By Matt Robinson
Contributing Writer
GREAT BARRINGTON – For many people, challenges are a sign that it is time to change your life’s path, whether it’s a business failure, an illness, or some other catastrophe.
Fortunately, artist Aaron Meshon is not such a person.
Devastating fire
When his Brooklyn apartment burned down with much of his artwork inside it, he did not change his career path. He had lived in New York City for 26 years, and starting over in a new place can be difficult at any age, never mind when you’re over 50. But he just took his artist talent elsewhere. He now makes his home with his wife and son in Great Barrington in the bucolic Berkshires.
“I thought you had to be in New York City always to have a career in the arts,” Meshon admitted. “However, the Berkshires are the real deal. You have to work just as hard as in NYC, but you might be rewarded a bit more too.”
While he may miss eating his way through Brooklyn’s famed Japan Village, and walking meditatively in Central Park, Meshon suggests that he has found just as many new favorites in his new home.
“I think the Berkshires are a bit more accessible and easier to have more space and budget to afford to be creative,” he mused, noting that the Berkshires today reminds him of New York in the mid-1990s. “Also, there seem to be more grants and more opportunities for markets and stores in Massachusetts.” Meshon illustrates and designs for magazines, advertisements, children’s products, murals, food trucks and books that can be found all over the world. His clients range from The New York Times and Simon and Schuster to Sony Music, Delta Airlines, Target, Major League Baseball, NPR, the Discovery Channel, and many more.
Surrounded by artists
Raised in what’s dubbed the “Pretzel Belt” of central Pennsylvania, where several well-known pretzel brands are made, Meshon grew up with and surrounded by artists.
“My mom and aunt were both amazing painters,” Meshon recalled, citing such maternal influences as Paul Cézanne and Edward Hopper. “We drew together after school almost every day!”
Outside the house, the artistic influences continued.
“I grew up very close to the Wyeth compound in Chadd’s Ford, Pennsylvania,” Meshon noted, “so I was always exposed to traditional American illustration.”
Perhaps it is no wonder that Meshon (who serves on the faculty of the illustr
ation department at the School of Visual Arts in New York) ended up living near the historic home of the “bookend” American illustrator, Norman Rockwell.
“We were in a temporary rental after the fire in Brooklyn,” Meshon recalls, “and then COVID hit. We came to Great Barrington as our friend’s mom lived nearby.”
New connections
Though Meshon and his family had originally planned to be temporary residents (as so many in the Berkshires are), they soon saw themselves finding community and connections that were too strong to deny. He found many of them through the artist-run Railroad Street Collective in Great Barrington.
“My son and I wandered into an artists’ collective,” Meshon mused about the artist-run business. “I always have business cards on me and gave one to the nice guy working at the shop. A few months later, the shop called me and asked if I wanted to be a part of it.”
As part of the collective Meshon has been able to meet more people and make more and stronger connections in the area, making it feel more like home every day.
“I had no idea it would become as special of a place in my life as it has,” he smiled, “and I cannot believe how wonderful and meaningful this town, community and the collective have become.”
As much joy as Meshon and his fellow collective artists take from supporting each other and the community, he says that visitors to the store love and appreciate the opportunity to meet the artists in their midst.
“I love meeting people one-on-one,” says Meshon, who has expanded his community engagement through decorating everything from street signs to crosswalks. “I see the joy when people can meet the makers in person.”
While Meshon loves all of his fellow artists, he is particularly fond of Japanese chef and creator Ayako Otoshi, who is not only his wife, but a frequent partner at area farmers’ markets, where she sells traditional Japanese foods that bring people from Great Barrington and far beyond.
“The Berkshires really has this special force where people can still take chances and grow creatively and personally,” Meshon observed.
A fresh start
Some people might have abandoned any connections to the life that was destroyed. Meshon put the thousands of pieces of art that were lost in the fire behind him and began creating new ones.
“Somehow we eventually made lemonade from the lemons,” he observed.
While this comment might seem to be no more than a glib rationalization for some, for Meshon, it is again profoundly apt, as images of citrus have become a signature part of his work and a means of engaging with people around the world. Having started as a corporate commission, Meshon’s tangy duo of an animated lemon and lime have expanded into an ever-growing set of inspired and inspirational images that, as he puts it, “represent unexpected joy.”
When he first came to the Berkshires after the fire in Brooklyn, stickers of his lemon and lime characters were among Meshon’s only remaining artistic possessions. Yet they were enough to get him reconnected and restarted with the creative community.
“People gravitated towards them,” he recalled gratefully, noting how many people claim to see themselves in the pair and eagerly look forward to seeing where Lemon and Lime will pop up next.
Meshon was asked why he thinks they have so much appeal. The award-winning illustrator, who has also had multiple exhibitions with the Society of Illustrators, observed that, even though “Lime is lazy because lemons float and limes sink. Lemon loves Lime even though Lime is not perfect.” And together, he said, they represent “pure content and peace.”
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