Whitmoyer Art Studio & Gallery, Millville, PA
I've been drawing for as long as I can remember. I grew up in the middle of the backwoods of Pennsylvania, fifty miles from nowhere. Because it was so remote and my family wasn't very affluent, there was really not much else to do except draw; drawing was about the only activity that I had that didn't cost anything and I could do it anytime, anywhere. If I got bored or if I didn't have any money to do anything else, I drew, and I loved doing it. Eventually I got to the point where I would pass up opportunities to do other things so that I could draw.
I've always had an insatiable curiosity about things and I love doing just about anything as long as I learn something from it. To me, drawing is a means of exploration — a search for information driven by my thirst for knowledge. In much the same way that an infant explores objects with his mouth in order to have a better understanding of what things are and how they work, I explore things with my pencil. My drawings are really just a byproduct, rather than the desired goal or end point. I never seriously considered the possibility of one day making a career out of art, until one day in junior high.
I had been drawing in class, as I usually did. (I seemed to absorb more information that way than I did with traditional note taking; none of my teachers ever understood or believed that for some reason.) All of a sudden, the teacher, who had a reputation for his very short and very heated temper, came flying back the aisle and took my drawing pad. He started to say something in anger but stopped himself short as his eyes locked on the rendering of a nude woman. After staring at the piece for a moment, he exclaimed, "Damn, son! If you're not an artist when you grow up, then you're a freakin' idiot!" and actually handed back my drawing pad (keeping the nude) and asked me to see him after class.
So, after two plus years in art school and almost 20 years as a Graphic Designer and Illustrator, including eight years active duty in the U.S. Army as a "Multimedia Illustrator" (and the PA Army National Guard ever since), my interests have shifted back towards the Fine Arts from the more Commercial disciplines, and I've expanded my tools for exploration to include a LOT more than just drawing. I still have so much to learn. I am still strongly driven in my search for knowledge and I hope that I never lose my curiosity as that is the essence of my work.
