Talking Shop with Jager Palad: "No one will make your work for you."

“Talking Shop” is a new series featuring interviews with people who work in the arts. Jager Palad, a printmaking technician at Herron, kicks off the series with a conversation about the work he does in and out of the print shop. Jager has a B.F.A in printmaking and drawing from University of Central Florida and an M.F.A. in printmaking from the University of Iowa.

HERRON: What does it mean to work in a print studio?

JAGER PALAD: Printmaking requires a lot of equipment as well as space for that equipment. Once printmakers get to a certain caliber where they're selling their work, they'll start their own studios and in those studios they require some help in order just to maintain stuff. Between my B.F.A. and my M.F.A., I studied at a print shop in Tupelo Mississippi with an artist named Ke Francis, who was a former professor of mine.

Now I didn't actually work for Ke in the same way as what I'm doing here now as a shop technician. He basically just let me make my work in his studio, so in a lot of ways I was just using his equipment and stuff and just being another printmaker—talking ideas with him and stuff. It was just a way for me to make my work which was really important because I wanted to strengthen my body of work before going to grad school so that I could teach when I graduated.

HERRON: You’re a print technician here at Herron. What is this job about?

JAGER PALAD: This is a cool job because it's a technician plus co-instructor. So I'm actually helping teach a class. I've been doing that for the past three semesters, which is super cool because it allows me to get teaching.

Besides teaching twice a week, the responsibilities include: making sure all the equipment is safe and in working order, making sure that things are up to safety audit standards, making sure there are signs posted, and making sure things are stocked and well-labeled so people don't get chemicals confused. It’s basically just putting out fires. Any time any student needs something that there isn't a sign for, or something they don't even know how to ask about, that's when they come to me and I kind of figure out how to help them.

HERRON: Do you ever have to put out literal fires?

JAGER PALAD: No, I haven't, but there a lot of flammable materials here, big time! We have these red cans right here specifically to put out the things that will spontaneously combust if they are not closed properly. There is a lot of dangerous stuff in here, so you have to have somebody keeping everything safe.

HERRON: Do you think that if somebody graduates with a BFA in printmaking, they could do the same thing as you did? Is “shop technician” an easy job to find?

JAGER PALAD: Technician jobs are not too hard to find, but printmaking technician jobs are a little bit less easy to find. I've been a technician for different warehouse jobs, and I've been a bicycle technician at bicycle stores and those all played a part in getting me this job. In each of those jobs they will teach you if you show that you’re willing to learn. People will show you the ropes. What did help with this job is that I was already a printmaker. Knowing that I have experience in all these printmaking mediums, they understood that half the things they might have had to teach me were already taken care of.

HERRON: In order to get a job like this, what's the range of printmaking types that you have to know?

JAGER PALAD: I don't think there was a requirement of what you have to know, but they were looking for somebody with experience in the printmaking types that they teach here. So that includes lithography, relief, etching, screen printing, and monotype processes. In my work—which is what they look at—it shows a professional record of having worked in those mediums. There was a lot of that that was expected but it wasn't strictly required. If there was anything that I didn't know, I think they'd be more than happy to teach me.

HERRON: What is your favorite part of being a print shop technician?

JAGER PALAD: I love being able to come in here whenever and make whatever I want, and that's awesome and magical, and I could do that forever. A big thing that I'm finding that has surprised me was how much helping students actually makes me a better person and brings out the good in me. I thought coming in here I'd be like, “Well, I’ll be a tech and help people, but I have to focus on my job.” Any time somebody has a problem though, I'm finding that I genuinely care about it and I'm spending more creative energy than I thought I would. It’s really rewarding and they like me. I'm getting so much back for it, every time I teach somebody something.

That's probably my favorite thing—fixing problems for students and seeing that eye-opening moment when they're like, “It worked!” And I'm like, “It worked!”

HERRON: What are some other printmaking jobs aside from being a shop technician?

JAGER PALAD: As far as specific jobs right out of undergrad I can't really think of any in theory. But I've done some things that I figured out on my own: one thing that I do in addition to this job is teaching printmaking workshops at the Indianapolis Central Library and all the branches. The Central Library has, I don't know, 50 different branches or something, and at some of these branches I'll give a 1-2 hour session on a simple process in printmaking for the community. I actually pitched the idea to them. I noticed that they already had a bunch of different classes for adults and teens, so I just drew up this plan of a simple printmaking lesson and I gave them the cost of materials it would require. I told them my rate and said, “If you guys like this, let me know.” And they liked it and said that it actually helped them fulfill some sort of a requirement with the state to do something for the community. So reaching out to different places in your community and seeing if there's a printmaking thing that you can offer, that’s totally there, totally possible.

HERRON: So much of my post-school life has just been realizing that I just have to ask, and be okay with people saying no. But if you don't ask, nobody can say yes.

JAGER PALAD: Totally, yeah! And the idea hasn't even been made yet. If you have an idea, chances are no one's ever thought of it. Just try and do it first and see what happens, see what people say, because chances there are people who want somebody like you to have that idea, they just have no idea where to start. So if you just come out and you tell them, “Here’s where you can start,” then suddenly they're like, “Oh this is great, yes okay!” And then you get a job!