Hello! I'm Kevin.
Here's a little about me and my art...
This is a photo taken of me with some of my paintings at Phoenix's First Friday art walk downtown.
Let me tell you a little about myself...
Welcome to my website! I hope you have fun investigating all my art: visual, musical, and written. I live in East Phoenix with my partner, Brian (he says hello, too!) and my cat, Sophie. I happen to be disabled, and am currently working to make a living with my art. Not an easy task, but I'm trying! Below, I'm posting the standard "bio" I give out to collectors who buy my art and who request it. Read on and discover a little more about me. And, if you have any questions or comments for me, please don't hesitate to send me mail. I'd love to hear from you.
A
Short Biography of Kevin Frison
I
began my adult career not as an artist, but as an archaeologist.
When asked, even as a very young child, what I wanted to be when I grew
up, I invariably responded “an archaeologist.”
I can’t really remember not wanting to be an archaeologist.
It was just something I always wanted to do.
So as a young man, I entered the anthropology program at the University
of Arizona in Tucson, still intent on becoming an archaeologist.
Unfortunately,
though, while at college, the first symptoms of mental illness started to
appear. It
was a horrible nightmare.
I had no idea what was happening to me, and as a result, it was to be
years yet before I’d get medical help.
I began to suffer from violent mood swings, and managing education and
work schedules became increasingly difficult.
I did, however, finish up my undergraduate degree and, after
graduating, was even able to begin working as a contract archaeologist.
I
worked a number of years doing archaeology, and then entered graduate school at
Northern Arizona University, majoring in Quaternary Studies.
I was then twenty-four.
By this time, though, the symptoms of mental illness had become more and
more pronounced, resulting ultimately in the inability to attend school or work.
I still suffered from wild mood swings, and began to experience auditory
hallucinations and severe paranoia accompanied by delusions.
It was then that I first began to receive treatment through the
state-subsidized system for the mentally ill.
Such treatment probably saved my life, although the following ten years
were mentally tumultuous, and I was put on seemingly every psychotropic drug in
existence before finally encountering a medication combination that seemed to
work fairly well on my symptoms.
At about the same time I started receiving regular treatment for my mental illness, I began to paint, with a friend’s encouragement. At first I created only paintings influenced heavily by Southwestern prehistoric ceramic and rock art designs. I found inspiration for these paintings in my experience working as an archaeologist throughout the Southwest and my consequent knowledge of Native American ceramic and rock art designs. Here’s a pic of my first painting in that style:
I
found that these paintings had a fairly broad appeal, and began sell my first
works of art.
Some
time later, I discovered that art was art, and that visual art contained within
it the same basic principles and methods of artistic conveyance that the
performing arts contained. I had
only very rudimentary training in the visual arts, but had grown up a musician;
I had formal training in piano performance and in music composition.
I found that all art required serious thought and implication, toward
inference on the part of an audience.
Many
of my early paintings included blatant, unmistakable text.
I think now that it was principally my use of text that prompted a
gallery owner in Flagstaff to label me an “outsider artist.”
The label still fits fairly well, however, since I am largely self-taught
when it comes to the visual arts.
Over the years, I turned toward more expressionistic forms and
implied text. More
recently, however, I have returned to including obvious, printed text, usually
of poetry that I've written specifically for use as collage, on my abstract
paintings. So I continue to call myself an "outsider artist" on
both counts: the use of text and the fact that I have no formal training in the
visual arts.
Now I work as a visual artist, selling paintings as I can to supplement my fixed income. I remain unsure as to whether or not my mental illness is reflected in my art. It must be, though, to some extent or another. Though mental illness has created a great deal of suffering in my life, it has also proffered me different, new, and open views on things in general. Those with serious mental illness in general tend to be more receptive to new ideas. I hope that my audience is affected by my work as much as I am myself.
I do much of my painting at Art Awakenings, a studio/gallery in downtown Phoenix that, as a nonprofit organization, provides an open studio with free art supplies, including everything from paint and canvas to sculpting clay, for the mentally ill community here in metropolitan Phoenix. Any client receiving mental health services through the state-subsidized system is eligible to participate in the creation of original works of art at the studio. Members are free to work on any type of artwork they please, and the organization also provides classes in various art media, as well as in the written word, and at times in music, for those who desire more formal instruction. I rather dislike the idea of taking a structured class in art, but, interestingly, I have recently, in 2007, taught a four-week seminar that I called "Writing Poetry through the Use of Imagery." The class was, in my own assessment, a tremendous success, and it was a delight to see my students learn to write their own original poetry using imagery as the principle tool of communication.
In
addition to the studio space, Art Awakenings also functions as a gallery, where
member artists can exhibit their work in a juried exhibition each month for
"First Friday,"
Whew! That said, here's another photo of me:
I'm sitting in the little urban garden I've managed to create on our apartment porch... yeah, I like plants. Smile. I find gardening just about as therapeutic as I do the creation of art.
Finally, here's a pic of me sitting here at my computer, where I also spend a lot of time:
Have fun exploring the rest of my website!