Monday 6 October 2014

Steven Wilson - Information






Please Click On The Picture Links Below For More Information















About Steven:

List of Mediums and Material

Ceramic Stucco
Resin Sand
Plaster of Paris
Wire Lath
Panzer Mesh
Oil
Acrylic
Installation woodwork
Pyrography


Favorite Artist and Influences

Bob Thompson
Salvador Dali
Egon Schiele
Caravaggio
B.F. Skinner
Walt Whitman

Academic

Fauvism
Expressionism
Abstraction
Free Association

Philosophy

Art is for artisans.
It simply just has to work.
Art takes a certain amount of effort to create, but it takes twice that amount to appreciate the Art created.
Art should make you feel something.
Art is a selfish pursuit which makes sharing almost intolerable.

Memberships

Jefferson City art club
Columbia Art League
Capital Arts Gallery
Arts Rolla
Missouri Writers’ Guild

Bio in short

I started my journey when I was twelve. That was the summer I became my grandfather’s plasterers apprentice. I learned to mix “mud” and set up scaffolding. I learned to plan a job site and to measure/figure jobs. It was a lowly job filled with back breaking work. I was not paid much but the time spent with my grandfather was invaluable to me. It wasn’t my first education, but it was the most important one I would ever have.

My grandparents had one of the older homes in town. It was set next to a cemetery. The only thing keeping the cemetery at bay was an old barn where my grandpa housed all of his work related tools and materials. This was my first studio. I had no canvas or easel as an artist would calculate, but I had something more significant. I had an open room filled with possibility. Although the work was tiring, no matter what I did that hot summer day, the evening was for creation. I had no idea what I would do with it, but I just knew I had to do something.

It was during this time that I began experimenting with different mixtures of sand and stucco bag mix. I had access to all sorts of construction grade material: lime, plaster of paris, taping mud, bucket mud, and just about any other kind of mixable your mind can fathom. I experimented with both color and texture. As the apprentice, I was given the tools of the trade and the proper teachings to use them, but I wasn’t concerned about the jobs we were on. I wanted to get back to my grandpa’s barn where all of the left over material was waiting for me. I had access to over 100 buckets of used “mud” as well as an endless supply of foam and wood substrates. I remember fondly of these times of experimentation. I remember the losses as well as the few victories I gained. I would use the information later on. Much later.

By the time I went to college I had no interest in being “taught” art. The few art teachers I had known were egotistical and bothersome. I went another way because I felt nothing for the training of it. I do acknowledge that an artist must learn their business. All talent must be focused and sharpened. It was the means to that end that scared me away. I was so afraid of becoming a clone I didn’t bother to enter the class room. My muses were the buildings that we skinned. To see a fresh coat of stucco was a glorious sight indeed—the new day sun just coming over the horizon. It danced around the cage of scaffold to find the glittering sand particles left in the mix. The smell was that of vanilla to me and the sensation was that of a first kiss all over again.

It wasn't until unfortunate life events feel upon me that I rejoined the artist world. In the past five years I have been active in several groups and participated in several shows throughout the state of Missouri. As my work is contemporary, it has found resistance from viewers and critics. It does not phase me. I am too selfish for that conversation to linger in my mind or heart.

I am grateful for the time you spend here. Regardless of your location, I hope you are enjoying art somewhere.

Thank you for being you





Jefferson City, MO - United States

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