I have been designing and building stuff based on my favorite stories since I was a little kid: pictures, models, stories of my own. At Interlochen Arts Academy, I learned I could get paid for it.

I started out working in paint, paper, wood, canvas & stagelights, which led ultimately to custom art, mural & faux painting. Marketing my art services brought me to Photoshop, WordPress, Google & Twitter. Today, I mostly provide custom digital services to other businesses.

HISTORY

Scenic painting: Joseph at Interlochen

Scenic painting: Joseph at Interlochen

This is a picture of the very first painting work I ever got paid for, as a scenic artist on Joseph ...

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Stage & lighting design | Drew University

Stage & lighting design | Drew University

I majored in philosophy at Drew University from 1986-1990, but did enough work in the theater department to get a major ...

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Custom Picture Framing

Custom Picture Framing

When I started working at a custom picture framing shop in San Francisco in 1990, I had no idea how pervasive ...

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Custom woodworking | San Francisco, CA

Custom woodworking | San Francisco, CA

From creating custom picture frames I began building custom art furniture & display pieces, & designing custom finishes for other...

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Scenic art | North Carolina School of the Arts

Scenic art | North Carolina School of the Arts

I was in charge scenic artist for this opera production in the winter of my second year at North Carolina School ...

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Scenic painting: San Diego, Los Angeles

Scenic painting: San Diego, Los Angeles

I worked as a scenic artist in San Diego & Los Angeles both after moving to San Diego in 1999, including ...

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Custom mold making for concrete precast capitals

Precast concrete corinthian capitals | custom mold making

In 2003, I made a series of cool composite molds of architectural capitals for two different precast concrete yards in San ...

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Public Art Installation & Dedication Speech

Public Art Installation & Dedication Speech

This picture of me speaking at the dedication of my San Diego public art project in 2006 has been my social ...

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Business of Art Mentoring Project

Business of Art Mentoring Project

"John packed the equivalent of ten years of real-life experience into two months of incredible artist mentoring." in partnership with ArtWalk ...

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John Hiemstra - Integrated Marketing Communications, WordPress CMS Development, Content Strategy & Development
"There's no end in sight for the ripple effect of his expert guidance."