Local Artist’s Childhood Sparks Creativity Toward His Future Artistic Endeavors (reprint)
Posted In: News, Articles | Posted by: Pillar Arts
By Gianna Mainella and Kathleen Lemme
Originally published by the IU Media School C250 Storylab Course on November 12, 2025.
Almost every kid grows up loving comics and Saturday cartoons, but for artist Jake Kujava, cartoons have become a full-time passion and way of life. His father wrote for Archie comics, and he often lost himself in those comic strips.
Bloomington resident Jake Kujava is an artist with his work in several different galleries in the Monroe County area. His love for art and cartoons started from a very young age.
Kujava’s painting next to different prints he created. He currently has exhibits at The Pillar Sets in Brown County
“My father was a Cartoonist. He used to write for Archie Comics, so when I was a kid, these stacks of comics in the basement flooded the rooms. I just loved comic books when I was a kid and that’s what got me into art,” Kujava said.
Kujava’s early love for cartoons and art inspired him, and he quickly grew to want to learn how he could turn this passion into a career.
Kujava attended the University of Wisconsin- River Falls and studied art to hone his craft. While he started studying cartoon art, he soon found a love for painting. This medium fit his passion in a way he had never experienced before.
While studying art, he also began to study art history and different art movements. One movement in particular that caught his attention was German Expressionism, as well as famous artists such as Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin.
“ I loved Paul Gauguin, Van Gogh, loved very bright colors and it kind of worked with cartooning, because cartooning is very bright and it’s very stark,” Kujava explained.
These influences led Kujava to his most recent collection, “Expressing My German Roots,” located in the By Hand gallery in Bloomington, Indiana. Kujava grew up in Wisconsin, and his childhood memories were a very large part of why he began his new collection.
Pieces from Kujava’s most recent collection in the gallery. He grew up loving comics, which made him want to become an artist.
“ I grew up in this small town by Green Bay, and I remember my mom taking me to locations to see my grandma’s house, the farm. But back in Green Bay it wasn’t really developed. So there were a lot of hills, a lot of trees. It reminds me of just going right through my grandma’s house and you see mountains and trees just being surrounded and just that image kind of sparked my creativity and it’s like, I wanna paint something like that,” Kujava said about the paintings in the collection.
Kujava’s work is currently in the By Hand gallery.
He continues to be inspired by the natural expression of art. Kujava explains that he wants to feel how he would feel if he sees an object for the first time, every time.
Kujava’s work is shaped by his love for art, animals, and the connections he sees between people. He hopes his paintings encourage young artists to look at the world around them and take inspiration.
“So if I’m drawing, say, a mountain in the background or like an image of a dinosaur over there, I want to be like. What did this feel like the first time I saw that? Just that awe feeling,” Kujava explained.
With a strong focus on his childhood within Kujava’s art, he really hopes to inspire the younger generation to pull away from social media, and focus on real life.
Kujava showed a genuine desire to help younger generations and really understand what art means. He spoke about how his childhood experiences shaped his artistic visions, and how these experiences continue to inspire him today. He hopes to encourage young people to connect more deeply with the world around them.
“I hope that just brings out the quality of younger people,” said Kujava.
Kujava’s next project will be a comic book strip called Crum Bums. Jake has had this in the works for twenty five years, and was going to have this submitted in his college newspaper, but things took a turn for him. He decided it’s time to revisit the project; says it’s “very full circle”.
Kujava looking at his artwork on T-shirts. He studied painting at the University Wisconsin-River Falls.
Jake Kujava’s journey from a comic loving kid in Wisconsin to a local Bloomington artist really shows how much childhood memories can influence an artist’s work. Inspired by German Expressionism and his early love for cartoons, Kujava has found a way to mix both styles into something unique. Through his art, he hopes to inspire younger people to step away from social media and screens, reconnect with the world around them, and get creative again. With his upcoming Crum Bums project, Kujava’s story feels like it’s coming full circle, bringing him back to where his passion for art first began.
Kujava says, “I hope it inspires younger people because today we just live on social media. Internet everything, but actually sit down and like create an image with your piece of paper and a pen and just use your imagination.”
Kujava’s work is currently in the By Hand gallery. To explore his portfolio and learn more about his work, visit his website: Jake Kujava – Bloomington Arts Directory.