On the Cover | Mar. 17, 2011
learn about this issue's cover art by Jesse Johnson
Volume One finds it cover art in a number of ways, from local art shows to random emails to knowing someone who knows someone who knows a great artist. The art always originates from a current or former Chippewa Valley resident. If you'd like to submit cover art, send us a letter.
“Beats Carrot” by Jesse Johnson
(photo)Jesse Johnson“Something I’ve been thinking lately, about Photography. I love how in portraiture, the camera has the neat ability to express those emotions that couldn’t otherwise be said. Shooting the light of your friends, the people around you, captures the essentials of being alive that are hard to truly say. Days with friends, captured in full, can become the fullness of friendship itself. Sadness, too, should be captured. Learning from mistakes is as difficult as remembering your mistakes. The photographer who is emotionally bonded with the images of his labor has the burden of permanence, yet it is also a gift of reflection. When lonely, or just alone, aiming the camera can sometimes be difficult. For a device so mechanical and so precise, it is odd that the camera can contain so much the spirit of the photographer within it. Widening your eyes is ignoring your weariness. Crafting sadness into beauty lifts the burden. It takes you from the present into the potential of the future, the knowledge that the human spirit can always become clean again.” – The Artist
What we were thinking: “Jesse Johnson’s photograph was chosen due its simplicity and interesting perspective on such an arbitrary daily task of chopping up vegetables. When a person is chopping vegetables for a stew they don’t normally say, “Oh my goodness look at the relationship between the carrot and beats here on the cutting board, I must document this observation.” That is precisely why we found the photo to be intriguing.” – V1 Designer Josh Smeltzer
