cyrus walker

"I grew up in a rural area of northern Vermont where cows outnumber people. Without a lot of conventional teenage activities to participate in, I found myself spending a lot of time wandering the green landscape and wondering about my personal circumstances. I was a child born into a world without the internet and no way to learn about the world other than books and experience. Of course this all changed when I got a little older, but with the earth still in the early stages of accepting this new found way to share knowledge I primarily kept on with my preferred method of experiencing the world, personal experience. I learned how to trust my interests and insight.

Eventually I moved to Montana to study at Montana State University. Oddly enough I did not apply to the art program as I believed that my mind and body were better suited to pursue a career in some field involving the outdoors. This feeling quickly dissipated and was consumed by a deep feeling of uncertainty, not only for my future, but who I was as a person and what I could offer this world. Things being as they were I decided to do when I don't know what to do, and that is to do what comes natural.

I had shown an interest in art as a child and all through high school I was able to take classes like computer arts and animation and life drawing. I was quite adept at getting my thoughts onto paper and communicating on a visual level. In fact, my early thoughts about pursuing higher education involved art school, but after visiting a couple programs around the country I came to the conclusion that artists are a strange bunch of shut-ins and I wanted nothing to do with them. Boy did I eat my words as I filled out the paperwork to be considered as a student at MSU's art school where I went on to study graphic design and illustration.

Eventually I found myself as a fresh college alumni with a budding career as a graphic designer. I had taken it upon myself to start a little business in Bozeman Montana providing identity systems, package design, advertising for the local businesses within Gallatin county and a few clients on a national scale. Things were good. I was happy working with my hands and mind everyday, but something was festering inside of me.

I have always been a bit of a busy body. Finding things to do in my downtime has never been an issue for me. I believe I can thank my rural upbringing for that. I started filling up my time messing around with little art related side projects. I would make posters featuring attractions of YellowStone National Park and sell them to vendors. I would draw some quirky tongue and cheek image and get it screen printed on shirts and sell them to local businesses.

The list of side projects was long and one item on that list was painting. I had never really given any serious thought to pursuing fine art as a career as it seemed like a lot of pandering to the better nature of gallery owners who, "Have been in that art business a long time and know how things work." My initial feelings about the industry turned out to be correct, but I trudged along earnestly and was eventually granted access by a handful of encouraging and enthusiastic gallery owners to show my work with them.

By the time I could call myself a professional artist I had completely shut down the design business and was entirely swept away by the current of the art world. This was a beautiful awakening. I now spent my time not concerned with the constant dilemma of the design world of trying to communicate someone else’s thoughts and ideas into a visual form and instead I could focus on my own. This freedom to contemplate one's own mind can be a foreboding endeavor, but I took it in stride. I called upon my early beginning and how I used to formulate opinions about the world and before other peoples truths started to influence my own.

Through deep meditation and a healthy pursuit of my own interests I began to let myself unravel the knotted mess that was my mind. I had thoughts and right or wrong they were my own. As the philosopher Rene Descartes once said, "I think, therefore I am." This is essentially a contemplation of one's own existence and an understanding that nearly every sensation can be false or not to be taken at face value. The mind however, influenced or not, is the proof of existence and whatever thoughts or feelings are generated can be valid in one way or another. This sentiment was later argued in opposition by Hobbs, but we can get into that another time. Ultimately, I started painting my own mythology of the world. Most of the work has some underlying message utilizing the common themes of life but rarely thought about or remembered." - Cyrus