ABOUT THE ARTIST
Michael Kuseske Paintings
Michael Kuseske Paintings
1166 Stardust Way
Royal Palm Beach, Fl. 33411
Phone Number: 561-386-0591
E-Mail: mkuseske@hotmail.com
Web Site: www.michaelkuseskepaintings.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mkuseskepaintings
I have often been asked by people interested in my paintings, “How do you create like that?” and, “Where do your ideas and the drive to create come from?” Considering such questions, I have discovered that like many artists, the desire and joy to create has been in me from the beginning. There is something deposited in an artist's makeup and DNA that is the source of that creative drive. What we do with that drive, who we are influenced and guided by, and our life experiences are the other ingredients that when added together, becomes the piece of art you see. Here are my “ingredients”:
Early Life
I was raised in the 1950’s and 60’s in a small town in southern Minnesota, Austin. I had parents who did all they could to encourage any kind of hobby, sports, or creative endeavor that I pursued. By the time I entered high school, I already had goals I wanted to accomplish. I wanted to create art that people would buy, sing in a good choral group, be a starter in three sports, have the lead in a musical play, and sing in a rock band.
Formal Education and Other Influences
I went to a small teacher’s college in St. Paul, Minn., Concordia College, and set about to reach all those goals. By the time I graduated, I reached most of them, but realized there just wasn’t enough time to keep pursuing them all plus have a social life. Creating art won out.
I ate, slept, and drank all the art I could get. I took every art course the college offered and created as much as I could. Most of my spare time was devoted to creating art, studying art history, and visiting the local art museums with my girlfriend, Judy, who became my wife in my senior year. My lecture notes were filled with the doodles that would later become paintings and sculptures.
In the late 1960’s and 70’s there were certain art movements that influenced me a great deal. Pop Art fascinated me. An art professor told me that Pop Art was basically taking something very common and ordinary and putting it in an unusual setting or seeing it in a different perspective. A big painting of a Campbell's Soup can is a good example. My very large paintings of what are normally small flowers can be traced to that dominating influence in my creative mind.
I found myself also drawn to Surrealism. The paintings of Salvador Dali and Yves Tanguy intrigued me. I wasn't particularly interested in the subject matter, but I loved the style of painting. I found myself using their strong light source that casts interesting shadows and creates drama, interest, and excitement.
I was also drawn to the American Regionalists: Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood, and Edward Hopper. Everything they painted, including people, was very sculptural. This was accomplished by using a very direct light source and simplifying detail. My daughter once told me, “You don’t paint flowers, you paint sculptures.”
After graduating from college, I taught a year of high school art in Roseville, Minn. I soon realized I longed to create rather than teach, but if I had to teach to make a living in the art field, (which is what I believed at the time), I preferred to teach at the college level. So in 1973, my wife and I packed all we owned into a 6’x 8’ U Haul and pulling it with our ’67 Camero, moved to Santa Barbara, California so I could begin working on my MFA in studio art. I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. I took two semesters of nothing but full time studio and art history classes. To be totally devoted to studying art was wonderful to me. In my previous college art classes in Minnesota I learned how to be creative. At the University of California, Santa Barbara, I learned the basics of design, how to paint, and gained confidence in what I could do.
My Life Takes a Turn
Having a wife and our first of four daughters sparked my interest in human relationships and the spiritual side of life. I realized I was too consumed with art to the detriment of other aspects of my life, plus I needed a job. I had been painting houses while going to school which wasn’t enough to support a growing family. I temporarily set my full time studio and teaching art aspirations aside. After scanning the Yellow Pages, began checking out Sign Painting Shops. I got a job in the first one I contacted and spent the next two years learning how to be a journeyman sign painter. I am often asked today how I am able to paint such crisp, clean, straight lines in my paintings of flowers. At the sign shop I had to learn how to paint lettering on the sides of huge corrugated semi-truck trailers that had to be perfect.
Knowing that sign painting didn’t match what I wanted in the end, I steered my life toward becoming a Marriage and Family Therapist. We moved to Pasadena, Ca. to get my Masters Degree in Counseling. I began collecting my supervised counseling hours in Portland, Maine, and eventually Royal Palm Beach, Florida where I was licensed. But the drive to create never went away, even when I had my own private practice as a counselor. I still found myself studying art history and painting in my free time.
Another Turnaround
One day, at the age of 51, I ran into a man who had been selling his paintings at art festivals for 15 years exclusively in Florida and was doing extremely well both artistically and financially. I visited a few art festivals and thought, “I can do that!” I had never known there was a way to make a living as an artist other than teaching it. I sat down with this artist friend of mine and in 5 hours on a Sunday afternoon, he gave me most of the information I needed to succeed in the art festival business. It was shortly after that meeting that I decided to follow the dream and passion that had never left me and go full time into creating and selling my paintings.
My Professional Art Career
I began my professional art career by painting the Florida landscapes and birds that fascinated me. From early childhood, I enjoyed our “walks in the woods” as a family and continue that source of enjoyment to this day. I keep my life “bird list” and have 80 different butterflies and moths which I have collected, mounted, and hung on my bedroom wall. My studio in Florida has a big sliding glass door that overlooks the lake in our back yard. The birds and other wildlife are always a welcome distraction.
My paintings of landscapes and wildlife were very sculptural and stylized. I loved painting them and still do from time to time. One day I decided to paint large paintings of close ups of flowers. I had painted one similar when I attended UCSB years before and loved it. The paintings sold quickly and I have been painting flowers almost exclusively since that time. I have realized I will never run out of subject matter. I travel a lot and always make it a point to visit the local botanical garden. Like hunting for butterflies or birds, I’m always excited to discover a new flower or to see a common one in a new way.
Fifteen Years Later
My four daughters have all moved to other parts of the US and the world. All of them are creative to one extent or another. Now I am seeing some of the creative “DNA” being passed on to a number of our 10 grandchildren.
My wife, Judy, is also extremely creative. She loves to paint, to illustrate and write books, and makes anything she does a creative endeavor. She has been an integral part of helping me in the art production and selling since the beginning.
Since 2001, I have shown in art festivals and galleries in Florida and all over the nation. I remember the days when like so many who have 8 to 5 jobs, I dreaded having to go to work Monday morning. Since 2001, it has been just the opposite for me. I usually can’t wait for Monday morning so I can get back to painting again. The thrill of creating has not diminished over time.
Michael Kuseske
1166 Stardust Way
Royal Palm Beach, Fl. 33411
Phone Number: 561-386-0591
E-Mail: mkuseske@hotmail.com
Web Site: www.michaelkuseskepaintings.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mkuseskepaintings
I have often been asked by people interested in my paintings, “How do you create like that?” and, “Where do your ideas and the drive to create come from?” Considering such questions, I have discovered that like many artists, the desire and joy to create has been in me from the beginning. There is something deposited in an artist's makeup and DNA that is the source of that creative drive. What we do with that drive, who we are influenced and guided by, and our life experiences are the other ingredients that when added together, becomes the piece of art you see. Here are my “ingredients”:
Early Life
I was raised in the 1950’s and 60’s in a small town in southern Minnesota, Austin. I had parents who did all they could to encourage any kind of hobby, sports, or creative endeavor that I pursued. By the time I entered high school, I already had goals I wanted to accomplish. I wanted to create art that people would buy, sing in a good choral group, be a starter in three sports, have the lead in a musical play, and sing in a rock band.
Formal Education and Other Influences
I went to a small teacher’s college in St. Paul, Minn., Concordia College, and set about to reach all those goals. By the time I graduated, I reached most of them, but realized there just wasn’t enough time to keep pursuing them all plus have a social life. Creating art won out.
I ate, slept, and drank all the art I could get. I took every art course the college offered and created as much as I could. Most of my spare time was devoted to creating art, studying art history, and visiting the local art museums with my girlfriend, Judy, who became my wife in my senior year. My lecture notes were filled with the doodles that would later become paintings and sculptures.
In the late 1960’s and 70’s there were certain art movements that influenced me a great deal. Pop Art fascinated me. An art professor told me that Pop Art was basically taking something very common and ordinary and putting it in an unusual setting or seeing it in a different perspective. A big painting of a Campbell's Soup can is a good example. My very large paintings of what are normally small flowers can be traced to that dominating influence in my creative mind.
I found myself also drawn to Surrealism. The paintings of Salvador Dali and Yves Tanguy intrigued me. I wasn't particularly interested in the subject matter, but I loved the style of painting. I found myself using their strong light source that casts interesting shadows and creates drama, interest, and excitement.
I was also drawn to the American Regionalists: Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood, and Edward Hopper. Everything they painted, including people, was very sculptural. This was accomplished by using a very direct light source and simplifying detail. My daughter once told me, “You don’t paint flowers, you paint sculptures.”
After graduating from college, I taught a year of high school art in Roseville, Minn. I soon realized I longed to create rather than teach, but if I had to teach to make a living in the art field, (which is what I believed at the time), I preferred to teach at the college level. So in 1973, my wife and I packed all we owned into a 6’x 8’ U Haul and pulling it with our ’67 Camero, moved to Santa Barbara, California so I could begin working on my MFA in studio art. I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. I took two semesters of nothing but full time studio and art history classes. To be totally devoted to studying art was wonderful to me. In my previous college art classes in Minnesota I learned how to be creative. At the University of California, Santa Barbara, I learned the basics of design, how to paint, and gained confidence in what I could do.
My Life Takes a Turn
Having a wife and our first of four daughters sparked my interest in human relationships and the spiritual side of life. I realized I was too consumed with art to the detriment of other aspects of my life, plus I needed a job. I had been painting houses while going to school which wasn’t enough to support a growing family. I temporarily set my full time studio and teaching art aspirations aside. After scanning the Yellow Pages, began checking out Sign Painting Shops. I got a job in the first one I contacted and spent the next two years learning how to be a journeyman sign painter. I am often asked today how I am able to paint such crisp, clean, straight lines in my paintings of flowers. At the sign shop I had to learn how to paint lettering on the sides of huge corrugated semi-truck trailers that had to be perfect.
Knowing that sign painting didn’t match what I wanted in the end, I steered my life toward becoming a Marriage and Family Therapist. We moved to Pasadena, Ca. to get my Masters Degree in Counseling. I began collecting my supervised counseling hours in Portland, Maine, and eventually Royal Palm Beach, Florida where I was licensed. But the drive to create never went away, even when I had my own private practice as a counselor. I still found myself studying art history and painting in my free time.
Another Turnaround
One day, at the age of 51, I ran into a man who had been selling his paintings at art festivals for 15 years exclusively in Florida and was doing extremely well both artistically and financially. I visited a few art festivals and thought, “I can do that!” I had never known there was a way to make a living as an artist other than teaching it. I sat down with this artist friend of mine and in 5 hours on a Sunday afternoon, he gave me most of the information I needed to succeed in the art festival business. It was shortly after that meeting that I decided to follow the dream and passion that had never left me and go full time into creating and selling my paintings.
My Professional Art Career
I began my professional art career by painting the Florida landscapes and birds that fascinated me. From early childhood, I enjoyed our “walks in the woods” as a family and continue that source of enjoyment to this day. I keep my life “bird list” and have 80 different butterflies and moths which I have collected, mounted, and hung on my bedroom wall. My studio in Florida has a big sliding glass door that overlooks the lake in our back yard. The birds and other wildlife are always a welcome distraction.
My paintings of landscapes and wildlife were very sculptural and stylized. I loved painting them and still do from time to time. One day I decided to paint large paintings of close ups of flowers. I had painted one similar when I attended UCSB years before and loved it. The paintings sold quickly and I have been painting flowers almost exclusively since that time. I have realized I will never run out of subject matter. I travel a lot and always make it a point to visit the local botanical garden. Like hunting for butterflies or birds, I’m always excited to discover a new flower or to see a common one in a new way.
Fifteen Years Later
My four daughters have all moved to other parts of the US and the world. All of them are creative to one extent or another. Now I am seeing some of the creative “DNA” being passed on to a number of our 10 grandchildren.
My wife, Judy, is also extremely creative. She loves to paint, to illustrate and write books, and makes anything she does a creative endeavor. She has been an integral part of helping me in the art production and selling since the beginning.
Since 2001, I have shown in art festivals and galleries in Florida and all over the nation. I remember the days when like so many who have 8 to 5 jobs, I dreaded having to go to work Monday morning. Since 2001, it has been just the opposite for me. I usually can’t wait for Monday morning so I can get back to painting again. The thrill of creating has not diminished over time.
Michael Kuseske