Denver’s local 5280 Magazine recently highlighted one of the most exciting new artists I’ve seen in recent years. Jake Weidmann is no bohemian, though. He’s a deep thinker, distilling through his art concentrated amounts of psychological and anthropological insight all through a theological grid. Hearing him talk about his art up close and personal is inspiring and moving. Fellowship Denver’s Worship Arts Director, Adam Anglin (check out his new album with Edbrooke Collective), and I recently got to visit Jake in his studio, and what you see in this post are some of the shots taken from that visit. (By the way, if you want closeups of any of the art featured here, Jake has it all on his site.)
The “final exam” of a Master Penman is to execute one’s own certificate. This is Jake’s. He also carved the frame.Jake is perhaps best known as one of the eleven Master Penmen in the world, being skilled and certified in the painstaking, nearly athletic craft of multi-formed calligraphy (e.g. script, off-hand flourishing, illumination, and black letter). He uses this skill to create a lot of mixed media pieces that are deep, evocative, and loaded with meaning.