Until recently I would never venture to call myself an artist, since, I have not been formally trained. I am a bit self-conscious about taking my artwork seriously and up to now I really had not put my art on display. I guess I’ve always thought the title artist was something that was earned.

As we all do, I went through many phases while growing up like spray-painting under bridges, drawing mazes, and toying with the paint program on the school computers.

I moved around every few years living in various places in the south side of Kansas City, Missouri.  When I was around 15, I moved to the small town of Freeman, Missouri to live with my father.  I was kind of a goofball and being from the city I stuck out like a sore thumb.  The contrasts and similarities between the city and the country were inspirational and fueled my fascination with natural shapes and industrial textures.  

In my first year of college at Ottawa University, I was given a fairly open art assignment, with the medium of my choice.  I chose to create a pen and ink drawing. I was hooked.  I would draw for hours and hours playing with perspectives and filling pages with hidden words and faces. In an attempt to find a more creative path, I pursued advertising as my focus of study, yet, still I was reluctant  to show my collection of drawings to other people. 

 Over the years, I played any instrument I could get my hands on and stayed consistent with guitars, drums, keyboard, and a bit of harmonica. After I moved to Tempe, Arizona to finish my marketing degree at Arizona State University, I stumbled on a band that wanted some artwork for flyers and a demo CD.  I had played in a few bands when I was younger and I ended up playing bass along with creating their artwork.  Two of the guys in that band were “now and then” painters. We did some collaborative paintings using whatever canvasses we could find and when we ran out of paint, we used mustard, grape jelly or other things for color.  I started to believe what I was creating had some artistic value but I still wasn’t ready to call myself an artist.  I eventually moved back to KC and entered the workforce.  You couldn’t stop me from drawing but, temporarily, I put the music, writing, and painting aside.

With steady income I was able to purchase my first digital camera.  I experimented with Photoshop quite a bit confident that I could get a graphic design job if I knew the ins and outs.    It wasn’t until the last two years that I started manipulating photos with the intention of it being printed and displayed.  Last year I took a class at the Kansas City Art Institute where I picked up a great deal new techniques and understanding of how limitless photo manipulation can be. 

 Recently I was given an opportunity to enter some artwork into a corporate exhibition with H&R Block. I began to realize there was an interest in what I was creating.  I was excited to be able to have my work get exposure but I was nervous about putting myself out there.  After getting a tremendous amount of support and positive feedback, I was feeling fairly confident that I may, one day, be able to call myself and artist.

Low and behold, one of my drawings was selected to go to the main exhibition held at Union Station.  That is when it happened. Excitedly, I went to the awards ceremony and they had nice little nametags they wanted us to wear which had the words “Visual Artist” under our names.  I didn’t win any awards but I felt I had a victory of confidence that led me to focus on art, as an artist. Thank you for letting me share my art with you.  I truly believe I am an artist however corny that may sound.  I hope you will agree.