Anything else you think is worth mentioning?

At this point, I think I have exhausted myself and just want to shamelessly self promote. Find me on Instagram @declankonesky and @illuminatty_ice for updates on everything I ever do, as well as my website declankonesky.com. You can get a sense of all the different things I do, where I will be and when as I move into doing more workshops and maybe traveling with my band (if you like noisey black/doom metal type stuff). Check out my buddy Deece at 1d4rounds.com every Friday for his webcomic. That dude is a big inspiration to me because [he is] one of a few people I know who gives me a run for being so tirelessly busy. Come by the Antique Market to see Steve Fiegenbaum's and my paintings, as well as 4P Studios, which I helped open, and That Place Coffee for exhibitions - I have one in August. I have to thank my mom, Staci Swider. We work together all the time, keeping each other sharp and focused. She just had a book published. Look her up. She is a bad ass. And thanks to Alexandria Levy for giving me this opportunity! Feels good.

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A new gallery opened it’s doors at the end of January, lighting the streets of Broad, between 8th & 9th.

What makes this gallery different is their business by day, gallery by night aspect. Wolf & Finch primarily is an company that handles outside clients for their tech-base industry, but have decided to bring artists into their offices and raise more awareness of these exciting works.

Their first gallery opening featured Chadwick Tolley, an artists in resident for the past four years, and works by Chase Lanier and Jay Jacobs.

The following piece is a work by Jay Jacobs and Brian McGrath that was an answer to research money spent by the city, showing that with only a few dollars, great outside work could be created and displayed.  The title, a sign that too much is invested, not enough put into action.
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I cannot tell you what a thrill it was to sit down with the man known as “Porkchop” for Creases.  We’ve all seen his art dotting the landscape of Augusta’s  local scene, and he is well loved and received in the area.  Yet, it’s more than just the artwork, Leonard Zimmerman has always been a kind soul in my experiences, and while he is a person with trouble brewing within, it’s how he learned to harness this into a passion of making the most out of life, and teaching us all what it means to be “Happy”.

We sat down with our alcoholic Cherry Cola’s, and of course a bag of candy or two (as his sweet tooth is also well known to his followers) and discussed his experience with art, a bit about the recent documentary on his life, and a good deal about Christmas.

The following are excerpts from the complete interview, available on Archive.org.  There are five segments of the interview so please have a listen to learn more about this great artist.

You can listen to the complete interview below, or by visiting our page on Archive.org.

What are your favorite Christmas memories?

Fat Man’s Forrest, hands down!  Recently there was a movie that I was in... my dad had a super-8 camera and we found a whole roll of Fat Man’s videos.  To actually see this footage, it was like a “scratch and sniff” to my childhood.  You know how sense totally triggers stuff.  To see that and the animatronics and they had snowmen and Santa Clauses  that came out of chimneys or melted because  the had air being blown into them... That was the magic of Christmas.  I remember when I was a kid, downtown Augusta, instead of the nice wreaths with the white lights, everything was multicolored and plastic and big!  The  center recessed parking, the trees had blinking lights on them.  When you’re a kid everything is magic, as adults we understand the magic and it’s our job to carry that on to the kids.
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​How do you feel about your art and where you’re going with it?

Right now it’s kind of strange, I have not had the luxury of time.  I have four painting for Seeds that I only know what two are going to be.  I was originally going to do six, but with the film festivals and the move, all in the month of November, there was no way I could do six and everything else...  When I was at the Milwaukee film festival and we hung a show in a gallery during the festival.  [There] I spoke to some LGBT  high school students, and some came to the movie. I will never forget what one said to me, “you probably won’t remember this, I just wanted to tell you that you inspired us by what you said and by your movie tonight”. I looked at him and said “If I remember anything about this trip, is you coming up to me tonight and saying these words to me”. That’s one of the things this movie has opened up doors to, dealing with grief or loss, anything that starts you back to ground zero, if you can get up from that and keep on moving... that’s why this story had to be told.
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What is your favorite Christmas Cartoon?

Oh that’s super easy, the Charlie Brown Christmas Special.  What I love about  that, when it got finished, they thought they had a piece of crap on their hands, and it is THE Christmas standard.  A little known fact about the special, you see at the beginning, right before the credits, you see them all skating and then Linus, his blanket gets grabbed by Snoopy and they’re spinning around.  Then they’re all getting dragged, and you see Linus fly off and you see Charlie Brown fly off.  Charlie hits a sign and you see “A Charlie Brown Christmas”, but where did  Linus go?  He hit a sign, that said "Coca-Cola", that was the original sponsor for the special... and I don't think I made that up.

Movements here in Augusta seems to come in waves.  Artistically, we’ll see an influx of great work that slowly begins to move out after much toil within the scene.  I do not understand why this city seems to stay in a vast shadow during these times.  We can claim it’s a lack of affection from the general public, or perhaps it’s a lack of notification of what is really happening.  Regardless,  Creases has covered many artist  for the last couple of years, and we see no end to it.  This past September, local galleries have proven this, and here is what you might have missed.

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​We may not have the name that other towns have, such as Savannah and Greenville, but what we have is heart.  From what I’ve always seen, it’s heart that wins out in the end.  Pay attention dear reader, you’re surrounded by it.  Now stop walking with your eyes shut and open them.  Go to an art show, go up to that artist and tell them that you appreciate what they do.  Because believe me, in the years to come what is going to matter more from what you invest in will be that art and the love that you’ve obtained from it.