My art story
I grew up in Indiana, surrounded by corn and soybean fields. In Arizona now, one might say I’ve gone from corn to cactus. Regardless of location, my passion for design and art remains constant.
Then and now
I guess not much has changed over the years. I am still coloring – still using crayons, but they go by a different name and cost a lot more now.
The beginning
I used to watch my mom sitting at her wooden desk in the warm summers. With the windows open, and a slight breeze, she would dip her pen into India ink, and I would hear the sharp metal tip scratch against the rough paper.
Over and over, dip and scratch, dip and scratch, for hours until the dark lines formed recognizable shapes. Later after the ink dried, she would go back with loose watercolor strokes to add depth and life to her work. She would frame her art and hang it on our walls.
Those memories are vivid to me, and I knew I wanted to be an artist.
Fifth Grade
I still remember this project in Mrs. Jorgenson’s class. We did a lot of art with her and when I look back now, I wonder if she was an artist. We were able to let go of our ideas of perfection and put down water based paint and blow it around with a straw to make images.
Seventh Grade
Mr. Rasp’s class again. We were working on repetition to evoke movement. I remember thinking that the object I am repeating should be something that moves – so literal. I still find myself thinking this way at times and have to remind myself to get out of the box.
Eighth grade
In eighth grade my art teacher, Mr. Rasp, encouraged me to submit this stippling work to a local art contest and I won. As the winner, I got to show my artwork on a local television show and was interviewed. This event changed how I thought about art – art could open doors.
College Years
Simple toolsI have always loved drawing with pencil.
Like most colleges, my art program started with foundational courses that focused on theory and fundamentals that we were able to translate immediately in the studio.
I still have the syllabi from these courses and I have always wanted to go back and do the assignments today and see what I create.
I enjoyed the foundation classes. Art history, design theory, and painting were all amazing, but my favorite was drawing. I loved the control to get fine details and a large tonal range.
Darkness
I left college and I went seven years without creating art.
I was on the path to becoming a high school history teacher. Then in 2001, the opportunity to design presented itself.
A small technical college was hiring a graphic designer and I was able to get an interview. Panicked, I had about a week to create a portfolio of work from scratch. I went to that interview with a printed portfolio of all new work designed in PowerPoint. To my surprise, I got the job. I found out later that it was a sympathy interview; they had already hired someone for the job, but after seeing my work the hired me, instead. I spent the first two weeks working with Adobe textbooks in my lap learning software I had never opened.
My goal of being a creator began.