"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." - Pablo Picasso
J.Bird Cremeans was born and raised in Huntington WV. While attending a high school that had the best art program in the state at the time, she met an art teacher named Marlalie Boyd and so began her art career. Ms. Boyd and her fellow art teachers were so talented at helping their art students secure scholarships that they were very well known by the major art colleges and universities on the eastern side of the U.S.
J.Bird recieved a partial scholarship to attend the Art Institute of Pittsburgh to study animation. After graduating and returning home, she was disapointed to discover that the high school art program that was so well known had been shut down in favor of the "No Child Left Behind" Act and a focus on test scores.
J.Bird has since gotten involved in reaching out to kids who are denied art in their schools. "I couldn't imagine being in school today. I would be so depressed that I couldn't do what I love - art and music." J.Bird and artists at the Pendleton Art Center in Ashland KY, recently put on a "Kids Day" Open House and invited kids to visit and make free arts and crafts with a Valentine's Day theme. "It was awesome! I have found what I want to do and that is to give creative kids and others a chance to explore art."
While she did not recieve a degree in the Education field J.Bird has found a love for it perhaps taking after her father who is a guitar/banjo teacher who also fell in love with teaching. "I feel as though teaching can come from the heart if you truly let it. I discovered I loved it when I started teaching a Photoshop class at the local community college. The feedback and learning experience I got from that was incredible."
Deciding to open an art studio in the Pendleton in Ashland, KY was an easy decision after visiting several times and talking with the other artists who had already set up studios in the center. " I kept seeing the same artists and so I knew that it was working for them. I wasn't seeing a huge turnaround with artists coming and leaving. My studio is a way to make an impression on people. I want to appear successful and confident to potential clients who may want to commission me for a portrait or hire me to do caricatures at an event. I couldn't do it without my studio."
J.Bird is always on the go connecting with the public and other artists to further her dream of being an artist. Be sure to stop by the Pendleton Art Center this May for First Friday on May 2nd to meet her and see more of her work.
|
