Crash fueled artist’s drive

Life is strange sometimes. Occasionally it throws curve balls or sticks a fork in the road when we least expect it, causing the need to adjust accordingly.

Josh Jaklich, 28, is a perfect example of a human being’s ability to adapt to change and his experience may or may not be the reason he is an artist. “I was created to be an artist. I don’t believe I am the person I have become by accident,” he said. Still, whether it was predetermined or a fluke, it was an accident that changed him.

In 2001, Jaklich was a sophomore at Lewis-Clark State College studying business in hopes of starting a small business. He also was a competitive snowboarder and, during an event at Schweitzer Mountain, he landed poorly. “I was doing a flip, spin thing,” he recalled, “It was like jumping off a three-story building.” His landing knocked him out for about 20 minutes and he was “out of it” for a couple of weeks.

The accident may or may not have been the cause of his personality change which went from Type A (uptight, linear and mathematical thinking) to Type B (laid back, more abstract and creative thinking.) “It’s more fun this way,” he admitted. He considered changing his degree to art but figured that a business degree would help with his creative pursuits. “I made sure not to take more than two math/science classes in a semester and took more art classes,” he said. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business and went forward with his more creative endeavors.

“I went with it and started making stuff – music, pottery, painting and also interior home renovation. I feel alive when I am making stuff, like I’m doing what I am supposed to be doing,” he said. As a child, Jaklich’s father told him to learn or make something new every day and he does.

Looking at him now, it is easy to see that he has no fear; rather, the desire to jump head first into projects. In his Coeur d’Alene home, he has ripped out walls and a drop ceiling, changing the interior to include a wood burning stove and a more open feel into the kitchen. The materials he uses in both his home renovations and his art are reclaimed and then transformed.

“My art is a representation of my thought process and how I see beauty in used industrial materials,” he said. “Old, rusty, weathered, tarnished, broken or whatever it is, I look for things that time and the weather has had an opportunity to create, something that, in my opinion, is beauty that no human could replicate. Also it would be a shame to just see those things end up in a dump somewhere. I just arrange those cool looking things in a random colorful array of modern artistry.”

His mixed media paintings are organic looking yet industrial, modern yet give the feel of age. On recycled canvas or wood, he mixes plaster and paper into acrylic paint to add texture as well as found objects. He also does pottery, vessels and sculptures that include nails, wire and hand-cut patterns.

He is also DJ Orange, bringing altered music to local events. Why Orange? His favorite color may or may not be due to the fact that he was wearing a bright orange jacket on the day of his accident. “My apparent love affair with orange was maybe a subconscious effort to replace part of me that was, unknown at the time, lost in the accident. But I gained something as well, a new appreciation for beauty and art, a new sense of creativity and a new meaning of existence.”