Member Spotlight: John Lumpkin
/SSTB Member John Lumpkin (Gentry) is a Collage and Theatre Artist who is a new member of the Silver Spring Timebank (SSTB). He joined SSTB about three months ago after his fiance introduced John to Timebanking and SSTB. His fiance is Alissa Klusky, who has been an SSTB member for about a year.
John is relatively new to Maryland. He is a native Texan who lived his entire life in the Lone Star State until moving to Maryland in 2021.
As background, John and his fiance met at Baylor University in the Theatre Program. It was there that they fell in love and both graduated with Theatre Performance degrees!
Moving to Maryland has been good for John. He thoroughly enjoys living up north and he especially enjoys being part of the SSTB community!
At the SSTB John offers collage art! He began making collages several years ago during the pandemic and has fallen in love with the art form. John often uses antique papers in his work and genuinely enjoys searching for unique and vintage materials to incorporate into his work.. In fact, the author of this Member Highlight met John through an SSTB trade when she commissioned a beautiful collage from John.
John’s mission as a collage artist is to find a home for lost and forgotten materials. His collages often include lost family photos, unique publications, and handwritten notes in the margins. Consider commissioning a personalized collage for your own enjoyment or to give as a gift!
As a newish member of SSTB John hasn’t traded much with others. However one trade he did have grew from meeting a fellow SSTB Member at a SSTB Potluck Social this past January. The SSTB Member he met at the social artfully sewed the holes in several pairs of John’s jeans! This helped him to keep the jeans out of the landfill by extending their life. John says it was really nice to connect with the fellow SSTB member at the Potluck Social because he had been planning to throw out the torn jeans. Insteas the SSTB trade allowed him to re-use and upcycle!
John especially likes finding Timebank trades that are useful and that allow him to rely on the community rather than just mindless consumerism.
Take a look at John’s collage work on Instagram. His address is “@johngentryart.” And, consider commissioning a collage for yourself or a loved one through SSTB! If you do you’ll own or gift an original piece of art!
Written by Madeline Caliendo