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Meet Jay Wilson,
or is it O.M. Norling?
By Mary Davis
Copyright © 2011
Meet Jay Wilson, our new design consultant for this magazine!
Jay Wilson is an artist and businessman, married to Amy, and the father of three young sons. They live in Atlanta.
Jay , the youngest of three sons, was born in Georgia and lived here for his first six months. Later his family’s home base became Wisconsin, although they lived abroad for many years. Jay’s elementary school years were spent in Germany and his high school years in Korea. He knows both languages, German and Korean, and those cultures have influenced his life and his art.
Recently, Jay created his new business, Whobody, Inc. , a creative and design firm which focuses on developing visual marketing solutions. For the two years prior to his new business, he worked as the Creative Director for Soapbox Studios, which also works with our Mythic Imagination Institute projects. His earlier business was named NineRodessa. From 1993 -97, Jay worked for Turner Broadcasting, where he was a designer and he was involved in television graphics and design for the internet.
Jay’s website is www.omnorling.com. Visit it and you’ll discover some of his amazing art work, plus you’ll get some clues about the mystery of O.M. Norling!
MD (Mary Davis): Jay, when did you begin painting?
JW (Jay Wilson): Growing up, in my family of origin, art was not part of the lexicon. Art was discussed on the periphery, if at all, but I loved to paint. I remember taking paints out of my Dad’s toolbox when I was 8 or 9 and painting on cardboard.
MD: You mentioned living in Germany.
JW: One significant thing about living in Germany was that I met my relatives in Sweden! My branch of the family left Sweden in the late 1800’s. That person was O.M.Norling, who changed his last name to “Wilson.” He just disappeared! He just wasn’t there one day. He’d vanished. Then seven years later, his Swedish relatives received a letter from him from New Orleans. Had he been in trouble? He had stowed away, traveled up the Mississippi River and settled in central Illinois. There are amazing letters from him.
MD: What happened in Korea?
JW: I went to Korea as a high school “jock” in football and basketball. Then, an amazing thing happened there! Mr. O’Brien became my teacher. He was a photographer. I was amazed by Mr. O’Brien’s power. Korea was his first teaching assignment, and he had been there thirty years when I arrived. He had a sort of “art kingdom” set up. For me it was the first time art was solid, cast shadows, had weight, and I could take it seriously.