In late December of 2022 Dilettante Army co-founder Jeremy Shedd passed away. Honestly, we’ve been kind of reeling since.
 
Jeremy was a talented artist. He designed DA’s logo, and crafted this site’s visual identity from day one. We feel lucky to have benefited from his visionary ideas.  
 
Jeremy was also a dear friend to a robust and varied constellation of folks; we turned to this community when writing the following memorial. Thank you to everyone who took the time to share memories and stories with us. If you knew Jeremy, we hope that this remembrance captures him in some small but meaningful way. We hope, too, that it comforts you, as writing it has comforted us. —Sara, Christine, and Dustin

In remembrance

The passing of Jeremy Stephen Shedd in December, 2022, is mourned by his community, who remember him as a vibrant, creative friend. Jeremy pulled us into his orbit with his kindness, his sharp mind, and his wicked sense of humor. 

Jeremy had a quick wit that let him pierce to the heart of an issue with immediate clarity. He was relentlessly curious: he loved art, design, and film, and he could tell you surprising things about subjects you had never considered. He paired this curiosity with a wonder about the world and an optimism about the people in it. He really, truly, believed in aliens.

The care and attention he gave to his friends sustained many of us—his default expression, a crooked quarter-smile, was a beam of light in a crowded room. He loved Casper the Friendly Ghost, carrot cake, and jury duty. He had just gotten new glasses and he looked really good in them. 

Jeremy grew up in Virginia, but he would never let us forget that he was born (in 1987) in Costa Rica. Jeremy was devoted to his family: parents David and Lisa, and brother DJ. He was so proud of being an uncle.  

While studying graphic design at George Mason University, he met Anthony, a relationship that was meaningful for the rest of his life. Jeremy then earned his master’s degree in Visual and Critical Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2011. While in graduate school, he made lifelong friends with his cohort, now stretched around the world. 

Jeremy’s friends remember their inside jokes—he was never not ready to poke incisive fun at any situation. Cereal and Family Feud, sodium and Spaghetti-Os, the linework on his carefully designed tattoo. His deadpan sense of humor would turn instantly to an excited glow as he talked about a deep piece of theory or philosophy. We appreciated his ability to balance the perfectly trivial with a wholehearted pursuit of right living. 

When he moved to New York after grad school, Jeremy relished living in an East Williamsburg loft where he cared for a rotating cast of roommates, many of whom became dear friends. He fought out a fire in the apartment, renovated the bathroom, and aided people in the neighborhood experiencing homelessness. Later, he began volunteering at the Bowery Mission. He built a loving relationship with Adam Fitzgerald, and the two of them became warm and gracious hosts together. We remember Jeremy’s animal companions: Duncan (ferret), Philip (doggo, named for Philip Guston), and Gossamer (a glamorous longhaired cat). 

Jeremy developed a thriving art practice that blended his graphic design skills and fascination with digital culture. As Glass Crayons, he presented a colorful and technically masterful series of vaporwave characters, illustrations, and textures that exemplified his sense of detached humor, idiosyncratic details, and love of video games. The field of digital art has lost a dedicated creator who had recently found new, enthusiastic audiences.

For his friends and his chosen family, this striking loss cuts off too many still-emerging traditions, perceptive comments, and comedic bits still being workshopped. We send our condolences to the Shedd family. Let Jeremy’s legacy as a friend, companion, and mentor; artist and writer; jokester; son, brother, and uncle, be a comfort and guide to everyone who knew him. We miss him dearly.