Early Work
Very early I started shading and playing with crayons in my coloring books. My parents encouraged me all the time to draw and express myself through color. In the 8th grade I was asked to do a large poster for the bulletin board with a figure on it. My Dad showed me DaVinci’s Man and helped me with the proper proportions for the drawing. I then took art as a class major in high school and the painting here is called “The Crucifiction” and done in oil with a pallet knife, typical for that period.
Mount Union College
After graduating from high school in 1965, I went to Mount Union College, to study for a teaching degree. I attended MUC for 2 and ½ years, when with my parents prompting, I transferred to the Cleveland Institute of Art. They said, if I was going to be a serious artist I should go to a serious art school.
Cleveland Institute of Art
I transferred in mid school year of 1967-1968. Since Mount Union College was a Methodist Institution, my figure drawings were all of clothed models and not up to the nude sketches of the Cleveland Institute of Art. My other art classes were not on the same level as the CIA either, so all that transferred were my academic classes and I had to start the art program pretty much from the beginning. I first focused on graphic design but after one semester I focused on painting and printmaking exclusively. It was here that I started entering paintings to the “May Show” at the Cleveland Museum of Art.