Jason Hernandez is a lifelong artist, but he has taken a turn with his art, from paintings to furniture.
Hernandez and his wife, Becky, moved to Beacon from Brooklyn just before the March 2020 pandemic shutdown. He had just signed a lease on a space for his studio, Hendo (hendomade.com) when the world closed.
Hernandez got to work. He built furniture “as if I was about to get orders.” The process helped him “understand the physical world a little more.” He did custom work for architects and designers and created pieces for The Bronx Brewery and Hyperbolic Audio, among other clients.
Initially, Hernandez pursued painting, especially murals and signs. But he says that his passion for it began to dwindle. He turned to welding, taking classes at the School of Visual Arts.
The a-ha moment came when he made a coffee table; he later learned that his late grandfather had been a cabinet maker in Spain.
Lately, Hernadez says, he’s been tempted to paint again. “Now that there’s no pressure in feeling like I need to do it to be an artist,” he says. “I can just do it for pleasure.”
