Mississippi Monday ·

Mississippi Monday | TurnUp Studios

Today is #mississippimonday and we are featuring our friends around the corrner at TurnUp Studios in Midtown! TurnUp Studios is a collective space for fine art shows, community outreach meetings, video shoots, movie premieres and performance art shows! How cool, right? Check out our Q&A with co-owner and artist, Clay Hardwick!

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What exactly is TurnUp Studios?

TurnUp Studios is currently a private art studio in Midtown Jackson. Inside the walls are Clay Hardwick (video artist, abstract painter), Daniel Johnson (socially engaged artist, musician), Jamie Weems (musician), and Big House Books (nonprofit organisation).

How did you all get started and what was the inspiration to take the small business leap?

There was an ongoing desire for us (Clay, Jamie, and Daniel) to all come together in a shared space. Midtown was an obvious destination because there were large spaces available at affordable rates. Eventually we found our current building and spent months cleaning it out and setting it up for our own work spaces. In the beginning, our large, shared studio space was a public venue where we would host small concerts, art shows, and a variety of art-related events. Currently we use this for art studio space as well as a small art gallery and music rehearsal space.

How does Mississippi play a role in your business?

For one obvious reason, Mississippi is cheap. Rent, food, transportation, supplies, everything is more affordable in our state. With that though you see lots of poverty or rather, lower standards than the rest of the nation. But this is where the stories come from. There is a very rich soul from which Mississippi artists' pull from.

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What are your goals for your brand?

TurnUp Studios continues to act as an incubator for creativity. Moving forward into 2016 we hope to further interact with the Midtown community and engage them with the best creative art we can muster, whether it's painting, music, videos, or pup-up events.

What is your background?

I'm a Jackson-based artist, working primarily in video production as a videographer/editor and music video director. After graduating in Digital Arts from Millsaps College in 2009, I lived and worked in Portland, OR, Memphis, TN, and now back in Jackson, MS – his home town. TurnUp Studios other co-owners, Daniel and Jamie also reside in Mississippi making art and music on the reg!

Where do you all find inspiration?

I find most of my inspiration in the neighborhood of Midtown, just before you hit Downtown Jackson.

What do you all like to do when you aren't creating? I like sleeping or eating and playing with our two studio cats, Scrap Winchester and Izabel. What are your favorite local places to shop and dine? Some of my favorite local places to visit are OffBeat (next door neighbor with records and comics), The Mill St. Zone, Sneaky Beans, Koinonia, and N.U.T.S. What are some of the reasons you call Mississippi home? Born, raised, left, came back, trying to leave, but know will come back.

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