City of Dreams: Unveiled

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This is a k u and v studios original program.

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The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jazz and more

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the University of Nevada Las Vegas or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education. Good morning dreamers and creators. You're tuned into the City of Dreams unveiled. Your monthly deep dive into the pulsing heart of Las Vegas is art and entertainment scene. I'm your host, Jeff Lowen. Here to peel back the layers of creativity and inspiration that fuel our city's most innovative minds.

Unknown Speaker 0:44
In today's episode of City of Dreams unveiled, I'm excited to welcome artists Jessica auric. Jessica is the creative force behind it the office of collecting and design, which is part exhibition, part archive, and part studio space that merges the worlds of art and storytelling. She also leads her own film production company dedicated to crafting films that explore the complexities of nature and human culture. Based in Las Vegas, Jessica's work spans various mediums and is impacting the local arts community. Let's dive into her world exploring the intersection of filmmaking art, and the essence of storytelling. Welcome, Jessica.

Unknown Speaker 1:22
Thanks so much for having me. Absolutely.

Unknown Speaker 1:25
So let's start with there's a lot to unpack here. In this short episode, you are a very talented artist in many different mediums. So let's first start like, where are you from? And how, like, Did you always know this from a young age? Or, you know? Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 1:42
good. Those are good questions, because I don't really have good answers. I'm the I was born in New Orleans, but we moved around a lot growing up, my longest stint was New York City. So I guess that I call that place home more than others. But yeah, I, we didn't grew up watching television in my house. So I had never seen a nature program until I was in high school. And then I saw David Attenborough has Private Life of Plants. And I realized that that's what I wanted to do with my life was make films about nature. And then I started working at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. And I worked there for 1010 years, I think, and maybe 12. Anyway. And I realized that what I was really interested in is the way that humans are taught to think about nature and to look at nature. So then, that sort of changed my film career and working at the museum also just being around objects all the time. I mean, I've always been a collector. But that that's sort of what is, I don't know, just the atmosphere of that place. really inspired me. And so now I run my own museum. Excellent.

Unknown Speaker 2:48
Let's, let's take back to your education. So you started off in film? Yeah. Where did you go to school? Well, you got an education.

Unknown Speaker 2:59
I got it. I have a film degree with minors in biology, ecology, environmental history, and botany. Okay.

Unknown Speaker 3:05
That's so diverse with a film degree. Did you when you, when you started working on your film degree is that what you wanted to do was produce films?

Unknown Speaker 3:14
Yes, that was an it's still my medium of choice. If I had to pick one medium, I think I would still choose film. But there's so many other things that I want to do in my life that I can't restrict myself to film and film is very expensive and very collaborative and takes for me years to make a film. So I also need other things that are more immediate, which is why I do animation, and why I run the museum and do collage and all the other things.

Unknown Speaker 3:41
Yep. Yep, true artists. So you decided to start a film company? And what did that look like? How many years ago? And was it just you? Or did you hire people? And did you have like a film in mind that you want it to produce? Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 3:57
I started with a film first. It was a film called between conquers Tokyo. And it was a film that I knew I wanted to make about the Japanese love of insects. And I just got really lucky on the way to mate and the way of making that film I, I had, I had heard about it through the, the museum where I worked, I was teaching a class there. And we had a guest lecturer come in, who was who talked about the Japanese love of insects, she had grown up in Japan. And I started doing research about that this was 2005, I want to say 2005. I started doing research about it. And there was nothing about it in English. There was like one old book from the 1920s. And so I sort of set the project aside and I was like, well, maybe someday I'll get to that. And then just a week later at an airport, my sister starts talking to this young Japanese American guy who says that he goes around the country making talks giving talks about the Japanese love of insects. And my sister said, Well, you you have to be in touch with Jessica. And so she put us in touch and we Yeah, we just hit it off. And he was like, well, you should come to Japan with me, I'll introduce you to all my bug loving friends, we'll stay at my parents house. And so we did. And it was just me and my boyfriend at the time, who's a cinematographer. He's still a cinematographer. No longer my boyfriend, but he, it was just him and I, and Akito. And then, a friend of mine, Miko met us there and helped us with translation and getting around and stuff. And it was very, it was a very small production. But it was the start. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 5:30
You making films can be a very expensive endeavor. So clearly, you bootstrapped that that film and you stayed at people's homes. It's very fascinating how, like, you just put it put the intention out to the world. And literally, your sister met someone to, you know, to go down that path. And I'm assuming the film was finished, then what did you do with the film?

Unknown Speaker 5:55
Well, once again, luck, take luck over smarts any day, it got into a good Festival, and then got into more festivals, and then was picked up by a distributor and picked and bought by PBS. And the success of that film allowed me to make two more films. And yeah, it was very, it, I just got really lucky.

Unknown Speaker 6:19
And that just started to blossom. So we're like, this is great. I'm a filmmaker, I'm going to just continue to go down that road and continue making films.

Unknown Speaker 6:27
Yes, I mean, I was also 22 years old. So I think at that age, knowing that I had always wanted to be a filmmaker. It, it didn't. It didn't feel like I had done anything special. It just felt like I was just making my making my way in the world. And I remember a slightly older woman in her 30s Asking me like, how did you have the courage to just go out there and make this film? And at the time, I was like, what? I don't know, I just did it. But looking back on it now being in my 30s. I'm like, oh, yeah, that was naive. I was very naive. But because I was so naive, I just had the confidence to do it. And I'm so appreciative that I was able to do that before. The world sort of crushed me.

Unknown Speaker 7:12
Yep. And that's the beauty of being young, you just don't know better sometimes. Yeah. And you think the world is your oyster? Let's go out and do it. What were so you did your first film, what were some of the challenges, like your second and third film, that maybe weren't so much the first film and you were like, This is great, it's easy. And then it progressed.

Unknown Speaker 7:35
I think my second film, I shot my second film, long before I finished it, I shot my second film in 2010, it didn't end up coming out until 2014. And in between those two, I made my third film, and it came out before my second film. And I, the the second film was very convoluted and changed many times while I was making it. And I think there was a lot of pressure, because my first film had been so successful, you know, sort of successful, whatever in that context. My, the pressure to make something really good as my second film was very overwhelming and daunting. And so then I sort of made this other film in between, which ended up coming out, you know, sooner. And that film I was, was, it was a film about a family of reindeer herders up in Lapland, and very north of Finland, right on the Russian border in the Arctic Circle. And the plan was to have my boyfriend, the cinematographer join me there, and the volcano in Iceland, canceled his flight. And at the time, we weren't able to rebook it. And so I was there by myself, living in this cabin with no heat and no hot water in the middle of the Arctic tundra, and I realized that actually, I was better off on my own. And so I shot the whole film by myself, I was there on and off for 13 months, which was incredibly challenging. I don't speak Finnish, and they didn't speak English. And it was very isolating, but also deeply rewarding. I really made lifelong friends with them eventually. And it was a very rewarding film, but it's, it's also a difficult film to see because it's, it's, it's very true to my experience, which was very isolating and very confused. But it's, I'm proud of it. It's

Unknown Speaker 9:29
that what's the name of that film?

Unknown Speaker 9:30
It's called odd sinky the story of Arctic cowboys, okay.

Unknown Speaker 9:35
And you really, you really have a, like, a soul that doesn't give up. You know what I mean? Because when you start these adventures, and you know, along the way, there's a bumper return, and it seems like you just have that ambition and drive to be like, Okay, we're gonna pivot and continue. What's What's that like to have inside of you?

Unknown Speaker 9:54
Well, gosh, I wish I could describe it. I don't think I know okay, because It's all I've ever known. My husband jokes that I just make things happen through sort of through sheer force of will, that I can't, you know, if I get turned down by all the things, I'm still gonna make it happen, I still have to make it happen. I think it's, it's a interesting trait to have. It's complicated because it feels sometimes, like, if I don't make the work, I will go crazy. It's really, it's such a pressure from the inside. But, but I also wouldn't want to live without it.

Unknown Speaker 10:33
Spoken like a true artist. I feel like that's a true artists, like you just put everything to the side and you focus and you keep driving and driving and driving. And that's how you make your painting. Make your film, compose your music. There's something inside of a true artist that drives them to almost be mad. In the sense. Yes, yeah. I, because they're so obsessed with whatever the project is in front of them. Yes. Do you have a film that's inside of you right now? Or a story that you that you're willing to share?

Unknown Speaker 11:05
That I'm willing to share? Probably not. But I do have a film that I'm so excited about? I probably won't start shooting until 2026. At the earliest. But it's

Unknown Speaker 11:17
I'm very excited. Yeah. And can you just walk through that process? So someone listening, they might have a film in mind too? Like, do you storyboard it out? Do you, you know, like, just don't go in too detailed, but like, what's the process for you?

Unknown Speaker 11:31
The process for me is probably really, really different than other filmmakers. Because I come up with an idea. I sit on it for probably 10 years. And then when it's finally ripe, I actually see the whole film from start to finish in my head. And that's when I know that I have to make it. That's what I know that things are gonna go bad if I don't actually start moving on the project. So I don't storyboard it. And I always work with the same collaborators, my cinematographer who's no longer my boyfriend, but still a dear, dear friend. So I know exactly what it's going to look like. I know what it's going to feel like I do my own sound. So it's very Yeah, I don't know I have I have a lot of control, because I do almost everything myself. And it. Yeah, I can just, I can see the whole thing. I can hear the whole thing in my head. So I don't have to do any of the work. The hardest part is trying to get other people to understand what I see in my head. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 12:25
that's really, really hard. Yep. I just, I was at a screening of one of your films at the Beverly theater downtown a couple of weeks ago. It was amazing. So congratulations on that. How do you let's let's transition. How did you get to Las Vegas? Yes,

Unknown Speaker 12:38
so my husband is or actually, my husband was in the military. So we were stationed in Germany, we were stationed in South Korea. And then we got stationed in Las Vegas. So that's what brought us here. But now my husband is out of the military. And for the first time, since we've been married, we have we get to decide where we want to live. And we don't agree on anything. So we have no idea where we're going from here. But

Unknown Speaker 13:01
and how long have you been here? Four years, four years? And what's your take on the the art scene in Las Vegas?

Unknown Speaker 13:08
I really, there are things about the city that I really love. And there are things about the city that I really don't like, but I the art scene here is very, the art scene here is very sweet. I really appreciate how, yeah, just how everyone takes care of each other and looks out for each other and comes out and supports each other. And that's really different than what I'm used to in New York. But I really appreciate it.

Unknown Speaker 13:31
Yeah, I always say Vegas is a big small town. Yes. It's very easy to meet. Everybody, you know, from downtown to all the artists in town, if you want to put yourself out there and do that, which is great. Because I feel it really is a community that's here willing to support. Yeah, it is. So you're in Vegas now and what you've launched something called the Office of collecting and design. Yes. Tell me about it.

Unknown Speaker 13:57
Well, I have always been a collector since I was really little. My parents say before I could even talk that I was sort of gathering bits to myself. But I had these collections that were enhanced because I was also working in stop motion animation. So I was collecting all these things for props and sets.

Unknown Speaker 14:18
Can you describe some animation? Yes, motion animation. For those of us that might not know exactly what that is. So

Unknown Speaker 14:27
stop motion animation is essentially just a series of still images that you stitched together to create a moving image. Famous examples of this are the Lego studios that make core lean and ParaNorman and those films also waltzing grommet, stop motion animation, those are some of the great classics. But yeah, the work that I do is much more small scale and much more sort of homegrown as usual, but Yeah, my my work is based mostly in education. I do a lot of work. I did some work for Ted, I made a couple of series for them about the history of words and about the history of everyday objects. And it's, I use the things that I have on hand. So it's, it ends up feeling much more homegrown.

Unknown Speaker 15:16
So I see the transition from film to miniatures.

Unknown Speaker 15:20
Well, yes, I mean, for me also making a film, like, like we talked about, it's very expensive. It's very collaborative. There's a lot of other people involved a lot of work involved. It takes years. Animation is something I can do in my pajamas in my house by myself, and I love that aspect of it. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 15:34
Okay, so let's talk about the museum.

Unknown Speaker 15:37
Yes. Oh, so. So the thing is, I had all these collections. And when we moved back from overseas, for the first time, I was going to be able to have a studio with everything at my fingertips. And I started thinking about it. I was like, well, I could arrange it so that it's really lovely to look at. And then I could have people over. And my friends and family were like, well, you should open it to the public, because you've got weird stuff. That's not the word. They said. But stuff is the word I'll say here. And that really? Yeah, I thought that was a great idea. And so I have, and it's taken over my life.

Unknown Speaker 16:09
So you've got the studio in town. I was actually there. When you walk in, what do you want, you know, people who walk in to feel to see, you know, to experience,

Unknown Speaker 16:21
I always try and avoid saying what I want people to experience. But I do. Some of the descriptions that have given that people have given us I really love when we get a lot is that it's sort of like a nostalgia machine, where people come in, and they're transported to their childhoods or to a different time. And they get to sort of have all these other memories surface that they haven't thought about in a long time, they get to have sort of a very, sort of innocent, joyful experience. There's nothing in there that's meant to be upsetting. It's all very much about sort of creating a sense of curiosity and a sense of wonder, and a sense of joy about things that we overlook every day.

Unknown Speaker 17:04
Yep. And give me some examples of items in the store that listeners if they come to see yet what like, what are they going to see.

Unknown Speaker 17:14
So if you come to the museum, we've got lots of different collections. It's essentially a collection of collections. Our biggest one is dice you can't play with dice that would never passed muster here in Vegas. Okay, we've also got a collection of empty match boxes, we've got a collection of lonely dominoes, lost buttons, used pink erasers, the sort of things that end up at the bottom of somebody's junk drawer, you know, they're not quite trash. They're sort of too charming to throw away, but they're also not really valuable. But you put them together, and they mean something else.

Unknown Speaker 17:49
Absolutely. Where do you find these miniatures?

Unknown Speaker 17:52
Everywhere. I am constantly looking at constantly, I'm tucking things into my pockets as I'm walking along. But I do actively look at estate sales and flea markets. I no longer go to antique stores because prices have gotten crazy. But I like to find a deal. That's a real big part of my collecting process.

Unknown Speaker 18:10
Do people donate stuff? Oh, yes. Now, donations, I know, like you might have a relative that passes away, and they've got a collection of something that nobody in the family wants. So maybe this could be a great place that you could find his home. And, you know, live on and be a part of a bigger collection.

Unknown Speaker 18:28
Yes, we do accept donations, we have some rules about the donations. But you can find out those rules on our website, if you're interested. I love receiving donations, it's so fascinating to see what other people collect, and how they, you know, how it represents them as as a collection. And

Unknown Speaker 18:45
then the story behind that collection. I'm sure it's just as fascinating to add to sometimes

Unknown Speaker 18:50
there are stories and sometimes they're not. But the I love, I love the the ones that come with stories. But I also love the ones that don't come with stories where you sort of get to invent your own. And each person in the museum gets to invent their own and gets to be like, Oh, my grandmother had something just like this. Maybe it was hers. Or, you know, we have a piece that is so it's such a strange piece and we don't know anything about it. It's a little tiny wooden box with some. Some runes burned into the box. And then on the inside is a tiny dried fish with rose petals and eggshells. And it's so mysterious, and I'm so fascinated by what what would bring someone to put that together. And then the fact that somebody sent it to me, I think if most people received that in the mail, they'd be like, is this a death threat? But I get it and I just see how charming it is. So those are the things that I love is sort of the weirdo ones.

Unknown Speaker 19:44
I love like your passion is just coming out. So I hope listeners can can feel that as they listen. What else can you do in your museum?

Unknown Speaker 19:53
We have a couple of different ways of experiencing the museum. You can make a regular appointment where it's just you have an hour poke around, we also have a scavenger hunt, where it's a timed thing where you have to find certain pieces from the museum in under an hour. And then we have my favorite way of sharing the museum is through our flatlay experience, which is where you come in, and you curate your own selection of objects from our collections. And then you lay them out. And sometimes I help sometimes adult, and you go into this tiny little photo studio I built, I take a photo, and you go home with a tiny film print of the collection that you made. And it ends up being somewhere in between art practice and play therapy, it ends up being a really personal experience for most people. And I love hearing the stories of why people chose the objects and how they arranged them. And I don't know it's very, it's a, it's a look into other people's minds. And I love it. So

Unknown Speaker 20:50
you can come in and do that in the museum. And then what if someone wanted to do something outside of the museum? They call? Do you have opportunities for that?

Unknown Speaker 20:59
Well, we do have a traveling workshop, which is where I bring a couple of boxes of treasure from the museum, and you can sort through those and do a flatlay. In the workshop. We've done a couple of those at libraries and museums around the US. And we're always looking for more opportunities to do those. So if you guys know of love spot, yes, that wants one that wants a workshop. I'm on board.

Unknown Speaker 21:21
Okay. Um, do you have future plans to expand to do another location? What's what's in your head regarding that?

Unknown Speaker 21:32
Yes, I have big plans. We're going to be launching a fundraiser this summer, because we are working towards building out a Mobile Museum. My idea is to buy a 40 foot trailer and build it out in a beautiful and stable way. So that I can travel across the country with tiny, tiny, tiny things. And then take different tours and roll up into town like an old traveling circus, and pop up a tent and have events and have people come in and still do flatlays at the museum and have it be, you know, a museum on wheels. assessable

Unknown Speaker 22:07
art is accessible to everybody. Right? Yes, yeah, I can see that in, gosh, so many different places. It's amazing. What advice would you have for someone who might be interested in starting a collection? Or, you know, following like, kind of what you've been doing?

Unknown Speaker 22:25
Have a second stream of income? Okay, I would be my number one. My number one advice? I mean, I think, for me, it's, it's hard to say what, you know, it's hard to give good advice, because it's so it's such a compulsion to me that I can't really avoid doing it. So it's hard for me to imagine someone choosing to do it, as opposed to feeling like they have to. But I mean, I think the most important thing is just to follow your passion. Yep.

Unknown Speaker 22:55
You did talk on second income. You know, when you came up with this idea? What's your business background? Did you make a business model, you know, a business plan? What have you done? You know, for that?

Unknown Speaker 23:08
Yeah, I haven't done anything for that, um, my business plan was that I would still use it as an animation studio and continue to make animations, which was my main stream of revenue up until the museum, then COVID hit and things change for various places. One of the channels that I was working for when under, you know, Ted changed the way that they buy from individual artists. So I, yeah, I've had less animation work than anticipated, which, in some ways makes me very sad, and in other ways has been good, because the museum, like I said, has taken over I mean, it's I, it's more than a full time job. I spend 7080 hours a week dealing with museum stuff. So I don't really have time for animation, but I would love to be able to make the museum function maybe a little bit more smoothly. And get back to animation eventually.

Unknown Speaker 24:00
Yep. Amazing. Okay, I got a few lightning round questions. You're down for them. Okay, so let's start out with your miniatures. If you could bring one of your favorite miniatures to life for a day, and would be your sidekick? Which would it be and what sort of day would you plan for the two of you? Oh, that's a

Unknown Speaker 24:22
great question. It would definitely be the mascot that we have for the museum, which is a tiny little bone Campbell that has only three legs. Here, yeah, I would definitely bring him to life. And we would go around. Do we have to stay in Las Vegas? No. Okay,

Unknown Speaker 24:36
this is imaginary. We can do anything. Um,

Unknown Speaker 24:39
I don't know. I guess I would take him to some of my favorite places. And I'd love it if he could be around while we're traveling with the touring museum because Because He's our mascot. He's gotten to be quite well loved. And people ask about him. And so yeah, it'd be great to be able to introduce him to some of our our visitors.

Unknown Speaker 24:58
And now everybody who walks in is going to be Like, where's the mascot? You're gonna have to make it hidden so people have to search.

Unknown Speaker 25:02
Right? It has its own little case right now.

Unknown Speaker 25:05
Okay. Okay, question number two, among your many miniature collection, is there a VIP or a favorite piece that might get extra security or special treatment in a nightmare at the museum scenario?

Unknown Speaker 25:20
Well, I mean, the camo would be definitely a favorite. But I also have, I do have a safe at the museum where we keep objects that I don't feel comfortable just leaving out with the public. It's been hard because there has been the past couple of months, there's been a lot of theft from the museum, which breaks my heart, because these are all objects that mean a lot to me. And so to have people come in, and take them feels really bad.

Unknown Speaker 25:43
Especially they're coming into your house and stealing something from your house. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 25:47
it does feel that way. It's very, it's very painful. But so I've started keeping more things in the safe than I used to, just because as, as things have started disappearing, I've decided that there are some things that are worth keeping. So yeah, there's like, there's an entire there's an entire group of things that that wouldn't be accessed in the mirror at the museum, right? They wouldn't be safe the whole time.

Unknown Speaker 26:10
All right. Let's go back to your film time. Imagine you could choose any animal or plant to narrate your documentaries, which would you pick and why?

Unknown Speaker 26:24
That's a good question. Gosh. Um, wow, I'm totally stumped by that. I guess I would pick maybe a bristle cone pine, because I'm fascinated by their lifespan. And I feel like they would have so many really wise things to say if they could narrate. Okay. Yeah, anything.

Unknown Speaker 26:45
Another film question? If you were to make a documentary film about a secret life of any household appliance, which would it choose? Which one would you choose? And what secrets might it reveal?

Unknown Speaker 27:00
That's such a hard question. I'm really, really stoked by that one. I mean, I keep thinking toaster, but I think that's just because there was that kid's movie about a toaster that came out when I was I don't remember the movie. But I think that's just sort of stuck in my head. I bet. I bet toaster. I mean, I bet all appliances have amazing secrets. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 27:19
I agree. Okay, one last film. If you could travel back in time to film any event in history? Where would you go? And what kind of spin would you put on it? Any event? I mean, that's wide open. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 27:34
I don't know that I would choose an event so much as maybe a person or a time period. Just when things were changing in a way that that interested me. I'm not. I'm not a history buff. But I I love you know, I don't know, like the, the the work that was happening in the Vienna workshop. And that, you know, in the early 1900s, in Vienna, that, that there's like an entire group of art that I think was really challenging the way people thought about art and the way they thought about design, and the way they thought about function and form. And I would love to go back and sort of be a part of that upset that happened. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 28:19
art is amazing. It is so inspiring. And it's so impactful. So thank you for coming on the show today. Absolutely. Thank

Unknown Speaker 28:26
you so much for having me. Jeff.

Unknown Speaker 28:27
Today had the pleasure of hosting Jessica, the creative force behind the film company and the office of collecting and design located in Las Vegas. Thank you for giving the listeners an insight into how your work weaves together the elements of art and storytelling, to enrich and educate the local Las Vegas community. If you get a chance, make sure to check out the office of collecting and design. Remember to join us on the next episode on June 23 at 9am. Until then, keep embracing the creativity around you and support the local artists. This is Jeff Lowen See you next time.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai