Biogrophy

​A beginning...

Often, underneath the thick canopy of trees in my native homeland of Kentucky, I found solace and peace from the tyranny of an abusive father in the tall lines of the forest. It's there that I began drawing, initially as an escapist trying desperately to feel the beauty that I knew existed beyond the angry shadows of him. On the other hand my mother encouraged and fostered my talents. When I was very young we summered in Bar Harbor, Maine, where I discovered the many microcosms, life explosions and color in the tide pools that nestled in the crags there. Arming me with watercolors, a dip pen and ink, I transcribed the intricacies of worlds that lay beneath the tide pools. And I was hooked, realizing that this was a purpose I could fill the rest of my life with. My father, not understanding the strangeness of his son, attempted to put me through every variety of team sport or athletic training (fortunately my older brother was more eager to fill this role). But when father was gone, which was most of the time to my delight, my mother would re-enlist me in Art camps and programs of the like. Visual expression soon became my favorite dirty little secret and also my fondest obsession. It was there allowed myself to feel extensively, away from the masked masculinity of paternal imprisonments. I felt tied to the legacy of human kind as well as an opportunity to open a voice from my own strangled cry. I guess you could say that I was most often found in the recesses of common spaces, occupying my mind and hands with the truth of art as far back as anyone who's known me can remember.

When I was still a boy stepping into the life of a preteen, my father moved us across the country to Billings, Montana, where I found myself relentlessly teased for what was a thick southern accent. Further inward and introspective I became. I've always loved people ya' see, I just didn't always understand how powerful the conduits that connect us are/were? So, art become one of my few allies, worlds that I could control (to some degree) that sprang from this distended voice begging to be released.  

It was in Butte, Montana that I found one of my first great inspirational mentors, Mister Bercier, who hooked me up with my first art show at the tender age of sixteen. He taught us that we were the next matrons and patrons of this art revolution, which has impacted me and my craft to this day.

Leaving home at the age of 16, I found a new boost of creative freedom in the aftermath of gaining full independence. I became involved in a program called Art Interscholastic, where I won recognition in my first statewide competition. A piece titled "Without" which was a remark on the incident in Billings, Montana. Consequently, I joined the Coast Guard a semester before graduating high school, wanting desperately to flee the hardships I had encountered in Butte, MT. My stay in the military was short lived, however, and after recovering from a blow to the head (quite literally) and dissociative amnesia in a psych ward, in Cape May New Jersey, I travelled from place to place filling smaller art shows with creative attempts and surviving off of the proceeds and small jobs thereof.

I've attended three universities, (the University of Montana-Western, The University of Montana and The Academy of Art University, San Fransisco) and currently carry a national certificate in massage therapy and bodywork and in permaculture. I live happily in Norfolk, Virginia with my husband and continue, more than ever, my pursuits in art and of coarse in happiness. I truly believe that life IS what you make of it, I certainly have NO regrets, because despite the less pleasant aspects of my history I have lived a rich and remarkable existence. I am truly thankful to be alive, to be here and to share my art with all of the beautiful fellow human beings.

I am currently re-entering the university system to finish my BFA in Illustration, and I feel a tremendous change in the art that I want to produce. In a few short months I will be following my Navy husband to Sasebo, Japan where I will devote much of my time to honing my abilities in illustration, and whatever mediums find there way into my open hands.

Thank you for listening to my story and feel free to read the following concept page or contact me with any questions or concern that you may have for me or the art that I am currently working with.

Warmest,

Aaron T. Fields

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