Gallery (206) visits Capitol Hill. Lear more about the project at galler206.net (Image: Ghost Gallery)

With the monthly Capitol Hill arts walk rolling around tonight, CHS talks with Todd Jannausch, owner of Gallery 40 and the current featured artist at Ghost Gallery. Jannausch took the unpaved, and heavily weeded path only to land gracefully on his feet as an artist and inspiration in the Seattle art scene.

From his work building wooden boats, to photography and installation, to gallery owner, Jannausch has found multiple ways to contribute to the arts community. We talked to him about that contribution — and the contribution 200 other artists have made to help with one of his latest works.

Caroline Roosevelt: So I’ve been reading through your background, but could you pinpoint when you broke through in the Seattle arts scene?

Todd Jannausch:  Well about seven years ago I was living in Port Townsend and studying at PCNW here in Seattle. Around five years ago I moved to Seattle and was in a real [sic] bad place. I wanted to delve deeper in to my art but I had no degree and was working as a shipwright in one of the boat yards here in town. I tried to apply to Seattle U but was told that I couldn’t apply because I didn’t have enough recent education. When I went to Seattle Central, they said I couldn’t apply for financial aid because at $25 per hour I made too much and they had cut student loans because of the economy. Basically I was the working poor. So I built Gallery 40 in response to a system that I felt had begun to exclude ideas because of a social structure. I felt like that goes against art.

CR: How did that take off? Once you decided to open a gallery, was the neighborhood/city responsive?

TJ:  Well that was the beauty of it. It wasn’t really a gallery. I didn’t sell artwork, I wasn’t a business, I wasn’t profiting. I was using the ideas of conceptual art to show art. The city and neighborhoods were very supportive. Dianea at Vermillion was a huge supporter of the project so we would set up there for the Cap. Hill walks. Basically everyone was great about it. There really wasn’t much to be upset about.

CR:  So is it safe to say that you’re one of the more long standing contributors to the Capitol Hill Arts Walk? You must have been there from the start when they switched to “Blitz!” 

TJ:   I guess so. G 40 happened over the summer of 2010.

CR:  Ah okay. So, you have this background in wooden boat building. Which, I find really cool by the way. But how did you get into the art that you create now– photography and installation?

TJ:  When I started in photography it was to create documentation; to allow an opportunity for people to consider things differently. While I still love photography, it is an incredibly limited medium. I have been building my whole life but never having gone to school, I just didn’t make the connection that the work I was doing was easily transferable as a medium. All of the shapes and materials I had to work with I just started putting in to my ideas. I wanted to reach out of the picture and in to reality. It was just a means to an end. When you are poor it is really hard to do a good thing. I could never afford to start a nonprofit or own a space. At the time I was also mentoring at Youth in Focus working with at risk youth. I guess I felt like, with all of the opportunities I had had that if I couldn’t find a way to break through and get them out, how were these kid going to do it. Just didn’t seem fair.

CR:  Leading by example. It’s interesting how poverty is a great catalyst for change.

TJ: Tell me about it.

CR: I find a lot of artists have used the angry inspiration, the frustrated inspiration, to keep going in times when the rest of us want to just sort of take a nap; which leads me to your piece that’s going to be featured at the upcoming “Blitz!” event. How did you come up with the idea for Gallery 206?

TJ:  Seattle has a very special art scene. It is so supportive and collaborative. Often I get frustrated by how people constantly compare Seattle to other cities in terms of art. I think its bullshit. We are only a lesser city if you use the standard ways of evaluating an art scene; money, big names and lots of national press. I think Seattle has it all over most cities, at least for me. Art is about ideas, we live in a city that is not only great at supporting local artist, but also a city where the artists are collaborating, working together and supporting each other all of the time. I wanted to highlight that.

CR:  And how did you find the over 200 artists that contributed to the piece?

TJ:  I wanted the community to curate the project. So I contacted twenty people to create the original works for the panels. I chose them based on their work and support of art in the community. Some I chose because they had never had shows and the work they were doing was great! I asked them to each give me a list of names of people they respected in the community. That was that.

CR:  Ah, the beautiful cancer that is art.. I also really enjoy the story behind the original installation. You planted it right by the Hammering Man and essentially presented it to the SAM (Seattle Art Museum) as a contribution, or a vessel for donations to the museum. It has traveled around since then, and is now installed in the courtyard at Ghost Gallery. How did that play out?

TJ:  It was installed in Occidental Park from June until September. Then I brought it home to the studio and began working with SDOT [Seattle Department of Transportation] to find a new location for it. They fell through. The installation at the SAM just felt right. It seemed like a great opportunity for everyone involved. So I just went for it. The SAM was really great about the whole thing. After the SAM installation, Ghost Gallery contacted me and asked if I was interested in putting it in their courtyard. I am so happy about that.

CR: I saw that [response] letter [from SAM] and I appreciate your understanding for the Seattle art scene and it’s incomparable treatment of art in relation to other cities. As a Philadelphia native, I was in awe at how beautifully SAM handled the installation, and how honored they felt by the gesture. I mean, I don’t know. The Philadelphia Museum of Art prominently displays a Rocky Balboa statue at the foot of the building. Just sayin’…it can be a bit bleak out there.

TJ:  Yeah they were a class act about the whole thing. I have so much respect for how they handled it.

CR:  Will you be at Ghost Gallery during “Blitz!”? If so, I’ll seek you out. I’ll be the small blonde girl eating a pile of something out of my hands.

TJ:  For sure. I will be there. I will [for the] look small blonde face feeder. 

Check out Jannausch’s collaborative telephone booth installation in the courtyard of Ghost Gallery (504 E Denny Way/Summit Ave E, Seattle, WA 98122) and then wind your way along the Capitol Hill conduits. Besides the obvious draws such as drink specials, culinary treats and fantastic gallery open houses, Blitz! is a great way to trick your artsy friends into exercising their legs. Blitz! Capitol Hill Art Walk takes place Thursday, February 9th from 6-8pm. A monthly event, the walk takes over the streets of Capitol Hill every second Thursday of the month.

• Map and roster of participants
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