chrisday at Bluecanvas: The Artist Network

About me

My art speaks from the soul of my inner 5 year old! It is REAL LIFE, the day to day hardships and celebrations of growing up, and now, living back in my hometown in the coal mining community of Jeremiah in South Eastern Kentucky.

I recently started working in oil paint and a lot of my inspiration is from an article in my local newspaper, "The Mountain Eagle" called "Speak Your Piece."

I received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from The University of Kentucky in 1981, but think of myself as an Outsider/Folk Artist.

I moved back to my home town in 2006 and have once again given in to my strong desire to create!

I am the child that paints outside the lines! What distinguishes me from other artists is my exploration of all (Mixed Media) mediums, incorporating them into my design concepts which are personalized into sometimes humorous, childlike visuals of brilliant purple skies, mystic realms, personal spiritual beliefs and a forgotten object that's found in the most peculiar of places.

I was born and raised in a small coal mining town in eastern Kentucky. I received both the art and journalism awards in high school. I “ran off” to the “big city” of Lexington, KY where I received a BFA in studio Art from the University of KY in 1985. One of my sculpture pieces was part of a juried exhibit Obsession/Compulsion in Albuquerque, NM in the fall of 1985. Financially drained and unable to continue on to school or find work “in my field” as an artist , I took a position with a child’s photography company, travelling for 2 years where I completed a series of collages called Bad Chex and 3 small oil paintings about my experiences on the road. I moved to Charlotte, NC in 1987, stopped making art and became a workaholic. I was promoted several times at work, but something was missing. As a district manager with yet another photography company, I was transferred to Phoenix, AZ where I spent a year and was promoted once again to a position in Fullerton, CA where I spent a year and a half. Something was missing so I moved back to Charlotte, NC. I continued to work small odd jobs in retail management, but something was still missing. I opened, owned and operated a new age gift shop in Kannapolis, NC from 2001 till the spring of 2006. I completed 1 small 8X10 collage to be used as a cover for a book I wrote on dream interpretations in 2005. Other than that, art was absent in the world as I knew it. The lease was lost to a higher bidding retailer and I lost the building that housed Gypsy Moon and moved back to Jeremiah, KY in the spring of 2006. Something was still missing. Late one night, after seeing the movie The Magdalene Sisters and hearing once again the song Magdalene Laundries by Joni Mitchell, I needed to get the haunting/dreadful imagery out of my head so, I headed to the closest Michael’s (2 hours away in Huntington, WV), picked up a canvas and some paint and found what has been missing from my life….My Creativity, My Painting! I am currently working on a series of collage/paintings from articles people have phoned in to our local newspaper, The Mountain Eagle, called Speak Your Piece. Of which, Inept Doctor’s will be on display at East New Mexico State University’s juried exhibit “FOOTLONG” Oct. 19th thru Nov.15th, 2007. Other pieces will follow that will help get the haunting imagery and judgmental cruelty of life’s unfair moments like the drudgery experienced in the Sister’s laundries. At times, and in some circles it may seem politically incorrect (Lord have Mercy), but thus is the sadness and ranting people feel in needing to speak their piece. Although I live in an old trailer in that little town in east Kentucky, I’m happier than I’ve been in years because it’s my turn to speak my piece and return to the canvas and shout out “I have missed my Creative Self and have found that which was missing!”

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Information

Name: Chris Day

Country: USA

State: KY

City: Jeremiah

Joined: December 22, 2011

School: University of Kentuckky

Occupation: Artist

Favorite Music: punk

Favorite Movie: Diva

Genre: Street Art, Mixed Media, Collage, Painting, 3-Dimensional Art, Cartoons/Comics, Portraits, Installation Art, Book Art, Concept Art