Jared trained in the Digital Arts Program at Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton, won the Apple Design Award through MacIntosh Computers, interned with a music video company in Vancouver, and now is involved in commercial, documentary and corporate video production with Checkered Flag Pictures. With all that experience in electronic mediums, his specialty and passion is for painting. He sees it as a way of communicating – not as a means of selling or mass producing.

“Every piece I create is one I wouldn’t mind keeping,” Jared says. Accepting commission work, Jared has sold about 15 works. In fact, it could be said that he is so good his art has actually been stolen. “I paint from passion which makes the piece that much more meaningful. Meaning increases other people’s interest in the art – you get a story from it. Every one's got their own different story and experiences they refer to [in order] to relate to the piece.”

His paintings, he says, stem from personal experience. As a teen, he suffered an allergic reaction that almost killed him, which has given him a new appreciation for life. “You’re on the edge more than you know it,” he says with a smile. “Do what you love and with passion. That’s what matters!”  After a stint working with the Boys & Girls Clubs, Jared developed a real sense of how kids operate and communicate. He recently completed illustrating a children’s book aimed at teaching kids how to manage money. Written by Kim Deep, “Conductor Kash and the Prosperity Express” should be published in the next few months. His most recent collaboration is with fellow artist Boe Lefebvre. Together they developed ‘paint-o-graphs’ where part of the composition is photographed and the other part is painted. 

But Jared’s talents extend past canvas and oil. He has been involved in corporate video production editing, and savours the creation process where he can take bits of footage and create a result better than what the client initially envisioned. “Giving ideas another dimension of expression using media opens up a whole new realm for people,” he says.

What gets him really pumped is experiencing life. After that brush with death, his spirit aches for road trips to the ocean and getting away to other environments from his regular day-to-day digs in Edmonton. “Right now, I’m building perfection into the three things I spend most of my time on – illustrating, painting and video production. Some day I’ll write my own book and I’ll be able to capture it all.” 

Jared Robinson of Eye-Catchers Media can be reached at 780-378-0474 or jared@eye-catchers.ca