Hello, and welcome to my work.

I am often asked where I studied art, but the truth is, I never attended art school. A more cynical person may call this cheesy, but I really do consider myself “a student of Life.” This never seems to get me the student discount on movies, software, plays, or museums, but I sincerely believe this to be a universal truth for any serious artist, or any serious human being for that matter: Life is our greatest teacher, and it is from Life that we may gain our greatest inspirations, and a humbling sense of awe and wonder.

I also consider myself an “artist by osmosis.” Raised by two former hippies (some would say they still are), one a graphic artist (mother, Diane Valentino) & the other a comic book artist (step-father and Image Comics co-founder, Jim Valentino), I was well-noursihed with regular portions of Carl Sagan’s “Cosmos,” Superman comics, The Beatles, reruns of “The Twilight Zone,” books of various artists' work, and the products of other amazing imaginations, like Lucas, Spielberg, Henson, & J.R.R. Tolkien. So you can say the artist’s impulse -- which I boil down to a combination of burning curiosity, unbridled imagination, and a preoccupation with the beauty, mystery, and sometimes the ugly sides of Life -- came pretty naturally to me as a kid. Growing up, art was just another thing I did, like playing with Legos and collecting Star Wars figures.

You might even say it came too naturally to me, because it was something I took for granted most of my life. Despite all my work in art, design, and illustration over the years, it has not been until very recently that I have begun to appreciate that there might be something special about what I do, something that can bring pleasure and inspiration to others. I know how the art of Brian Froud, Bernie Wrightson, Frank Frazetta and others stoked my creative fires growing up, when I was more than just a scrawny scrapper of a kid with an over-active imagination, when I was in fact the long-lost heir to the throne of a far-away Elvin Kingdom, marooned in the low-income suburban reality of Garden Grove, California, learning to blend in with the humans until I can return safely Home... If my work can accomplish just a little of that for others, it seems worth the pursuit for me.

My client list includes local bands in New Orleans and L.A., The Ugly Dog Saloon (New Orleans), Madlyn's Coffee (CA), CIG Computer Consulting (New Orleans), Ganahl Lumber (CA), Axiom Strategy Advisors (New Orleans), Shiva Imports (CA), the Castano Tobacco Litigation Group, PLC (New Orleans), The American Cancer Society (Northwest Regional), and the various private homes for whom I have executed murals over the years.

MY OTHER WORK...

Film Production

My work in film began as a teenager, pursuing a career in acting. I later took an interest in production and eventually studied film at the University of New Orleans. Most of my work has been Art Department focused, serving on various productions as Set Decorator, Scenic, and Art Director. I've written, directed, and edited two shorts of my own, and continue to develop projects to eventually be produced by Idyllwerx Productions. And acting is still a great love of mine, which I continue to indulge in from time to time.

Grass Roots, Teaching, Writing, & Social Change

I've served as Assistant Director for the peace and social justice group, the Alliance for Survival, for whom I also wrote columns and drew editorial cartoons for their their bi-monthly publication, The Peace Conversion Times. With them I also worked alongside Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, and others to help the elders and activists from various Native American tribes in the Colorado River area of California and Arizona to stop their sacred land from being used as a radioactive waste dump. I've served as Co-Director of the Catholic Worker's Isaiah House, providing food, shelter, and services to the homeless and low-income families of Santa Ana, California, as Theater Director for the Girls & Boys Club of Fountain Valley-Huntington Beach (CA), as Cultural Enrichment Director for the Boys' & Girls' Club of Henderson (NV), acting Instructor at Pathfinder Ranch Summer Camp (CA), Instructor of Earth Sciences for the Orange County Department of Education's Outdoor Science School (CA), and I studied film production at the University of New Orleans. I also serve as a minister and spiritual advisor in conjunction with the Transition Foundation and Sanctuary in Ashland, Oregon. And all the work I apply myself toward is ultimately for the purpose of establishing strong and influential socio-economic projects based upon the Idyllwerx Philosophy. One such project is the Idyllwerx Institute. Until then, my main focus in life continues to be doing everything I can to raise my son and raise him well, to be the best human being he can be, as I continue to be the best human being that I can be, and nothing has helped me more, inspired me more, in any of my efforts, than he has...

Other areas of interest & experience, all of which influence my work (or toward which I use my work as influence) include music/singing, modeling, cultural studies, physics, theology, human sexuality, and metaphysics.

I hope you enjoy my work, and that somewhere in it you will find a spark of inspiration for yourself, and perhaps a reflection of your own sense of awe, wonder, and gratitude...

Thanks again for visiting. Sincerely, Jesse Matthew Elliott Idyllwerx Art & Design August, 2009