Regina: Jonah McFadzean
photo credit: Zoe Schneider
IKC: What’s your day job? What do you like about it? What’s challenging?
JM: I work as a part-time Library Assistant for the Regina Public Library. Mostly I read storybooks to children at the various schools in my community and design programs that fulfill the programming strategies for my branch. Last weekend I taught a workshop on bookbinding and this week I’ll be designing props for a summer puppet show. I grew up in the neighbourhood that my branch serves, and I like that this job keeps me creatively-minded in a communal sense. It’s a nice counter-balance to my otherwise sequestered studio practice.
KC: What kinds of projects are you involved in right now?
JM: Currently I’m working to compile a small anthology of comics. I’m hoping to have it out by the summer. It’s a collection of quick narratives based on dreams and memories of childhood anxieties. I’ve been developing it in between other projects over the past five years, so I’m excited to finally be doing something with the work. Aside from that, I’m all over the place: I’m working on a longer narrative comic, illustrating trading cards and tarot cards, sculpting art-toy figurines, and developing an online fanzine called SHELPSHOT that is based around the culture of playing computer and video games. With so much on the go it’s always a challenge to keep organized and to consolidate all of my projects within my practice as a whole. I also have a daily drawing blog that I’m constantly adding to (jonahmcfadzean.tumblr.com).
KC: What’s important to you?
JM: Sleep and coffee. I’m always balancing between too much and too little of either, which I guess is what you want in both.
KC: What do you like best about Regina?
JM: I’ve always felt a real sense of boundless possibility living in Regina. It’s a deceptively busy city where someone is doing something amazing just around the corner from you. There are interesting people making interesting things constantly, and there exists a strong camaraderie amongst the creative community.
KC: (From the Proust Questionaire) What is your greatest fear?
JM: Monsters. Like, hide-under-your-bed-and-devour-you-just-because-they-can monsters. I know they don’t exist. Still, every so often I’ll lay awake at night and think “but what if…”
You can find out more about Jonah here: http://www.jonahmcfadzean.com