Meet Patrick Ortman | Maker of Stuff @ Froth & Fur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Patrick Ortman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Patrick, what is the most important factor behind your success?
I’m not shy about trying something new. For instance, way back when I was a web guy I was working with a radio station in Atlanta- 99X, alt-rock. And they had an event coming up. I think it was their Chinese New Year concert, and the guy in charge asked if anybody had some ideas about to make it special. I was like, 20 years old. And I blurted out “first rock concert on the web!” and then I had the chutzpa to make it happen. We had bands of the day- Moist, Hootie & The Blowfish, Matthew Sweet, and Blues Traveler up on that stage in Atlanta. And we put that rock concert live on the internet way before that became a thing. I remember one fan not believing that what we were doing was truly live and in realtime. So I asked John Popper (he’s so cool) from Blues Traveler to flip that guy the bird live on-air. And he did. It was classic. Oh yeah, and Adam Curry- the MTV VJ- sent us an email congratulating us for getting there first.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I didn’t think I was an artist until recently. Despite having done all kinds of creative things- many successfully- for so long. I thought an artist was someone who lived in seclusion and painted and drank a lot. I love working with other people, I don’t over-drink, and I can’t paint worth a damn. But I love making stuff. And I love to learn new things. There’s a book I’m reading to my kid right now, it’s by John Cleese called “Creativity. A Short and Cheerful Guide”. And he talks about the unconscious mind- the tortoise mind, as presented by Guy Claxton. The gist is, school prepares us to solve problems one way. Logical, etc. But the tortoise mind is just as powerful. And it is super hard to listen to and understand, because it doesn’t talk in words. It’s about feelings. Images. All the stuff I use to make my art, whatever that is at the time. And the thing is, looking back on my journey so far it’s pretty clear to me that the best moments I’ve had not only as an artist but also in other things was when I went with the flow and didn’t over-analyze. In fact, when I didn’t analyze or plot things out at all. The best decisions in my life have been made by my tortoise mind- the creative side.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I have a super personal ritual that I’ll share. When I’m driving Topanga Canyon, which I do a lot, and I see that flying pig statue up on that pole? I salute him. That might be my spirit animal:, a pig with wings.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
The Los Angeles Flying Squirrels running group gets my shoutout today. I came to LA and randomly met legendary casting director Mike Fenton, a cofounder of the group. I think he thought I was probably one of the worst runners ever but totally a guy worth having around. He invited me in, and for a few key years I ran almost every Saturday with the Squirrels. I got to know some really special people, some well-known like producers Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy. Some not as well-known, but just as instrumental in helping me figure things out as I was growing up. I met up with two of them recently- Gary and Jeff. It was like we we’d just seen each other a week ago. I think being part of the Flying Squirrels exposed me to a lot of people who somehow had gotten through growing up without losing their sense of play. And that rubbed off on me, bigtime.

Website: http://froth-fur.com

Instagram: @patrickortman

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickortman/

Image Credits
Main photo by Geoffrey Dunne. Family photo by Grandma.