Choose954 Podcast Episode #77 With Artist Scott Jeffries

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRh8sK_eXv8&list=PLOQvdw7d0cd9RZZkd2lZy2hmrnJv-cfLI&index=22

Evan Snow: Welcome back to another episode of the Choose954 Podcast, Episode 77, with local artist and our upcoming AAF Creative Zen speaker, Scott Jeffries, from his beautiful home here that also serves as the Outback Gallery—you’ll find out a little bit more about that. If you didn’t know about Choose954, we started a social movement to cultivate culture and community in Broward County, where I’m very proud to be born and raised. Myself, Evan Snow, and my business partner, Mr. Andrew Martino, started this in an effort to keep people in the know with all the great things going on within the arts and culture of Broward, to make this a better place to live and not just a better place to vacation. But the point of the podcast is to connect you with interesting people like him who do many interesting things and have had many different iterations of their life and career—which you’ll be able to find out more about this upcoming Friday morning, July 8th, when Scott shares his story as part of our monthly breakfast lecture series, Creative Zen. But before we get there, I wanted to give folks a little preview. So, for those who are not familiar with Scotty J Art, why don’t you introduce yourself at a high level?

Scott Jeffries: I appreciate that. My name is Scott Jeffries, I’m an artist here. I live in Lake Worth Beach in Palm Beach County. I met Evan years ago as an artist in the Art Fort Lauderdale space and have worked with him as a resident artist with Zero Empty Spaces in Boca. Now, I’m trying to branch out a little bit. I have property here up in Lake Worth, and we have a gallery in the back. I have my studio here. We’re working on bringing other artists in to do different pop-ups in the Outback Gallery, which is basically a great backyard where we can have events. There’s a koi pond back there, a pool, a meditation space, and space to work and paint. Right now, me and my assistant, Austin, are working on creating storage for the yard and just making it a pleasant environment for me to work and hopefully for other people to come and work as well.

Evan Snow: Amen, and it’s awesome. It looks like it’s already been successful from some of the initial shows you’ve done.

Scott Jeffries: Yeah, so far, we’ve had one Outback Gallery space during the Lake Worth Street Painting Festival. I was trying to jump on that bandwagon, and I was able to have 13 artists back there—many of them from Zero Empty Spaces, as well as other artist friends of mine like Anthony Burks, who just got a couple of pieces in the Norton Museum. It was a great event. I was blessed to be able to get this property a year ago today—I signed on this property a year ago today. It’s just momentum from years of painting and living different lives, which I’ll talk about next Friday. I’ve been an athlete, a high-level athlete, a high-level attorney, and a very high-level drug addict. Now, I’m working on 15 years of being in recovery, and that momentum has built to a point where now I’m able to share some of the wealth I’ve gained with other people. I’m just motivated by people like you who are constantly trying to push other people—selfless people trying to change and impact other people’s lives. I’ve learned from experience that’s how we improve and live—by helping other people. You’re a great example of that, and I’m just trying to move in your footsteps.

Evan Snow: Well, well put. I’m not going to argue with that; I appreciate it. So, for those that are not familiar with you and are interested in who this artist, humanitarian, and now community builder is—kind of, how did this journey begin for you growing up and in the early stages of your life?

Scott Jeffries: As an artist, I think I’ve told this story many times, but it’s my grandmother who was a painter. She has some paintings over here on the wall. When she passed away, I was about 10 or 11 years old, and we were at the funeral in the Bronx, New York. My mom had to see her studio in her house, and I remember sitting with my mom. She had all these brushes, canvases, and all these things everywhere around the house. My mom said out loud, going to no one really, "What am I going to do with all this stuff?" And I just said to my mom, "Mom, I’ll take it with me." So, I’m like a 10-year-old kid grabbing my grandmother’s brushes and paints—whatever I could fit. We were living in Pennsylvania at the time, and I just grabbed these paints and started painting. For no other reason than that, I had an attraction to it. I liked it. I was able—I thought I could use them. I didn’t really know what I was doing with them, but I was like, "You know what? I want these things." No one objected, so I took them with me and just started painting.

Over time, it built to a different level, obviously now, but I spent my childhood as a regular kid in Pennsylvania. As I said, I was an athlete most of my time in high school and college—I was a swimmer. I spent most of my time focused on that dream, which never happened, but I was able to get a full ride to college and ended up going to all these great meets. I ended up going to law school after that, and after law school, I became an attorney—a public defender, worked in medical malpractice cases, did some criminal work. Just a whole range of life experiences in my 30s.

Then, as people in their 30s do—not everybody, but a lot of people—it was kind of a work hard, play hard life. This was in Philly. Work hard, play hard life, and I ended up finding drugs at a high level as well—smoking crack, shooting heroin, and ended up having to go to treatment. I came to Florida in 2006, and even today, it’s like the recovery capital. A lot of people come down here from the Northeast, all over the world—they come to Florida, Boca Raton specifically, Delray Beach, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale. It’s great recovery down here. So, I ended up going to sober living down here and had to change my whole entire life. I’ve been able to do that—working and just taking it one day at a time. Over time, because of recovery and a little bit of spirituality, following other people’s directions, and trying to remember on a constant basis that my way isn’t working, I’m the person that has to constantly seek out guidance from different levels—from high energy to whoever is around me. I’ve been able to do that, and it’s been able to translate into an art career. I’m now a full-time artist. I do some facilitating of different groups.

When COVID began, I have a friend who runs a treatment center, a mental health and addiction treatment center down in Hollywood—Choose954, right? He asked me, "Since the clients couldn’t leave the property during COVID, can you come down, be outside, and do some arts and crafts with the clients? They’re trapped there—they have mental health issues, drug addiction issues—but they need some kind of stimulation to get through, get to a Friday night." So, I was like, driving down there on a Friday night, trying to develop some kind of program for them and for me to give them some enjoyment. What happened was, I started out going down there for an hour. We spent the first 10-15 minutes meditating around the pool, and then we would do some art. It became such a great thing that I’ve been able to do in some different places.

As an athlete, as a swimmer, I was always in training—going back and forth on this pool line for so long. But I always remember that even when I was a lifeguard, the best part of swimming was when you had free swim. So, I kind of developed this program called Free Swim. I didn’t really give people a prompt—I let them paint the way they wanted to paint. Everyone always asks me, "How do I paint?" I know how I paint. My goal as a facilitator is to help you figure out how you paint. I’m not an art teacher, and I’m very clear that I’m not an art therapist or anything like that. I’m a coach and a motivator.

Evan Snow: Facilitator and motivator.

Scott Jeffries: Exactly, trying to get people to kind of get out of their negative thinking because I’ve been to so many places—even when we were at Art With Me down in Miami, the huge festival at Virginia Key—and just talking to people, they’re like, "I can’t paint." I said, "How do you know? You’ve never painted before." It really is just like touching the paint to the brush, putting it on the canvas, and just going. Free swim. Do what you want to do. Just try it. I did it, and you did it. So many people I’ve heard over the past couple of years doing this on a regular basis say that it’s just the fear of making a mistake, doing it wrong, or not getting someone’s approval. I tell them, "There are no grades today. I’m not judging you. There’s no right or wrong. We’re just here to spend a little bit of time together to relax, to let yourself go, to bring your mind somewhere else." Because for people in recovery or with mental health issues, sometimes their minds are always somewhere else. So, my goal as a facilitator is to help you focus on one thing at a time.

Evan Snow: The present moment—mindfulness.

Scott Jeffries: Exactly. It’s phenomenal. I’m so glad that you integrate that into the experience, and it is such a powerful thing. The clients love it. The kids love it. They’re excited when I walk into the space, like, "The art teacher’s here!" It makes me feel so good because it’s something that just came out of the blue, thanks to my friend Matt from Compassion and being able to do what I needed to do. It kind of created itself. Over the past couple of years, it’s been an amazing process, and I’ve been able to work with some couples and different people who are kind of pent up with whatever they’re dealing with. It doesn’t have to be an artist—it could be anybody who comes in here and needs to relax for a while. You see a lot of these sip-and-paint things, right? That’s not me. I’m not going to have wine here. What I’m doing is trying to harness your energy to see how you can do it without needing wine. I’ve learned that I don’t need alcohol and drugs to change my mind or my thinking. I can do it by sitting quietly or meditating. I call it meditating in motion when we’re painting—we’re just focusing on one thing, we’re painting, we’re having a good time, and then the session’s over. You move on. Hopefully, when I’m gone, you’ll implement some of what you’ve learned from me in your life when you get out of treatment. When you’re flustered, angry, or fearful, maybe you’ll do something else besides going to a drink or being angry—whatever it is that people do to get some relief. Meditation, prayer, painting—all these things give you relief, and people need relief.

Evan Snow: It’s an outlet for many people.

Scott Jeffries: So many things. It doesn’t have to be just alcoholics, drug addicts, or people with mental health issues. It could be anybody—any Joe Schmo on the street can use some relief every once in a while. It’s great because it encourages people. A lot of people that I’m dealing with, they’re scared to do it, but they have kids. That’s something you can do with your kids—paint. They say, "I don’t want to do that. I don’t know how to paint. I’m not a painter." But I ask them, "Do you have kids?" They’re like, "Yeah, yeah." "What do you do with your kids?" "Oh, maybe…" Maybe spend some time with your kids painting, instead of having them in front of the TV or on the phone all the time, watching something like Cocomelon. Spend some time with your kids painting or meditating. Kids that meditate are much better behaved. It’s like a timeout for everybody in the family.

Evan Snow: I’m so glad to see you doing this work in the community now, sharing your story here and upcoming with Creative Zen, super transparently, because a lot of people have gone through or go through very similar situations all the time. Unfortunately, as we know, not everybody has the same coping mechanisms and abilities, or they’re not able to find that channel or creative outlet and turn their pain into something positive.

Scott Jeffries: Even before, when I met you, I wasn’t doing any of the facilitating.

Evan Snow: No, you were just painting.

Scott Jeffries: Yeah, no, this really was the workshops, the workshops. Like I said, my friend called me and said, "I need help because I can’t take my kids out bowling or to the movies or wherever we used to go because of COVID. We’re all locked down." So, I was like, "I don’t really want to," but he said, "Come outside." I was comfortable enough at that point to do it, and it really just changed—I took—I was always a meditator for a couple of years. Seven, eight, nine, ten years, even. At one point in my history down here, I needed relief as well. I was having some issues with a work situation, and I didn’t want to go use my old patterns of drinking and getting high to get relief. I knew that meditation was something that could give me relief, so I dove into it feet first. That’s the big thing—because I knew it worked. I knew it worked for other people, and I wanted it to work for me. I started to be more focused on getting it, not because someone said to, but because it was useful to me. By practice—and there are so many ways to meditate—you find that. Meditating in motion, sitting quietly, guided meditation, in the dark, in the light, with your eyes open, with your eyes closed—there are so many ways you can do it. I’m just helping people find the right thing for them. That’s been a gift for me because you see people change right in front of you. You calm down a little bit.

Evan Snow: I see you’ve changed over the years through this experience.

Scott Jeffries: Oh, absolutely. I mean, absolutely. I’m less inclined to worry. I was like, "Oh my God, we’re supposed to be here." It’s just like, it’s not worth it. It’s not worth it. I think that when I’m living in the present moment and having a mindset of gratitude, things are going to be okay, and that it’s all going to work out as it’s supposed to. I had a friend who said to me one time, "It all works out in the end. If it doesn’t work out, it’s not the end." You’ve got to keep moving forward. So, the more that I take that mindset, I can help myself, obviously, which is important to me, and I’m able to help other people, which is part of the gift of just being alive.

Evan Snow: I’m so glad to hear that. I mean, I’m so glad that your creative outlet has allowed you to do that and also, you know, obviously, we’re big advocates of artists being able to be full-time and living the life that you love. You genuinely love facilitating, helping people. You’re also very talented and now very accomplished and very well-collected, admittedly, as a painter, where your art has taken you some places you probably never thought.

Scott Jeffries: Oh my God, I went to Guatemala this year.

Evan Snow: Tell them what you were doing there.

Scott Jeffries: It was amazing. I was invited by the Rotary Club of Boca to come down to Guatemala. There’s a school, a technical school in Guatemala where these kids are basically village kids living full-time, trying to get out of the—Guatemala is one of the lowest in education levels and teen pregnancy levels in Latin America. There’s an amazing school that the Rotary Club was involved in, and they invited me down just to come paint. I went up there with no expectations and no idea of what was going to happen in front of me, but they basically gave me a building to paint. I was working with a bunch of kids, and it was an amazing process. It deepened my level of gratitude for how lucky and blessed we are because these kids—pretty much, right? So these kids really only know what they’re able to from an outside point of view, and being like, "Holy moly, this is how people are surviving around the world." It’s just like, you know, there’s so much you can do just by painting and hanging out and bringing a little bit of joy. These kids were great. Before we did anything, let’s sit there in a little bit of silence, get our stuff together, and then start making decisions about what we’re going to paint today. It was basically free swim for all day long. It was amazing.

Evan Snow: Thankfully, your art really does bring a lot of people joy. It’s very positive, and you might not be able to see it—okay, now you can see on the t-shirt—the happy, the smiley faces, and big heads. Can you tell them, for those who might not be familiar with your actual artistic practice and what you paint?

Scott Jeffries: I don’t sketch anything out. I’m just really free swim all day long. Over the years, I’ve come to paint a lot of faces and things that are more—well, I wouldn’t say simplistic, but natural. I’m not trying—I paint outside the lines. I don’t worry about perfectionism. I want to talk about that when we get to the talk. I think a lot of artists are hampered by perfectionism. This painting here—you can see that, oh my God, there’s a splash or something, and they can’t let it go. I like to say that I don’t control gravity. If a piece of paint hits a spot that might not be what I intended, it’s what someone intended—God intended, higher power intended, gravity, nature, energy, whatever. So, I try to have that kind of free-form attitude with my painting. I paint a lot with foam, people out of tubes, and with smiley faces, just really trying to do it with color, with joy, with a lot of intention, but without too much.

Evan Snow: While keeping it free-form.

Scott Jeffries: Exactly.

Evan Snow: Is there a style, aside from free swim, or a medium, or how would—if someone asked you to describe your work as it relates to artistic style?

Scott Jeffries: I like to call myself a soul doodler. That’s what I am more than anything. I do it with soul, with intention, with purpose. But doodling, by definition, is just doing it because you’re just doing it. It really is funny because sometimes, if you can’t see it, it’s a person, right? It’s a stick figure. But it’s like, well, what does that mean? Maybe it’s just a stick figure. That’s all it really is. I really want people—and honestly, in life too—people ask me, "What does this mean?" So, on Monday, it might mean something to me because I’m in this kind of mood, but on Tuesday, it can be something completely different because I’m in a different kind of mood. I really want people to interpret what they’re seeing. I’m not in your head. I’m not in your brain. I always ask people, "Well, what do you see?" "What do you see?" Right now, that’s what you see. That’s what you see. Because I want you to enjoy and experience my art on your terms, not my terms. I’m not trying to force—it might not be for everybody, which is fine. But if you can experience me—if I’m not telling you what it is, I like to experience that the same way for myself too. Because I can’t get really caught up in the academics of art sometimes because it’s just too—you know, this is—so it’s funny because a lot of people say to me, "I’m a great colorist," right? "You work well with color."

Evan Snow: Right.

Scott Jeffries: I don’t really know what that means, right? It’s a compliment, but it’s like—well, the thing is, it’s funny because I’m just grabbing what’s near when I’m in my studio. I’m just grabbing what’s close—whatever’s around me, whatever bottle is near, I’ll use it. It just happens to be one of the colors that happens to be near me at the time. I do commissions for people—murals and heads and all these things. I had a recent painting where I do a lot of these heads, and the client—they were big football fans, Penn State fans. So they wanted a painting of my raindrop heads, which I do a lot of. I did 104 of just blue and white raindrop heads. I went and did that, and it came out to be an amazing painting, and they loved it. I did a similar painting for someone else who wanted earth tones called Earth Children. I’m willing to work with people in terms of their taste because I want them to have an opinion. Basically, it’s going to be a sketch of every painting, but I want them to be able to be part of the process.

Evan Snow: Collaboration.

Scott Jeffries: Collaboration comes at different levels. I’m not going to paint that rarefied piece of something like that. God bless them. But I’d rather have my painting in your house that you’re enjoying than not.

Evan Snow: Your style and your persona and just your way of being really do resonate and gravitate toward a lot of people. You don’t have to change for anybody, and Andrew, myself, and I think everybody who knows you are so proud of you for everything that you’ve been able to accomplish to get to this point in your life and career. To be able to do art full-time and offer commissions, offer other facilitation workshops, it’s a dream. It’s amazing.

Scott Jeffries: Not that law wasn’t.

Evan Snow: No, no.

Scott Jeffries: I mean, it’s a really—it’s a different—I don’t miss being a lawyer at all.

Evan Snow: Right.

Scott Jeffries: I don’t.

Evan Snow: Would you call yourself a recovering lawyer?

Scott Jeffries: I’m a retired lawyer. I’m retired. It’s just—it’s just—my life has been set up organically by whatever energy it is, and I’ve been able to harness the energy that’s been given to me and run with it. I’m trying to always encourage people—don’t let these things pass you by. Zero Empty Spaces in Boca happened at the perfect time for me because it was the middle of COVID, basically at the beginning of COVID, when we started. It was the perfect moment to be able to say, "Yes, I can do this." I had the time, the space, the energy, and that was a lifesaver for me because it enabled me to paint these bigger paintings.

Evan Snow: Right, because you were painting at home and were having success.

Scott Jeffries: Oh, sure.

Evan Snow: Painting at home and going to sell at shows, and you would invite people to your home studio previously, but when you got the studio in Boca Center, it was a lot easier for the public to come and discover you.

Scott Jeffries: People are always asking, "Where is your studio?" It’s like, "Yeah, maybe. Yes." Or, "What gallery are you in?" or this. The good thing about this Outback Gallery is that people are able to be here, right? They can say, "I’ve been in the Outback Gallery show." I’m working with New World Artists. If you want to do that—because a lot of people, they think that because you’re not in a gallery or have a studio, it means you’re not good.

Evan Snow: Well, now you have your own gallery.

Scott Jeffries: Exactly.

Evan Snow: And you’re able to display other artists’ work. He’s humble and modest, but you mentor, look out for, and give opportunities to other artists, Patrick and so many other people whose lives you’ve touched.

Scott Jeffries: That’s all through following other people like you, Trina, and Anthony. The No More Starving Artists Foundation, which I’m on the board of—it’s like I’ve been able to watch people do these things, and I’m just continuing the path because it was done for me. That’s an amazing thing.

Evan Snow: For those that would like to follow you on social media and the interwebs, where can they find you?

Scott Jeffries: So, Instagram, @scottjart—it’s very simple. Everyone’s like, "How did you get that?" I’ve had it for years, I don’t know. My website is scottyj.com—Scotty with a Y, S-C-O-T-T-Y-J. And then, Facebook is Scott Jeffries. Google me. You’ll find it.

Evan Snow: This was literally a very small snippet of this young man’s story here today, and we encourage you to join us Friday, July 8th, at the Great Fuel Cafe in Fort Lauderdale off Commercial Boulevard. The doors open at 8:30, the talk starts at 9, and you’ll be out of there by 10. If you need something to tell your boss about why you’re going to miss an hour of work, we have a full list of truthful things. You’re gaining insight and inspiration that you’re able to bring back to your company and your team. You’re networking with other like-minded individuals and creatives, but it’s a beautiful thing. It’s where I had my aha moment that led me into this path of art, culture, community building, and creative entrepreneurship, which is why I pay it forward and continue to host it and continue to keep the event free and share these thought-provoking, local, inspiring stories. We’re very glad to have you share.

Scott Jeffries: I’m looking forward to it.

Evan Snow: So, please feel free to join us there. We’re still doing the free tours of the Downtown Hollywood Art Walk every third Saturday night of the month from 7 to 9 PM, with the tour of the murals at 6 PM. We’ve got some other cool stuff coming up—Female Brew Fest in September, Greater Fort Lauderdale Craft Beer Week in September as well, the same week. We’re ramping up to Fort Lauderdale Art & Design Week. Unfortunately, we’re not bringing back Art Fort Lauderdale yet, but maybe in the future. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me, Evan Snow, at @evansnow13, or at @choose954. Would love to hear why you choose 954. We are in the 561 right now, but that’s okay—he’s going to come share in the 954. He’s not opposed to 954.

Scott Jeffries: I love 954. I work with Compassion Mental Health, which is right in Hollywood. It’s a great facility. It’s enabled me—and if people are struggling, I have connections, basically. So, it gives me another place to direct people that need help because a lot of people do, and they don’t know where to go. I know where to go.

Evan Snow: Very grateful that Scott doesn’t just say that, but he means it. He’s probably more caring and genuine with his time than he needed to be in situations when we needed someone with his insight to point somebody who needed help in the right direction. We appreciate you helping us out.

Scott Jeffries: I’ve been gifted and blessed, so I pass it on.

Evan Snow: 100% pay it forward, pay it back. So, we appreciate you guys tuning in. Hope you can join us for Creative Zen. Feel free to reach out, commission him, and we’ll see you in the next one. Cheers.

Scott Jeffries: See you later.