Jason Knudson

Where are you from?
I'm originally from Southern California. San Bernardino to be exact. I was born in Victorville and lived in San Bernardino until I was 17 years old. I was a senior in High School when I moved to Fairmont, MN. After H.S. Graduation I moved up to Mankato to go to college.

Where do you currently live?
I'm back in Mankato. My wife and I just bought a house so this is gonna' be home base for at least 5 years.

Do you enjoy living in Mankato?
I really enjoy living in Mankato. After Heather and I got married we lived in the Twin Cities for around 2 years. It was great living up there... Lots of my friends were around, there were tons of shows, plenty of places to ride bike and skate but we really missed our family back in Southern MN so we drove down to Mankato quite a bit. I have to admit it's been more relaxing since we moved back last year. We've got two kids, our daughter's almost 6 and our son will be 2 in May. Things were a little hectic up there as far as the freeways, the traffic and the fact that we had NO babysitters! I do miss it a lot but Mankato's been treating us really well. No rush hour, great coffee shops, cool bars, great pizza, skate park, cool skate shop and an awesome record store. It's really got everything we need.

How's Mankato's art scene?
From what I've seen just recently and what I experienced in my 8 years at Mankato State University as an art major, I'd say Mankato's got a really great art scene. There's a great local art gallery / co-op called the 410 Gallery that showcases lots of local artists. It's a great place run by cool people. I've done lots of artwork for local bands over the years so I always couple the music scene with the art scene by default. There are a lot of cool people who are into great music as well as the art. I've always been excited about the local music scene. Mankato's got a rich artistic and musical history and, being the college town it is, I'm sure cool stuff will keep happening in town for a long time to come.

Do you have a 9-5 job or do you do mostly freelance work?
Right now I work the 9 to 5. I'm employed at a local children's book publishing company as a Graphic Designer. I'm currently working on a series of illustrated novels that are focused on historical and tragic events. The work's pretty cool. I'm also volunteering web and poster design for a local music venue as well as designing stuff for my rock band. I'm always looking for cool people with great ideas to collaborate with. Projects involving music or skateboarding are ideal...

Have you always been into art, or was it something you grew into?
Always. I remember being in church when I was a kid, like 7 or 8 years old... I'd be sitting next to my parents in the pew and I'd draw little pictures of the pastor on fire or being eaten by Godzilla. My parents would see me drawing that crap and they'd fold 'em up and put them in my mom's purse. It'd be so great if they actually kept those sketches! I'm pretty sure they'd get home, figure I was nuts and throw them in the garbage... I've always been the doodling type. I worked all in black and white until I was half-way through college. I was really scared of adding color to my stuff... I forced myself to take a lot of painting courses and found that color was a good thing. I've always been into it, now I get paid to do it, which is a pretty amazing thing...

What piece of work of yours are you most proud of?
The pieces I'm always most proud of are done for my bands or my friends' bands. Years ago I did an illustration for my friends in the band Threadbare. They ended up putting it on T-Shirts. I also did a lot of work for Doc Hopper, a band from Boston. I'm still really proud of all that stuff. I find great pride in the little obscene sketches I do all over my meeting notes... My daughter and I collaborated on a picture of a giant wooden duck that's plowing through a cornfield... I drew it and she colored most of it bright pink. It's beautiful.

What artist's inspire you?
John Kricfalusi, J. Otto Seibold, Daniel Kalal, Raymond Pettibon, Chris Shary, Aaron Hornke, Rick Froberg, Derek Riggs, Brian Ewing, Otha... I could go on and on...

How do you feel about skateboarding?
Even though I've barely been skating over the last few years, skateboarding will always be one of the most important things I've ever done in life. Skateboarding has taught me the most about myself. For me, skateboarding went hand in hand with my love for music and friends. For me they were inseparable. I started skating seriously in '85, the same year I was introduced to bands like Black Flag, Minor Threat and The Toy Dolls. Now it's 2004 and I still think about skating every day and I still listen to those same bands! Yeah, It's still very important to me and I hope my kids get stoked on it too!

How about Minnesota?
Minnesota's beautiful. I have to say I'll probably end up retiring in this state.

What would you like to be doing more of?
Skateboard graphics, gig posters, album covers, logos & websites, toilet seat engravings...

Are you interested in doing work for MNSkateboarder in the near future?
Yes. It'd be an honor.