On a recent visit to Portland my friend Jean, whom I have known since high-school, took me to her cousins home for dinner, where Monte and his wife Susan made a meal fit for any gourmet restaurant. To my great delight Montes father Bill was with us that evening and I had an opportunity to speak with him about his life as an artist and view many of his large works that now are in every room of his sons home.
Bills style is modern abstract, he painted everything from nudes to landscapes. He now lives in a retirement community where I had the opportunity to take a few photos of him, he is still painting smaller works, many of which are on display in the public rooms of the home.
Bill is 90 this year, still sharp as ever and a wonderfully pleasant fellow.
Here is a short interview I did with him.
Q: Tell me a little about your life as an artist what inspired you?
A: My paintings were often influenced by where I lived and the landscapes of the area, and the people I knew. I have my Midwest work, and my Southwest landscapes, I made a series of mesa-scapes that were sold in galleries in New Mexico. My other son lived there at the time, he was also an artist, and when I would visit, I worked in his studio which was set up with all the equipment and materials for mono printing. I would make as many as I could on each visit. I also enjoyed doing still life’s and nudes. then also there are my pieces that were inspired by Zen.
Q: Are you a Zen practitioner?
A: No I didn’t study Zen formally, but I found it inspiring.
Q: Do you sketch before you make a painting?
A: No, I contemplate the feeling, then make my first line on the canvas, that line determines the direction of the piece.
Q: Other than the mono prints were you mostly doing large canvas paintings?
A: No, at first I preferred to work on wood or masonite boards, I liked the solid surface. But eventually I had some problems with warping. So I had to switch to stretching canvas.
Q: Now you are 90 and still painting, that is quite an accomplishment.
A: Yes, even if you are an artist your whole life, when you get older, some people tell you, “you can’t do that now”. but it’s like it Calls to me so that’s what I have to do.
Q: I see you have a lot of lovely small paintings here in your apartment, is that what you are working on now?
A: No most of the work you see here I did years ago. I just got this space set up recently.
Q: It is very clever how you have everything arranged, I like your system with the clips on the wall for your brushes.
A: As an artist there are certain brushes you favor, and use over and over, if you can give them a good cleaning, then hang them up like this to dry with the tips down, then they have a nice point on them when you’re ready to use them again.
Q: So what will you be painting now that you have your new studio space set up here?
A: I set this up to support smaller works of art, I will focus on water media and maybe some mixed media. Like many old folks I had accumulated too many things, When I moved here I had to decide what was most important, what I needed and what would help me with my work, what would inspire me. I have a few little things around me that have memories.
Q: What would you say was the most important driving force behind the work you have created?
A: For reasons that are difficult to define, I had a feeling there was something else, beyond the material aspect of my life, this search, this process, is what tells me, you don’t wait for inspiration, you just do it.
Interview by Nina Pak.
Billy Garrett was born in Picher, Oklahoma in 1923, and at an early age was experimenting with his own original style of modern artwork. He was actively cultivating this budding interest by creating artistic pieces in high school before enlisting in the Navy and serving in the South Pacific from 1941 to 1945. His sketches were an important contribution to the local newsletter published on board the USS Colorado during active service in World War II.
This artistic ability was more formally developed in training at the Kansas City Art Institute from 1946 to1948, and afterward in a year at the Taos Valley Art School in New Mexico. Thereafter, Billy began creating a personal collection of artwork in his home studio in Wichita, Kansas, while laying out advertisements for the local newspaper to support his young and growing family. His knack for design work culminated in a career as an executive with an advertising agency in Topeka, Kansas, but he never abandoned his pursuit of personal expression through his original works.
Billy’s artwork is presented in oil and latex mediums, and his abstract and narrative pieces have been displayed in galleries and private collections throughout the U.S. As Director of the Topeka Art Guild, Billy was active in local galleries and worked with young professionals in developing their own styles, integrating their artistic abilities with their growing careers.
Most of Billy’s remaining artwork now resides with family members near where he lives in Hillsboro, Oregon. He continues to create occasional pieces from his home studio.