About

Forty years of custom design & production.

My first paid painting gig - Interlochen, MI

I've been drawing, painting and building things since I was a kid.

Attending an arts high school — studying creative writing, visual arts and design & production — I learned I could get paid for it, and never really looked back.

The first thing I ever got paid to paint: this stage set for "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" at the Cherry County Playhouse in Traverse City, MI. I was 17.

Schools

After studying philosophy at Drew University in Madison, NJ, I moved to San Francisco, CA to learn something not in school, working in 'trades'.

As a certified 'museum' picture framer, I made custom solutions for artists, galleries and even SFMOMA.

I started my first business doing commission woodworking like this mirrored wall treatment for architects and interior designers.

All of a sudden realizing how little I actually knew about anything, I went back to design & production again for an MFA at North Carolina School of the Arts.

San Diego

When professional opportunity presented itself back in California after getting married and completing 2 successful years, we moved to San Diego knowing hardly anyone and without my actual degree.

I joined IATSE 816, West Coast Scenic Artists and worked in different studios and gigs in San Diego & Los Angeles. That's me painting a scrim for some live holiday show at the San Diego Opera.

John Hiemstra - City of San Diego Public Art Dedication

As Hollywood went more digital, I left to get my CA contractor's license and found John Hiemstra Scenic Studios and the San Diego Finishing School, teaching faux finish technique to pro painters and pro painting technique to faux finish artists. I also contributed to multiple endeavors of the City of San Diego Commission for Arts & Culture, during this time.

John Hiemstra Creative

When real estate collapsed in 2008, so did most of the actual patronage for my two business. But the digital work developed to promote them caught fire, and peers began asking for my services in making web experiences, ranking on Google Search and promoting events & services with social media.

Moving back to the east coast with significant web development, ecommerce and internet marketing experience already at this time created numerous consulting and contract opportunities first in Pittsburgh, PA then all the way back to New York City, and right now in Sarasota, FL.

In New York I began to work more as an engineer than a product person, though always as some design & production hybrid contributor, with a healthy project management expectation in the mix, all the way up to the present day.

Let me know how I can help!