Blog by Mike O'Day.
ARTspot is proud to represent Mike's work at our store in Edmonds, WA.
How does a kid who loves to draw and make things out of cardboard with mom’s steak knives, eventually buy a kiln and try to scratch out a living making Cheetalopes?
Fast forward to college, where the art students were separated into two groups: Commercial Artists that were prepared to sell their souls creating ads for banks (I actually got to draw an occasional illustration!), and Real Artists that painted nudes and were prepared to live perpetually in mom and dad’s basement.
After 4-5 years of selling my soul (but not living in the basement), my wife Chris and I headed from St. Louis to LA, where, on a lark, I answered an ad to draw caricatures on historic Olvera Street. This is a tourist destination, so I spent two years honing my skills drawing thousands of people from all over the planet. I also learned that school kids on field trips would gladly pay $1 for a kinko’s copy of Bo Jackson, M.C. Hammer, and Vanilla Ice.
When son #1 was born, I quit the carefree life of a caricature artist and began the role of stay-at-home dad/freelance illustrator/home improvement guy. Changing diapers, creating humorous illustrations of Michael Jordan for Inside Sports, and hanging sheetrock became my full-time job. After son #2 was born and they both started school, I began teaching art at the local co-op where I met a potter named Julie Perrine.
Julie invited me to check out Sculptors Workshop which was ruled by our benevolent dictator Rose Morgan. Two years later, my sculpture “Red Plant Man” won best in show at the Edmonds Arts Festival. Unfortunately, my streak abruptly ended the next year. After purchasing a fellow members kiln, and setting up shop at home, the rest is history.
I still like to occasionally make stuff out of cardboard now and again.
You can always find Mikes ceramic sculpture at ARTspot.
From Mike O'Day Blog originally published April 6th, 2013See Mikes work at his website: http://odayart.com/wordpress/about/