One of my biggest culture shocks since moving to Minneapolis was how prevalent the artist scene is. I was mindful about museums and theaters such as the Minneapolis Institute of Art and Guthrie Theater, but I wasn’t aware of how ubiquitous the local artist scene is.
Jacob Daley, one said artist, is from the East Coast but moved to Minneapolis just over a year ago due to his love of seasons, among other things.
“Besides my love of the cold, snow and Autumn, Minneapolis offered a lot of opportunities for growth and independence,” Daley told me. “Growth for my career as an artist and illustrator, and independence from some of the limitations of my disability. With the strong art community, appreciation for the arts, and ability to easily get around without a car, Minneapolis has become my home.”
Taking on Minneapolis, one dot at a time
Jacob Daley, also known as Daley Dots, is a pointillism artist and illustrator based in the City of Lakes. He also considers himself a disabled artist.
“[I] have Ocular Albinism,” Daley told me. “It has no ‘cure’ and cannot be corrected with glasses, contacts, or surgery.”
Daley said that Ocular Albinism is caused from the underdevelopment of the image receptors in the back of the eye as well as the nerves running from the back of the eye to the brain not following the correct paths.
“So, the less-than-good images getting sent to my brain are arriving incorrectly,” Daley continued. “The biggest impacts on my life this disorder has are the inability to drive, which heavily dictates where I can go and what I can do with ease, and the speed at which my eyes get worn out and lose focus.”
Because almost everything we do involves computers and smart phones, we all spend a lot of time looking at screens, which for a lot of people can give them eye strain after a few days of constant use. However, Daley will start to lose focus after about 7 hours, even with glasses on.
“That 7 hours isn’t just screen usage, but also doing my art,” Daley said. “So it can be incredibly challenging when I have a lot of work to do or want to keep painting and my eyes just start being unable to focus.”
To cope Daley tries to take breaks, and be grateful that his eyesight, while poor, still allows him to create amazing art.
“This decrease in available time to do detailed art has also resulted in my pursuit of doing large scale dot art paintings like murals and live painting at events, festivals, etc,” Daley expressed.
Daley works daily on his dream
Daley’s dream is quite simple, he wants to do art and illustration all day, every day.
“Every moment spent doing art is a moment where I am able to feel grounded, parse through any mental health issues, and feel sheer joy,” Daley said to me. “The particulars of the dream are always shifting slightly, but at the core it is being able to create dot art and illustrations, and show that a disability is not a death sentence to your dreams.”
Daley acknowledged that disabilities might make it harder to achieve your dreams, but he also convinced me not to “let anyone tell you your dreams are impossible.”
“Only you get to define what is or isn’t possible for you,” said Daley. “Besides my ongoing love of pet portraits and human portrait commissions — which now span six countries and started this whole journey — I am actively working on building a name for myself doing large scale pieces such as murals, as well as Live Painting at various events, festivals, etc. in the Twin Cities area and beyond.”
As most of us did when we were young, Daley loved to create and let his imagination run wild.
“While most of us lose that, mine just continued to grow and expand until it became clear that there was no other option,” the artist said. “It is incredibly difficult to pinpoint an instance that inspired me to become an artist, but I think it was more of finally realizing that the responses of awe and surprise I had been getting were genuine and that my talents were objectively there.
According to Daley, that has a great deal to do with how he found his talent.
“However, if I am to pinpoint one instance that really inspired me to pursue becoming an artist it would be during a two-week period during my freshman year of high school,” Daley pointed out. “A local artist named John Shipman was invited to have an exhibition at my school. Shipman was gaining popularity in the area for his gallery shows where he would do big folk-surrealist paintings on the gallery walls inspired by pop culture and politics.”
Daley said that part of Shipman’s exhibition was setting up a big cube in the middle of the gallery space where he drafted, drew and painted a “stunning” creation continuing on all four sides of the square.
“When I was not in class I would spend every moment in the gallery watching him create, transfixed,” Daley expressed. “In terms of my love and skill with pointillism, that started during a summer job working at a school doing IT maintenance work. Most of the work just involved keeping the school’s systems up-to-date, which meant a lot of time just sitting at computers waiting for updates to finish.”
Daley started creating large scale dot drawings on the school’s classroom whiteboards as a means to pass the time. With those drawings started his love for Pointillism.
“As for my skill with color theory, that actually is thought to be partially in thanks to my eye disorder,” said Daley. “Because of the underdevelopment of my eyes, I am able to see colors in a different way than most.”
Art with a Point
Daley told me that he is just coming off from doing a three-day live painting session in Chicago for preview season for “Boop! The Musical.”
“I was fortunate enough to be invited by the musical to see the show and draw inspiration for the paintings I would be creating,” continued Daley. “I spent the following days outside the theater doing Live Dot Painting of Betty Boop centric paintings. As the paintings are now finished I will be doing a virtual auction from January 11-14 where over 50% of the proceeds will be donated to Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.”
According to Daley, the virtual auction will kick-off with a simultaneous live stream on Instagram and TikTok where he is anticipating appearances by multiple people closely tied to the musical to raise as much as he can for children in need. The final three hours of his auction will also coincide with an identical Livestream.
The auction can be found at daleydots.betterworld.org.
“After this auction is completed I plan on pursuing more opportunities to do live paintings, murals, and the like to not only grow as an artist but to expose people of all-ages to art without them having to outwardly seek it first,” said Daley. “With ideal opportunities at festivals, music events, sporting events and the like.”
He will also be continuing to grow his pet portrait and human portrait portfolio and hope to add more countries to his list of commissions.
Jacob Daley invites readers to see what he’s up to date-to-day and recommends checking out his TikTok and Instagram (@daley.dots). To see more of his work, or get in contact about a commission, mural, or live painting opportunity, please visit his website daleydots.com or shoot him an email at daleydots@gmail.com.
Jacob is one of the most hardworking, talented, kind-hearted, and fun people I’ve had the privilege of knowing. The fact he and his incredible work isn’t world-famous yet just means the world is missing out. I’m so happy to read this wonderful write-up about him. Go follow him!! Buy hos art!! He’s amazing!!