Like most interesting things in this day and age, I discovered artist Joey Veltkamp while scrolling through Facebook.
After a few guided clicks, I learned that Veltkamp is an openly gay artist based in Bremerton (he recently moved there after living in Seattle for 20 years) known for incorporating protest-themed messaging and imagery in his works, which have been featured at Seattle Art Museum, SOIL Gallery, other well-known spaces for the arts in the Northwestâand now, Facebook. I looked through his websiteâs fabric works gallery, and was getting cozier by the minute.
These pieces run the gamut from the charmingly cheeky Heyyy Sailor and Yoohoo, to the blunt WEâRE ALL GONNA DIE (as presented on a giant pink quilt), and Jesus Christ Made Seattle Under Protest, one of several works that features Seattle history and know-how.
Geekwire's recent tour of Facebookâs Westlake location in Seattle explores features of the building, including a plethora of site-specific murals, sculptures, mixed media, paintings, and installations from selected local artistsâlike Veltkampâthrough Facebook's Artist-In-Residence initiative.
I hastily decided that I needed to take this URL moment off-line into the IRL worldâit was time to check-in to Facebook with Veltkamp for an interview.
Several days later, I got my face approved by the electronic eyeball on Facebookâs glass doors at their Westlake location, checked myself in via the front desk iPad, and walked over to greet Veltkamp. He was cheerfully chatting away with the guide who would accompany us during our time in the Facebook offices. For as much Facebook knows about us (and how they have used that information), they are firm, but pleasant, about making sure we donât end up Facebook-stalking Facebook while inside of Facebook. My brain initially short-circuited with that thought, but quickly shifted gears as we did made our way to the third floor, where Veltkampâs works are on display.
Our conversation trickled to a crawl as we examined Veltkampâs first piece, Donât Give Up (named after the Peter Gabriel song featuring Kate Bush), and the atmosphere went through a subtle change as it became clear that Veltkamp was ready to begin unraveling the stories behind his stitches.
DONâT GIVE UP
The first story of Don't Give Up is of motherly love gone awry: âWhen I was a kid, I was watching TV on the floor with my mom,â he said, âand she goes, âHey honey, look at your hands,â and I remember immediately going like this [Veltkamp faces me and puts his hand forward, palm-down, fingernails-up, and flexes his fingers], and her just saying, âmhmm, I thought so.ââ The young Veltkamp silently wondered to himself about just what exactly was going on until he glanced at her copy of the Inquirer, which had diagrams on how men looked at their hands one way, and women another.
Veltkamp had looked at his hand the way a woman would.
For Veltkamp, this was the beginning of years spent trying to hold in his identity, to control his body so that he would not be read as gayâbut a body is a body. Veltkamp couldnât afford to give up or give in to who he was, but that meant that he needed to hide his true self long enough to survive. One such effort was practicing his smile in the mirror for hours on end, which he perfected to his liking. However, years later, when he saw his daughterâs âgoofy smileâ (Veltkamp is a donor father), he knew it was his, but it was... different. That's when he realized his daughter's smile was the one he once had, before the fear of having his teeth punched out for being gay spurred him to alter it.
Music was one of the few places where Veltkamp could hear what he needed, and he connected with the chorus of Peter Gabrielâs âDonât Give Up,â as sung by Kate Bush. âSo maybe I probably didnât have a mom who was super clued-inâIâm sure I was a complicated kidâon how to maybe support this [being gay],â said Veltkamp. âI think as a parent, itâs like youâre pruning a tree. You want to give it some shape, but it canât go wild, and youâre scared of cutting off the core part or the right part, you know? And I think I probably required some special care.â Veltkamp continued that Kate Bushâs vocals on âDonât Give Upâ were âthe mother voice I needed.â
WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE
We rounded the corner in the Facebook offices to look at the other piece, and both of us absolutely lost it when we come face to face with a gargantuan Pusheen collectible plush that could easily double as a small couch.
After the laughter faded, Veltkamp shared the tale behind this piece. At 40 years old, Veltkamp had a âwell-timed mid-life crisis,â and soon after went into a DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) program. Following the year-long course, Veltkamp came out feelingâfor the first time in his lifeâhappy to be alive.
That experience, and Veltkampâs newfound lease on life, fed into the initial conception of What a Time to Be Alive. However, there is more than meets the eye when it comes to Veltkampâs works.
âWe now have the curtains ripped off everything, weâve realized the world is even worse than we thought,â he said. âWe have all this access and resources and we can look back and pat ourselves on the back⌠but trans women [are] getting murdered constantly, we are not taking care of homeless people, black people, people of color, anyone.â
Veltkamp emphasized that these are long-lasting effects of institutional neglect and erasure, which the generation of LGBT activists before him had faced, lived through, and confronted. However, he acknowledged, things are different now. The vibrant colors of Veltkampâs work capture the dissonance of a progressing society, but one that is doing so on the backs and suffering of the marginalized.
My throat began to feel as dry as the quilt. It wasâand isâa lot to process.
âIt [What A Time To Be Alive] is deceptively bright and happy,â Veltkamp explained, âand if youâre just walking by you can read it like, âOh wow, what a time to be alive,â but if you spend more time with it youâll eventually be like, âUgh, weird, what a time to be aliveâ and thatâs where I think that piece lives.â
Veltkamp recently held a solo exhibition at Greg Kucera Gallery, where select works are still on display, and you'll also find some pieces by him in the Bellevue Arts Museum lobby. Veltkamp will be exhibiting with Outer Space in a show tentatively dubbed Light of the World/Salt of the Earth; it begins August 29 (location TBD).