In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Becky Barsi and Joe Acone sit down with Dave Hady, a New Hampshire-based painter, designer, and director whose work spans murals, public art, and an evolving studio practice.
In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Becky Barsi and Joe Acone sit down with Dave Hady, a New Hampshire-based painter, designer, and director whose work spans murals, public art, and an evolving studio practice.
Dave has built a career creating bold, highly visible work for brands and public spaces, but his recent shift into painting marks a more personal turn. In this episode, we talk about that transition from client work to self-driven work, how his background in design shapes his approach to painting, and what it looks like to take creative risks in a very public-facing career.
Learn more about Dave and his work, including his paintings, murals, and involvement with the Factory on Willow artist residency in Manchester, NH, at www.davidhady.com. Follow him on Instagram at www.instagram.com/davehady.
Listen to this episode wherever you listen to podcasts or on our website www.CreativeGutsPodcast.com. Connect with us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Discord. Subscribe to our Substack newsletter at creativegutspod.substack.com.
If you love listening, consider making a donation to Creative Guts! Our budget is tiny, so donations of any size make a big difference. Learn more about us and make a tax-deductible donation at www.CreativeGutsPodcast.com.
Thank you to Kennebunk Savings Bank for being an official sponsor of the podcast!
Thank you to our friends at Art Up Front Street Studios and Gallery in Exeter, NH and the Rochester Museum of Fine Arts in Rochester, NH for their support of the show!
Any views or opinions expressed by our hosts or guests do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Creative Guts.
[INTRODUCTION]
[0:00:01] BB: I'm Becky Barsi.
[0:00:02] JA: And I'm Joe Acone.
[0:00:01] BB & JA: And you're listening to Creative Guts.
[0:00:17] JA: Hey friends, thanks for tuning in to Creative Guts. Today we're speaking with Dave Hady, a New Hampshire-based painter and designer known for his bold murals, public art, and cubist inspired paintings.
[0:00:27] BB: We talk about his transition from client-driven design, working with the Orbit Group here in Manchester, as well as his role as the director of The Factory on Willows Artist Residency Program, to more personal painting practices and how taking creative risks has reshaped his career.
[0:00:43] JA: Let's jump right into this episode of Creative Guts with Dave Hady.
[INTERVIEW]
[0:00:50] JA: Welcome, Dave.
[0:00:51] DH: Hello. Thanks for having me.
[0:00:52] BB: Hi, Dave. Welcome.
[0:00:54] DH: Hi.
[0:00:55] JA: Happy to have you. Yeah, we have Dave Hady here with us today. He's a artist, designer, director, wears many hats and does a lot of things. And we're so excited we're able to coordinate and get this going. So, thank you for joining us.
[0:01:08] DH: Yeah. Yeah. I really appreciate you guys taking the time to have me on. I know there's been some back and forth, but we're all juggling. So, it's great to finally be here.
[0:01:14] BB: Yeah, everybody's juggling, for sure. To kick things off, can you first just kind of introduce yourself and to those of our listeners and even me, the first time we're meeting today. Can you tell us a little bit about who you are as a creative and who is Dave Hady?
[0:01:30] DH: Sure. So I'll try to make this make sense. So my name is David Hady. I grew up here in Manchester, New Hampshire. I went to Memorial High School, and then I went to New Hampshire Institute of Art where I got a degree in illustration, and not technically a minor in graphic design, but I ended up doing like three graphic design internships along my journey. So, it really kind of beefed up that aspect of my portfolio.
And that transitions to I work at this place called Orbit Group, where we do all kinds of projects. We start businesses. We partner with businesses. We do property development. We do community projects and so much more. And I think that's kind of where some of our paths had maybe crossed in the past.
I do a lot of the branding in the design for all of the startups that we have spun out over the last seven, maybe even eight years now. And alongside doing the branding and design, which is all very digital work, I get the opportunity to do lots of really interesting murals and community-led projects that you might have seen up and around Manchester. I actually am only in Manchester.
[0:02:45] BB: Is that right?
[0:02:46] DH: I'm not like a cult guy, but I like just being hyper local, I guess in the community.
[0:02:51] JA: Sure. Yeah, definitely. And it's great because it's just many of your projects are all within walking distance of one another. You got the Joe the Giant mural underneath Bridge Street. And we can talk more about that, too. I'd love to kind of get a little insight, sort of behind the scenes of how that all came together. Maybe we can just start with that if that feels like natural. Yeah.
[0:03:12] DH: Sure.
[0:03:12] BB: Yeah, how’d you get into that world?
[0:03:14] DH: Cool. This is like a story over a long period of time. And it starts with my wife's family. So my mother-in-law, before she was my mother-in-law, like about 12, 14 years ago, she would always tell me stories. And there was this guy named Joe Nelson who is her uncle basically. And she would tell me how Joe did all these great things for the city. He rebuilt the entire canal district. It was going under and it was falling apart. And he led the nation's first – I lack the vocabulary right now. Economic development. Urban development, economic program something, ever in the whole country. He directed that, and he basically rebuilt all the buildings that you see, like Dean Kamen in, and all the buildings on commercial street.
[0:04:00] BB: Yeah, yeah. The mill buildings and things. Were they falling into disrepair, and he just revived them.
[0:04:04] DH: Yeah. Basically, after two hits of the industrial revolution, which was the milling and then the shoe industry. The mills were largely left unattended. After X amount of years, they had Joe come in from New York and work to rebuild them basically.
She told me about this guy. And in the back of my head I was always like, "Wow." And I guess he's this huge massive dude, and they call him Joe the Giant. And as a young artist, I was always like, "Oh, it'd be so cool to do like a huge statue of him or something." And over time, creating a huge statue is very difficult and has its limitations. And you need funding, and an engineer, and things like that. But I would always try to inject this idea whenever there was a mural opportunity or a project just to see if it would fit.
And then sure, fast forward a few years, Jill Dittberner, I hope I'm saying that right, she had reached out to me about helping her paint these massive columns underneath the Bridge Street Bridge. And for about a week, I kind of struggled to think of a concept. I was like, "What am I going to do? I work in this weird fragmented cubist form. How can I utilize the shape of this and try to be clever?"
And then I was talking to my wife one night, and it clicked. I'm like, "Oh my god. It's overlooking the mills. This is the perfect chance to create a nod towards Joe the Giant Nelson." So, we made a slide deck. We presented it to the Heritage Board, and the city, and the whole nine yards. And they accepted it and we got approved. And we got this great grant that helped us pay for a lift and all the paint and everything. And I had to start working on it.
And what was really sweet about that project, so Joe has this huge family. And every day, I was up there, different members of his family would come visit me and they would bring me cookies or like a gift card to a little restaurant. And it was the sweetest. It was so sweet. Tons of pictures of meeting the family. And then we had a big ribbon cutting, and they all came. And it meant something to the city. It was more than just like the artwork. It was like it's nice to create something with a story that has a backbone. It means something. It's not just like a cool looking image.
[0:06:27] BB: Right. Or it's not just a plaque or something. And we'll have to link an image to this in the episode description because like the arms of the bridge, or whatever the – I don't know. The engineering, the buttresses look like arms. And he's literally holding up the bridge. And so there's so much metaphor to that. But the location, too, is so spot-on for that particular mural.
[0:06:50] DH: Yeah, it worked perfectly, and I was very fortunate. Thank you, Jill, for asking me to be part of that project. Jill had also painted like three of the other pillars. She had done she had done a tremendous amount of work down there. And then, obviously, you have James Chase who had painted the stairs that are overlooking the river. That park is really slowly kind of coming alive. It's a beautiful space.
[0:07:10] BB: Oh, it's fantastic.
[0:07:10] JA: Yeah, it's a great hub.
[0:07:12] BB: Yeah, we take our students down there to do photography challenges and things. It's a great space.
[0:07:18] DH: Yeah, it's beautiful. It's very windy this time of year.
[0:07:20] BB: Yes.
[0:07:21] DH: Yeah. But that was nice because we were painting in the middle of the summer, but I was so high up and then the wind was blowing. So I didn't even notice it. And it was like perfect the whole time.
[0:07:30] BB: Yeah.
[0:07:31] JA: Wow.
[0:07:31] DH: Yeah. Super high up.
[0:07:33] BB: And you're sheltered from the sun, too. So, you got a little –
[0:07:36] DH: Mostly. Yeah. Yeah, mostly the shelter. That was the highest I've ever gone on a lift or on a ladder by far.
[0:07:40] JA: Yeah, it's a big mural. Yeah. Oh my god.
[0:07:43] DH: That was a fun project. Really fortunate to be part of that for sure.
[0:07:46] JA: Yeah. Wow. Kind of jumping around. I thought about the mural because you were talking about community projects, right?
[0:07:52] DH: Yep.
[0:07:52] JA: So maybe we can like bounce to give us a little more insight about your design work. I know you say you're working with these startups that partner with Orbit Group and all that. So is that like a lot of combination of design and project managing. And what's that look like?
[0:08:06] DH: Yeah, basically? I've been working with Orbit Group for about seven-plus years now. And over the course of that time, there was a period, I'd say the first 5 years, where we were kind of in serial startup mode. So, we were starting companies, and starting companies, and starting companies, and starting companies, and shutting them down, and starting companies. And you learn different things from each company you start.
Most of these at the time were all technology, hardware or software related, because that's kind of what Liza and Jeremy's specialty was. They have a lot of knowledge in that field. We started internet companies, and we started load balancers, which I'm not going to explain what that is if you don't already know. It's basically internet traffic.
We had a company called Minum, which was internet-based, and a few others down the road. And now we are in a different phase where we mostly focus on – we have The Bookery, which is downtown Manchester. Awesome spot. You'll love it. We have The Distillery, which is Manchester Distillery. And we have The Factory. Everything that ends with RY, we have something to do with.
And most of my time is spent working on the distillery, where we make vodka, gin, whiskey, chocolate liqueur. And we do different brands for each of these products. Super fun, super explorative. A lot of branding to juggle because it's all so different. It's so fun. I love doing that.
[0:09:37] JA: That's got to be a real treat of a project to work on. You do so many cool things with that style and that brand.
[0:09:42] DH: A lot of creative freedom. And Liz is really creative, too. So, we go back and forth a lot. We have a very small team over at Orbit Group. We're really just ping-ponging ideas off of each other. It's a lot of fun.
[0:09:54] BB: And so, are you working on actually developing the brand, like the logos, the typography, the color schemes, everything that goes into all of those different startups and to those other businesses under the Orbit umbrella.
[0:10:06] DH: Yes.
[0:10:06] BB: Wow. Okay.
[0:10:07] DH: The websites, and then the marketing, SEO. I'm learning how to do ads on Facebook and Google. Really, it's a large web of things that you're trying to learn how to lasso as you learn how to run companies.
[0:10:23] JA: Yeah. And I'm getting like whiplash thinking about you doing all of that work, and then also being on a lift painting Joe the Giant.
[0:10:30] DH: It's tough sometimes. Because my analogy is it's like when you start to work on something, it's like you're digging a hole. And the deeper you dig that hole, the more invested you get into working on that subject matter, right? And then it's like, "Oh, cool. Now, can you work on this?" And then you can't just like switch. You have to like climb out of the hole, metaphorically, and start digging another one.
[0:10:51] JA: Back the truck up a little bit.
[0:10:53] DH: Yeah. So task switching is definitely challenging. Some days it's easier, but some days it's difficult. I would say this week, I'm having a hard time switching gears quite a bit.
[0:11:03] BB: I think that's something a lot of guests on our show have talked about though. Because so many of our guests are not just full-time artists, they also have full-time other careers. Whether they're teachers, or graphic designers, or accountants. We have people who are creative, and that's a large part of their identity, and then they have something else. Having to transition from those roles, that's a big part of the process, and challenge that comes with trying to maintain that creative balance in your life too. How do you make it work? How do you maintain this balance so that you're maintain this element of creativity and curiosity in exploration in your day job but also in your personal art making?
[0:11:43] DH: The first few years, it was a slower ramp up. When I was newer to the field, I had a smaller load of things that I would manage and projects that I would work on. And as I learn more about how businesses are run and things operate, I get a little bit more diversification in my tasks. And then I also have a great wife who is like my soundboard, who just I'll go home and I'll vent, and she'll listen. And sometimes you just need to vent because we feel great about it.
But the team that I work with, I do have a lot of creative freedom to try things and to explore. It's not so like with a lot of design work, you're kind of pinned, like, "Okay, this is what the client wants." And then you have to execute on that. And it's always a compromise. I will say I do have to find compromise between myself, the identity of the project, and the voice of what the team wants to say. But I have less parameters, I would say. There's a little bit more room for creative freedom to kind of put my elbows out and kind of find the voice for this visual vision that we're trying to create.
[0:12:52] BB: Yeah.
[0:12:52] JA: Do you find sometimes it's more difficult to elbow that space out for your vision versus others? Yeah?
[0:12:59] DH: sure. I have creative block every once in a while. And I notice whenever I have a deadline, it's always towards the end of the deadline that I have that aha moment.
[0:13:08] JA: Yeah, of course.
[0:13:09] DH: When you're kind of pressed and you have less options.
[0:13:12] JA: Yeah. Because I know sometimes there can be – I'm speaking more to like the tension between the creative versus what the client wants. I'm thinking about my wife who's a graphic designer, too. Sometimes she needs to like pitch what she believes the best vision is, and it'll either get shot down. It's in a corporate space, so it's maybe a different dynamic than what you're working with. I was just curious if you've ever experienced that.
[0:13:39] DH: Yeah. I definitely try to pitch ideas to the team. And I always have my favorites. And my favorites don't always get chosen. You kind of learn to just not get emotionally attached to the idea. And it's just easier to pivot that way, you know? And then what's nice about digital work is you can usually just kind of keep that stuff on the side and maybe it can resurface for another project or for another campaign. Yeah.
[0:14:05] BB: Tell us about your process. Are you starting literally sketching things on paper, or are you purely digital? Tell us. We love that stuff.
[0:14:13] DH: Yeah. Usually, it depends where I am in the project. I definitely like to doodle, sketch things out first. It's just more free. But I pretty quickly get into Adobe Illustrator. That's my bread and butter especially when doing design work. I don't use Photoshop too much. It's really niche for me to get into Photoshop. But I'm usually getting into Adobe Illustrator pretty quick, and I'm using the pathfinder tools, and I'm cutting up shapes, and I'm putting things together, and then I'm joining them. I'm doing research. Looking at what other people are doing. That's what you got to do. That's what everyone does. What influencer is other people doing? What color trends are hot this year? I always search that, but I never end up using the ones that are –
[0:14:55] BB: Do you use Adobe Color?
[0:14:57] DH: No, I don't.
[0:14:58] BB: Oh, that's – Adobe Color. Yes. It's one of the Adobe programs, but it has –
[0:15:02] DH: Oh, it's a website.
[0:15:03] BB: It's a website through Adobe, but –
[0:15:05] DH: I do use it. I'm sorry. Yeah, I use it all the time. I love it.
[0:15:07] BB: But it has like all like trending colors and things like this –
[0:15:09] DH: Yeah. They have the great color palettes for all the different – Yeah. I'm sorry. I misunderstood you. I use it all the time. Yeah.
[0:15:15] BB: It's great a tool. I was going to say, "Wow, you don't know about that one?"
[0:15:18] DH: No, I love that one. Yeah. My process for design is very digital. If it's more of illustrative based, then I'll definitely get some pen and paper out, and that's a lot of fun. And then I'll trace it digitally. And that's kind of when I'll get into like a Photoshop usually depending on what kind of brush I want to use. But most of it is in the Adobe Illustrator. Just being able to vectorize things and stretch them and skew them. It's really nice for that kind of stuff I find.
[0:15:46] JA: Just thinking a little bit about maybe some of your influences and the stuff that maybe we're looking at in school or maybe post school. I notice you cite cubism a bit in your work. I love when artists talk about like was there an aha moment for you when you found cubism? Or was it always with you?
[0:16:05] DH: My aha moment with cubism, I was 19, and I was going to community college at Manchester Community College. That's where I actually had started my art education. And we just did a project. I did a project about it. And I had heard of Picasso growing up. I never really – actually, I don't really love Picasso's work that much. I know he's a founder.
[0:16:28] JA: Scandalous.
[0:16:30] DH: I love Georges Braque, who kind of built cubism in the idea of what it is with Picasso. I think his idea of breaking up forms is, I'll say, stronger. But anyways, I discovered it and then I discovered a handful of other awesome cubist/futurists artists who worked and broke up planes.
And then it was kind of around the time I was just really into like dimensions and black holes and just breaking things up in reality. And it just fit my my interests really well. I kind of started playing with basic shapes and stuff. And then I continued to have more fun breaking things up. And then I kind of stopped for a while and kind of did like the traditional art school route where you kind of just practiced using every medium and you practice every style. I really tried hard not to get pinned against the corner while I was in school doing one thing.
But then towards like my junior and my senior year, it kind of came back, and I had worked alongside some of my mentors, Ryan O'Rourke and Rich Pellegrino. And they kind of really helped me develop it into a more like commercial idea. How can I take being an illustrator, some of my design background, and then mash it with this cubist style? And how can I make it marketable? And that was kind of how that part of my portfolio evolved, I think. A big shout out to Ryan O'Rourke for helping me out kind of find that and build that.
[0:17:55] JA: That's so great.
[0:17:56] DH: And now I'm to the point where I work on a computer and I work digitally so much. I actually don't want to do this kind of stuff on the computer anymore. And I'm back to oil paint or a water-based paint or acrylic based on what surface I'm painting on. Right now, at night, I bust out the oils and just kind of have some fun with it.
[0:18:15] JA: Brilliant. Yeah, that was a good transition to sort of talking about your painting practice a bit. Because I saw some of your work recently at an opening at Mosaic.
[0:18:24] DH: Yep. I love that place.
[0:18:26] JA: Oh, it's the best. Shout out to Mosaic. It's interesting to hear you talk about getting exposed to different ways of working, sort of broadening your horizons, being a good art student, to quote Cindy Rizza from a prior episode. And then narrowing it down to figuring out how to put things together and be marketable and do all that good work. And is your current painting practice a relatively more recent development as it is currently? Or how is that evolving?
[0:18:51] DH: Good question. My day job is publicly. It's public art, and it's compromise, and people see it. And right now, my personal practice is exact opposite of that, where I have my style, and I'm kind of refining it and refining it. I don't share it as much. I haven't really been sharing it. I will add something to the Mosaic every once in a while. And I don't have to compromise with it, right? I don't have this expectation of like, "Oh, I have to create this many paintings a month, or I have to do this, or I have to get this ready for this show." It's very freeing in the sense where there's no compromise. And I'm just kind of exploring whatever idea is in my head.
I don't do commissions anymore. I don't do anything like that unless it's at work. That's kind of like the commission mode where you're finding that. And then my personal stuff is just like, "No, man. I'm not doing –" respectfully, I'll just – if somebody asks me to do something, I'll just try to refer them to somebody else as I try to find this voice and this style of my own. And then, hopefully, eventually I'll have a series of paintings, and it's considered a series of work, and I can show it together. But I'm kind of like in the middle of that right now I would say.
[0:20:05] JA: That's brilliant. Yeah.
[0:20:07] DH: I like juggling the two.
[0:20:09] JA: Yeah. It sounds like you're in it right now. It sounds like pretty fresh, or you're resolving the series as you're going. It might be too soon to ask. But when you view, when you think about this series of work, are you thinking about at all like a type of experience you want the viewer to have when they're viewing your work? Or are you just like, "This is cool to me. I'm going to put it up on a wall. Y'all can check it out."
[0:20:30] DH: I think where I get caught up on my own work often is because I'm kind of obsessed with like finding the bridge between things that are identifiable. And then how can I make them abstract enough to where the viewer has to think about it for a minute to get it? I don't want it to be too out of left field, because then it's like, "Okay, cool. I want there to be some identifiable motifs within it." So that way, maybe they stay a little more engaged. And there's a little bit of thinking and some puzzle solving. And then within 7 to 10 seconds, they go, "Oh, I think I can perceive what this might be."
[0:21:06] JA: Sure. It rewards a longer viewing.
[0:21:08] DH: Kind of. It's kind of like a dance between abstraction and something that's identifiable.
[0:21:13] BB: Yeah. I'm looking at some of your paintings on your website right now, and I'm I'm so – is it Sentinels?
[0:21:20] DH: That's one of them. Yeah.
[0:21:21] BB: Yeah. Here's how I'm going to break this down. I'm going to try and do some analysis on here. I am interpreting the kind of rusty colors as almost like the mill buildings themselves. And some sort of smoke stack or towers that are kind of overwhelming or overlooking a city. And maybe a moon or the silhouette of a sun or something. That's what I see.
[0:21:43] JA: Thank you for sharing that interpretation.
[0:21:44] BB: I'm trying to interpret it. But what are you trying to say in this?
[0:21:48] DH: I think that's a great interpretation because it's along the lines of like what I'm trying to imply, but it's not exactly what I'm trying to imply. It's like a little bit of a hint. I mean, with this one to me, I had just watched the second edition of The Dune. And I love some of the color palettes, some of the oranges and some of the blues that are going on. I kind of stole some of that color palette. And then I guess I see it as like an orange sanded desert with these huge structures that are coming out, but the structures are too vague to know if they're modern or ancient.
[0:22:25] BB: There's this beautiful mix of organic and geometric in here, too. And now that I've blown it up and I'm looking at it. And to me, I'm also now seeing a little bit almost like a reflection looking out a window. And there's the glare of lights that are behind you. And there's this push and pull of what's in front of you and what's behind you. And it's absolutely stunning.
[0:22:47] DH: Thank you. Appreciate that.
[0:22:48] BB: Yeah, I just love the color palette, but just the depth and the push and pull that I'm getting from this. I love your work.
[0:22:55] DH: Thank you. I spend a lot of time like any artist, right? You're trying to find your voice. You're trying to find it. And sometimes you hate it. And most of the time, I don't like it. But I don't think I'm alone in that. But this was one that I did enjoy. And I'm happy with the outcome as well.
[0:23:11] JA: I'm always very envious of the journey abstract artists go through as they're sort of seeking an image in front of a panel. I don't think I have explored that nearly enough in my own work. I work figurative, realism. And a lot of it's like about setting up and drafting kind of a composition, shooting reference and all that stuff. I kind of know where I'm headed pretty quickly. But it sounds like, forgive me if I'm wrong, but you're finding it as you're going, right?
[0:23:41] DH: Kind of. It depends. I've recently found that if I have a plan, that's like the traditional illustration method, right? Kind of what you just described. When I go into a painting with a plan, with my palette, with my idea, with everything, I never end up finishing them. Because with me, there's a lack of exploring. And this is a weird analogy. But it's almost like you're playing a video game for the first time and you're exploring this brand-new world. And you don't know what you're going to find. And there's all these things. And I think I have more success, I think, with finishing a painting when I go into it with just a vague idea. And then I'm kind of discovering how I want to push and pull form and adjust things on the journey.
[0:24:23] JA: As opposed to knowing the way the video game ends before you –
[0:24:26] DH: Right. Yeah. Your second playthrough is not the same as your first, man.
[0:24:28] JA: Yeah. No. Definitely not.
[0:24:30] BB: Have you done – because as part of your role at Orbit Group and in The Factory, I believe you do some work with the Artisan Residence Program.
[0:24:37] DH: Yes, I do.
[0:24:38] BB: Can you can you talk a little bit about that? And have you participated in any residencies before?
[0:24:43] DH: Of course. I have not participated any residencies. But I do direct the artist and residence program at The Factory on Willow, which is here in Manchester. This is our sixth year running the program. And we aim to bring in up to six artists a year. Two at a time for three periods throughout the year. We actually have two artists in right now. Incredibly talented. Maybe we can get them in for a podcast or something before they head out.
[0:25:09] BB: Yeah. It'd be great to get their names.
[0:25:11] DH: Yeah. Kathryn Blommel and David Quady.
[0:25:14] BB: And they're on the website, too.
[0:25:16] DH: Yes, they're on the website and all that. Yeah. We host these artists for three months at a time. Up to three months. Because we're adults, and it's kind of hard to like put your life aside for three months sometimes. Sometimes we'll do it for one month or two months. But if we can get them in for three, that's the best part.
We recently had one from France, Florent Poussineau. Incredibly French name, awesome guy. But he was having a baby, and he didn't know until just a couple months before he was coming for the residency. We had to kind of work something out. We shortened his residency so he could get back over there and do what he had to do. But yeah, we're in our first session of the year right now. And then we have another session starting in May. And then our third session should begin at the beginning of September.
[0:26:02] BB: And talk to us a little bit about like what are you and The Factory looking for in terms of artists. Because I don't think this is something we've spoken much about on the podcast before is really residencies. And I think it's a valuable experience. What are you looking for in the artists? And what did they gain from the experience other than like a space?
[0:26:22] DH: Yep. The program has kind of grown a lot and where we had 170 applicants last year. And basically, the first part of my job is to kind of whittle that list down. I will talk with a couple people on my team, get some opinions, and we'll kind of whittle that list down to about 25, maybe 30 artists.
First thing I'm looking at is portfolio. Everyone sends a beautiful bio, and they send a beautiful artist statement. But your portfolio, I think, especially when you're out of school, it speaks to where you are in your creative journey and what kind of voice you have and what you're trying to say. And does your work tell a story? Or is your work the type of work that doesn't tell a story, but it's more technical?
We kind of divide things down by that at first. And then we'll start reading statements and bios. And then we'll do our first round of interviews. So, we'll do like a web interview, because a lot of these candidates are from all around the world. And then we'll whittle that list of 25 down to about 10, maybe 12.
I think last year we did an additional round of interviews just to kind of talk with people. And what's your project proposal? You're going to be here for 3 months. What is your vision? What do you want to do? What do you want to work on? Are you someone who is social enough to put yourself out there into the community? That's actually a big thing. Because we learn, if you bring someone here and you give them a space for 3 months, it's really convenient to just kind of harp in and focus on your work for 3 months and not get out and meet people.
[0:27:54] BB: Yeah.
[0:27:55] DH: So, a big part of it is the communication of what we expect, which isn't a crazy amount. We don't expect that much. We want to bring people in. We really want to give them a space to work, to develop a new body of work. And we want to facilitate introductions in the community when that's possible. I think last year we had visited one of Joe's classes, which is awesome.
[0:28:16] BB: That's right. Yeah.
[0:28:16] DH: I would love to do that again.
[0:28:17] JA: Was it Tracy and Rabia. Yes.
[0:28:19] DH: Yes, it was. Any time to do that. I love coming to schools and just seeing the students and what they're working on. Definitely love to connect on that.
[0:28:28] JA: Definitely.
[0:28:28] DH: Yeah, we're really just we're trying to bring them here. First priority is I want you to have three months to focus on building something. And then I want you to be open-minded to meeting people in the community, looking for events, walking around, doing this, doing that. And then at the end of this experience, we have an art show for them, where at The Factory there's this big event space. And we basically have a show for the artist.
[0:28:52] BB: Fantastic.
[0:28:54] JA: Oh, and I'm glad we're talking about this because the receptions that I've been to, I've been to I think just two so far. There was the two textile artists we just mentioned. And then I saw Song Kang and Abena Apatu. The receptions were lovely, really well curated. You could see a lot of the work that the artists have created during the residency. The last one I went to, they were really thoughtful about including elements of their process. I think actually both I saw tables kind of set up where you can see kind of how they're navigating some of the things that they're working through. And then you also see the finished product. You guys put on a really, really great show. And I feel like it's been nice to kind of mix and mingle with local Manchester artists. And it's such a big space. I'm like, "Well, I would love to see more people in there." You know?
[0:29:39] DH: Yeah, I agree. We would. I would love to kind of evolve the shows into something where it's like we have our two artists and residents as the feature artists. And then maybe there's like some openers. Kind of like a music show. We've done that a couple times. We had some community artists featuring their work at a couple of the shows, and it kind of helped create a larger variety of work to see really. It's quite nice to have that collaboration. And I would love to kind of find ways to grow on that and continue it. We got a lot of artwork here. Maybe there's some students who are potentially interested down the road.
[0:30:16] JA: We can talk offline about that. I think there are a couple things we could definitely collaborate on.
[0:30:20] DH: Yeah.
[0:30:20] BB: And we'll definitely link to the Artisan Residency Program in the episode description, too. If anybody is interested in learning more about that, you can look into it.
[0:30:28] DH: Yeah. Awesome.
[0:30:29] JA: We can't let you go before we talk about the Cat Alley Revival Project, because it's another sort of local project that I've been able to go see. And what was great about that for me, I'll just speak from my own perspective here for a little bit, was – I mean, going to school at NHIA, walking through that space. It was such a cool spot. It's just a random sort of local gem. And then you guys did this revival project, and it was a real sort of full circle moment because some of my students were a part of that.
I'm thinking Aaron Kane, Max Gagnon, there a bunch of folks that came through to participate in that. Yeah, as you said, you're sort of a hyper local guy. You must feel the same way about that space.
[0:31:05] DH: Yeah. So that's probably one of my favorite projects that I got to work on. Yeah, Cat Alley, I think it was originally painted in 2009, I want to say.
[0:31:15] JA: I don't know. It just kind of popped up.
[0:31:16] DH: Yeah. I used to have all this like on lock, all this information.
[0:31:20] JA: The lore.
[0:31:21] DH: Yeah. Basically, it was falling apart. The bricks were chipping. The alley needed a facelift. And we created a call to action. People submit your portfolio or a concept of what you want to add to the Cat Alley. We basically primed the whole back alley. We added way more square footage to be painted. And we brought in about 18, 19. I think 19 artists total now. Many of them from NHIA. It was kind of like a nice reunion hanging out with them in the alley painting.
[0:31:52] BB: And Mike Durkee, former creative guts board member and former guest.
[0:31:57] DH: He had one of my favorites. He did a pun on cats. He actually did Cat Williams, which is very creative and clever concept. Yeah. Tons of familiar names. That was a fun, fun project. I really enjoyed just hanging out in the alley, painting with all the artists. It was early spring, I want to say. It was beautiful outside. And it's nice to get away from the desk and the computer work and just kind of do some stuff outside for a while.
[0:32:25] JA: Yeah, it was a great turnout, great experience. Loved every second of it. And it's so fun to go through there and see the space every once in a while.
[0:32:31] BB: It's one of those cool little locations in a city that would show up on like Atlas Obscura or something.
[0:32:37] DH: Yeah, it's on that.
[0:32:38] BB: Oh, it is awesome.
[0:32:39] DH: We added it. And then we after we finished, we strung some zigzag lights across.
[0:32:43] BB: Yeah, it's beautiful.
[0:32:43] DH: So it's more well-lit at night. Feels a little safer. And then we really went overboard. And there's a LED screen above it that plays animations. We have a couple animations up there. And then Aaron Cooper, who's also another former student, he gave me an animation to throw up there. And then we use it to do some nonprofit promotions for the program or for something that's happening at The Bookery from time to time.
But yeah, but most of the animations are very cat themed and goofy and cartoony. It's just really like a fun characterized experience, we think. And when we were working on it, people were like, "Well, you going to do the other side? Are you going to do this? You going to do that?" And I would love to. I would love to get back in there and paint the other side. The Orbit Group doesn't own the other building. I forget the owner's name, but I think he said he was into it.
[0:33:34] BB: There's just the French fry place is there, too, right?
[0:33:36] DH: Yes, it is. It is or it was. I don't know if it's still there.
[0:33:38] BB: I think it's still there.
[0:33:39] DH: Is it? Okay. But that would be an awesome round two one day.
[0:33:43] BB: That would be really cool.
[0:33:43] DH: I'm just going to put it out into the universe.
[0:33:45] BB: Yep, manifest it.
[0:33:47] DH: That would be a lot of fun.
[0:33:48] JA: I love that Manchester is getting a lot of play in this conversation, because I feel like there's a lot going on right now. When you think about Manchester and sort of where it is and where it's headed, what do you think about sort of the art scene and how it might evolve?
[0:34:02] DH: Yeah. I mean, I'm probably biased because I've been in it for a while. But I see so much potential. I think that's like my big key word for Manchester. It hasn't really reached it yet. And I know it's growing. It's done a tremendous amount of growth we'll see over the last 10 to 15 years. And there's a bunch of more development happening on the south Elm end of the downtown area, which is great. They're building a bunch of buildings, and it's going to bring a whole bunch of great things going on, I believe.
And then along with that is more opportunity for arts and culture to kind of make their impression on the city. It's got great potential. And it seems to be growing. Not to beat a dead horse, but Mosaic again. They're part of this bridge. The See Saw Gallery is great. The Courier does their part. The Factory on Willow Arts and Residency Program does their part. You guys are part of the arts program here at the Derryfield School. I feel like these are all pillars of what this scene is.
And I think we're all working on how do we pave this bridge across these giant pillars that we're trying to create and create more interest in the arts. I think that's a hard sell these days. I think we're so saturated with art on our phones and in media and things that I think we might perceive the idea or the value of 2D art or how art is made differently than it might have been 20, 30 years ago.
[0:35:28] BB: Sure.
[0:35:28] JA: I think New Hampshire, too, it sometimes can be a tougher cell. I don't know what it is. I feel like you got to be real scrappy and resourceful as an artist in New Hampshire in particular, especially with the defunding of the National Council of the Arts and all this stuff going on. But all that stuff going on at the same time, there's a lot of good going on, too. And it's great to hear The Factory Artist Residence Program is a big part of that, too. Awesome.
[0:35:52] DH: Yeah, we're just trying to contribute to what other people are building as well and work alongside everybody really.
[0:36:00] JA: Right on.
[0:36:00] DH: It's great to be part of that and everything that everybody else is doing.
[0:36:05] BB: Thank you for what you're adding to the community. That's really important.
[0:36:08] DH: Thank you. Appreciate that. Likewise.
[0:36:10] BB: I think it's time for rapid-fire questions.
[0:36:13] DH: Okay.
[0:36:14] BB: All right.
[0:36:15] JA: What's your favorite color?
[0:36:17] DH: Oh my god. I don't have a favorite color. I use them all. Right now, I really am into neutralized colors. A gray green or a gray blue. I'm kind of avoiding vibrant colors, and I'm getting into these more neutral. I call them more complex. I don't know if they really are. But anything neutralized is where I'm leaning into. Probably a neutral green is where my heart is right now.
[0:36:41] BB: Nice.
[0:36:41] JA: Great.
[0:36:42] BB: Your favorite scent.
[0:36:43] DH: My favorite scent. Some kind of chocolate chip cookie. Chocolate chip cookie.
[0:36:48] BB: Chocolate chip cookie.
[0:36:49] JA: Good answer.
[0:36:50] DH: Gets my heart every time.
[0:36:52] JA: Continuing with the senses here. Favorite sound?
[0:36:55] DH: Favorite sound? My son when he laughs. He has the best giggle. He's like one and a half, and he's just a little giggle machine right now. And it's so sweet. Definitely him.
[0:37:06] BB: Your favorite texture or touch?
[0:37:08] DH: My favorite texture? Oh my god. Anything super soft. Whatever the softest material you can find is is 100%. I don't even know what texture. I don't even know what they would be called.
[0:37:18] BB: Some fleecy. Really super soft.
[0:37:20] DH: Sure. Fleece. Like a microfiber fleece, if that even exists.
[0:37:25] JA: What's the most inspiring location you've traveled to?
[0:37:28] DH: Italy. Yes. Visited Italy. And we went up. We started in Rome, and then we went up to the providence of Umbria, which is really just like a lot of small stone-built towns on the sides of mountains. It's like a whole another world. It was so cool. I felt so detached from this world that I've lived in my whole life. That was a really cool, inspiring experience.
[0:37:49] BB: Nice. What other artist has influenced you the most?
[0:37:55] DH: The most? Probably Lyubov Popova, who is a Russian futurist artist. Kind of bridges futurism and cubism. And she's my favorite artist of all time. I love her work. Her style and how she fragments and her brush work, that's probably inspired me the most.
[0:38:19] BB: Nice.
[0:38:20] DH: Yeah.
[0:38:21] JA: What's the last new thing you've learned?
[0:38:23] DH: The last new thing I have learned. This weekend I learned how to hang some doors, and it was rough. It was not fun.
[0:38:33] JA: YouTube your best friend there?
[0:38:35] DH: Yeah. Yeah. YouTube and frustration.
[0:38:38] BB: Good life skills though.
[0:38:39] DH: Sure. Yeah. Yeah.
[0:38:42] BB: And our clincher question. If you could go back in time, what advice would you give to your younger self?
[0:38:47] DH: Every time someone asks me this, I have a similar but slightly different response. I think it's just kind of believe that you can pursue what you want. My younger self, I didn't even know that being an artist or a creative was an option. I'm not going to blame this on the school. But at Memorial High School, it wasn't presented to me that I could be an artist, or a designer, or anything like that, and make a career out of being creative. And then one day at the end of my senior year, some representatives came in from NHIA, and it blew my mind.
I think I would just go back and tell my younger self like, "No, you can pursue the arts. And you should pursue that. And start at a younger age. You don't have to wait till you're out of high school to decide if you even want to try this."
[0:39:35] BB: That's really good advice.
[0:39:36] JA: Yeah, absolutely.
[0:39:37] BB: Yeah. Yeah.
[0:39:38] DH: I guess so.
[0:39:41] BB: Well, Dave, this has been wonderful just to get to know you, a little bit about your process, your practice, your influence and engagement within the community of Manchester. Thank you.
[0:39:51] DH: Thank you. I appreciate it very much from both of you.
[0:39:53] JA: It's a true pleasure, man. Thank you for coming by.
[0:39:54] DH: Yeah. It was great coming in. Thank you, everybody.
[0:39:59] BB, JA & DH: Show us your creative guts.
[0:40:06] BB: Another huge thank you to Dave Hady for joining us on Creative Guts today.
[0:40:09] JA: Man, I use the word whiplash just when we were talking about all the different things that he's doing. And it's wild. Between doing all the good design work that he does with Orbit Group, to running The Factory on Elm Artisan Residency Program, the community art projects he does, and then his own personal painting practice. It's like there's just so much there.
[0:40:29] BB: There's a lot. Yeah. And I'm really glad that he was talking about kind of the challenges of having to maybe sometimes crawl out of the hole of one project to be able to start another project, because it can be heavy. It can be really weighty to have multiple projects going on at once and being able to have the head space to really focus. But it seems like he's able to do it. He's got the magic.
[0:40:49] JA: Yeah. It's very relatable. Definitely. And he seems to do it though pretty effortlessly. There's just so much he's got going on. And just a very outspoken Manchester artist.
[0:41:00] BB: Yeah.
[0:41:00] JA: It's cool that he's repping the area. And I was just so glad to have him on.
[0:41:05] BB: Yeah. And what he's doing with the Artisan Residency Program, listening to a little bit about what it takes to apply to a residency program, I think is beneficial to me, but also to hopefully our listeners out there. But what The Factory on Willow is doing and bringing in artists from around the world to Manchester. I mean, Manchester, as much as we love it, is not really kind of like a tourist destination.
And so there's not as much opportunity for people to come or reason necessarily to come to Manchester, but to be able to have artists from around the world come share their experiences and create artwork inspired by this particular location is important. And it's a valuable opportunity for those artists, but for our community members to be able to go to these exhibits and be able to experience something different. How can we experience how a total visitor to this area interprets this place and space and responds to it in their own body of work?
[0:41:59] JA: Yeah. Yeah. It's a big ask. And it's a dynamite program. And I think it's really in good hands with Dave.
[0:42:04] BB: Also, learning about his – I have been by the Joe the Giant mural so many times. I didn't know that he had made that. But now knowing that story behind it makes it so much more exciting. And to be able to share that with my future students when we go on a field trip down there is also really cool. It's just there's so much story and narrative embedded into the public artwork in this community that we don't necessarily know all the details about, because we drive by it so quickly. And so to get a little bit more of those fun facts makes it better.
[0:42:37] JA: Yeah. the folklore folded into the space and what it is is like this just like big column holding up a big architectural sort of piece that is the bridge on Bridge Street. It's just so cool how it all came together. I was glad he was able to share that story.
[0:42:51] BB: Well, we will definitely present those links in our episode description so you can learn more about Dave Hady's work as well as The Factory on Willow Artist Residency Program.
[0:43:02] JA: You can also find us, Creative Guts Podcast, on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Discord. If you're not on social media, but want to stay in the know about what we're doing, join our newsletter. We're on Substack, and you can find the link to sign up on our website.
[0:43:16] BB: We'd like to send a big thank you to Kennebunk Savings Bank for being an official Creative Guts sponsor this year.
[0:43:22] JA: This episode is sponsored in part by the Rochester Museum of Fine Art. Thank you to all of our friends in Rochester for their support of the show. If you love listening and want to support Creative Guts, you can make a tax-deductible donation, leave us a review, interact with our content on social media, purchase some merchandise, whatever you do, we really appreciate it.
[0:43:42] JA: Thank you for tuning in. We'll be back next Wednesday with another episode of Creative Guts.
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