work? How do you pull out of that and regain your confidence in your footing to keep going and keep going forward?

Brett Whitacre 30:30

Yeah. And it's not usually them saying it, it's me thinking they're saying it. Yeah, thinking they're thinking it.

Bridget Finn 30:36

It's you just thinking about how they're thinking about your work.

Brett Whitacre 30:39

Yeah. I imagine just by the no expression and the walk away.

Bridget Finn 30:44

You give it a whole story, a whole backstory. I don't think you're alone. I think that's very human.

Brett Whitacre 30:50

Yeah. And so I've I will do murals very fast and like overnight sometimes.

Bridget Finn 30:54

And is that an impetus?

Brett Whitacre 30:56

To get it looking good? I'm thinking so, maybe.

Bridget Finn 30:58

Yeah. Right, totally.

Brett Whitacre 31:01

Not just having a full schedule, but like, let's get this done and looking good.

Bridget Finn 31:07

Right, right. So do you see challenges that you face as look like you're referring to the art shows as something you did earlier in your career? You don't do that many art shows anymore. You do murals now and you do commissions, and you talked about commissions you dig and commissions that aren't as easy and commissions that you won't take anymore. Do you see other challenges about being a local artist and other challenges, you know, about having to quit this career that you've built, or do you see it as something that's constantly in flux?

Brett Whitacre 31:42

Yeah, it's constantly, it's like you know, playing keepy-uppie or hitting a beach ball up in the air, keeping it up, you know. Yeah. Keep that work coming. And not everybody is that successful with that, and it can be very hard to be an artist, you know, locally here.

Bridget Finn 31:57

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 31:57

Yeah, I hear the struggles all the time. But I had a lot of successes before I even came back over here. I moved back in 2020, left in 2001.

Bridget Finn 32:10

Okay.

Brett Whitacre 32:10

So I was away for about 20 years. And in that time I had toured the world for years as a musician and then became a professional artist and was focusing in more on Chicago, just Chicago area. That is where more art sales and commerce are happening and people with more money for art. And yeah. I never really never thought well I could just make it as an artist just living in Rockford and selling locally.

Bridget Finn 32:38

Wow.

Brett Whitacre 32:39

You know, I still don't think that's sustainable. You have to think outside of this area.

Bridget Finn 32:45

So do you you sell your art outside the area?

Brett Whitacre 32:48

Paintings, I'm not since I'm not relying on the sales of fine art for a living. For murals, yes, I go outside of there. And the biggest way that I do that and that I've done since starting with murals is I advertise online. I utilize which was a new app at the time called Thumbtack. And you're hearing you've seen a lot of commercials now, they're like really growing. And that was like a free, it was kind of like Angie's list. If you're like, if you do drywall, you're on there as a contractor. This is more, Thumbtack is more for creatives, I think.

Bridget Finn 33:26

Okay.

Brett Whitacre 33:26

Yeah, maybe it's more of everything now, but I'm on there as a muralist, and you can put your center point of advertising anywhere. So I put it Chicago, right downtown, and you cast 150 mile an hour or 150 mile radius. And so that touches Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, and all the way past here. So if people Google Muralists, that site comes way up top. I could have my own Google page or whatever, but um, this is kind of a pay for leads kind of thing, and it's really not expensive, and you don't pay unless you strike up a conversation with someone. You don't pay up front.

Bridget Finn 34:02

That's nice.

Brett Whitacre 34:03

So that's easier for artists to get into.

Bridget Finn 34:05

Right. Thumbtack it's called.

Brett Whitacre 34:06

Yeah, you could tell it how much you're paying a week for contacts, and it'll tell you about how many new contacts you'll be given.

Bridget Finn 34:13

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 34:14

You're not guaranteed to land those, but opportunities.

Bridget Finn 34:17

Opportunities.

Brett Whitacre 34:18

It makes you better. I had to learn how to sell, you know, become a salesman for myself, and you put your projects on there, and so people can see what you've done. Now I've got hundreds of projects and I'm top rated on that app.

Bridget Finn 34:32

Okay.

Brett Whitacre 34:33

So once you achieve that, then they just pick you off top sometimes if they don't want to mess with, you know.

Bridget Finn 34:40

Delving too deep into the options.

Brett Whitacre 34:42

Yeah.

Bridget Finn 34:45

So has it been hard to learn how to manage your business while also being the creative producer of what it is you're selling?

Brett Whitacre 34:52

Yeah, it hasn't been too hard. I just don't like that part of it. You know, doing the quotes and the invoices and, you know, 70 emails for every project.

Bridget Finn 35:01

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 35:02

Yeah. There's a lot. And I like to be hands-on and on the project doing it. That's what I'm the happiest. But when I'm up there on the lift and direct sunlight, I gotta do emails all day too.

Bridget Finn 35:13

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 35:13

You know, kind of field things and keep it moving along. So I'm not doing it when I'm home with the family at night. So those are the struggles of it, but it's manageable, and if you have drive for it, yeah. You want those jobs.

Bridget Finn 35:26

Right, sure.

Brett Whitacre 35:27

Mm-hmm.

Bridget Finn 35:28

In our exhibit downstairs, the pieces, we talked about F U F D A. We have some others down there that I love. Is there, are there any favorites?

Brett Whitacre 35:43

Yeah, newer set that I produced, the his and hers suitcase. Since I've lived a lot of my life in and out of suitcases in hotels when I became a touring musician and did that for 10 years solid, like a lot. I did 200 or more gigs around the around the country and overseas for four or five years, and then we slowed down a little to maybe like a hundred and something.

Bridget Finn 36:11

Wow.

Brett Whitacre 36:12

But I was always on the go and you know, traveling, playing drums, and then coming home and making art. But I like luggage. I don't know. I collect old luggage, and so depicted there in those paintings are old like hard shell Samsonites.

Bridget Finn 36:26

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 36:27

And it shows I saw a diagram that came with a Samsonite once, you know, that was in there that showed suggestions of how to fold your clothes just right and...

Bridget Finn 36:36

Utilize that space? Yeah, that's great.

Brett Whitacre 36:39

And that was just a black and white illustration. And so I've just had fun with that for years. Like I make so many versions of packing your suitcases for commissions. I got commissioned by someone that wanted, you know, she was a flight attendant and she's also into this and that. She wanted specific things in there.

Bridget Finn 36:56

Yeah. So that's what you made her.

Brett Whitacre 36:58

Yeah, and that was a fun commission for me.

Bridget Finn 37:00

Yeah, very cool.

Brett Whitacre 37:01

Yeah.

Bridget Finn 37:02

That's very cool. They're beautiful pieces. I heard somebody tell me they wanted to buy a suitcase already. So yeah, it's been up for four minutes and we're already looking to sell.

Brett Whitacre 37:14

I sold a piece yesterday.

Bridget Finn 37:16

Unbelievable.

Brett Whitacre 37:17

That they didn't nobody saw it here, but it was someone who wanted to buy it a year and a half ago. And as I was driving away from here, I got an email saying, hey, is this piece available? I want it. They paid me.

Bridget Finn 37:30

There it goes. There it goes, right off the walls downstairs in the gallery.

Brett Whitacre 37:37

Creating issues.

Bridget Finn 37:38

You have from your work, I got to know you before I met you through your work. And you have you have a few series that you run. I'm calling them series. I don't know if you would, but, you know, you're a sneaker guy, you're a suitcase guy, you're a, you know, like yeah. Tell me about your different series that you work. What is why do you return to these series?

Brett Whitacre 38:02

Yeah, sometimes it's only as much as like three or four things that are related.

Bridget Finn 38:06

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 38:07

At a time. Other series like the suitcases, that's just something that's been with me since like 08 or something. First did one then. And those would always sell at the street fairs. And so it could produce in a new set, new version. And I don't know how many versions are out there, honestly, but several.

Bridget Finn 38:26

Do you have pieces that you've done that haven't been for sale at all that have just been for the act of creating?

Brett Whitacre 38:34

No. Pieces that stayed at my house that my wife wanted to stay there, and just sometimes like, oh, I need more pieces for this fair, and then it goes with and then it's gone.

Bridget Finn 38:45

There you go.

Brett Whitacre 38:46

Yeah. Yeah.

Bridget Finn 38:47

What are you most excited about your show downstairs, having your show here at the library?

Brett Whitacre 38:53

Just you know, the most beautiful like structure in town, you know.

Bridget Finn 38:58

The library.

Brett Whitacre 38:59

Yeah, yeah. It's like a you know, modern masterpiece here in Rockford right on the river, and I happen to have one of my favorite murals right outside, and it's just an honor, you know. And what a like grand hall if you look them in like a giant national museum or something. So yeah. It's not in some like little joint, you know.

Bridget Finn 39:20

No,

Brett Whitacre 39:20

With bad lighting or something.

Bridget Finn 39:22

It's in a beautiful exhibit hall. That's true. Our gallery is we're very proud of it. So I'm happy that you're happy to hang here.

Brett Whitacre 39:29

Yeah.

Bridget Finn 39:30

I'm thrilled with that.

Brett Whitacre 39:31

I'm really thrilled with how it looks because I didn't know how my stuff would look before yesterday.

Bridget Finn 39:36

Right.

Brett Whitacre 39:36

I'm looking at the size of this place and like my pieces are gonna look teeny-weeny over here.

Bridget Finn 39:42

Yeah.

Brett Whitacre 39:42

Yeah.

Bridget Finn 39:43

It's a substantial room. Yeah, I think they look great. I do. You know, we're also gonna have an event that you're going to work on with me on October 15th, Wednesday, October 15th at noon at lunchtime. We have these exhibit explorations, and you will be doing a gallery tour, and people can come and listen to you talk about your pieces and each one and ask you questions. So I'm really excited that you're doing that.

Brett Whitacre 40:12

Yeah, and I think I'll get some good feedback from that too, and I'm gonna ask them questions as well.

Bridget Finn 40:18

Good. Sounds great, sounds great. So we want to make sure that you come. Brett Whittaker's exhibit, Everything's Fine, is gonna be up through October at the first floor gallery at Main, 215 North Wyman Street in Downtown Rockford. Come over and see it. It is exquisite. The pieces are for sale. You can there are QR codes by each piece and, you know, you can buy them through those QR codes. So I'm thrilled to have you. Thanks so much for coming in today and talking to us. We love having you on the podcast. [Lo-fi Music Plays]

Brett Whitacre 40:58

Thanks for having me. This I don't do a lot of these. This was fun.

Bridget Finn 41:01

Good. I'm glad you had a great time.

Brett Whitacre 41:03

Yeah.