In the studio of his home on Greendale Drive in Edgewood, illustrator Jeff Pierson finds inspiration amid a mind-boggling array of old toys, figurines, drawings and other fanciful artifacts of childhood.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- It's a grownup's fantasyland, a colorful, magical place brimming with tiny dolls, statues, action figures and other playthings. Surrounded by these childlike collectibles, Jeff Pierson finds both peace and stimulation for his artistry.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- It's a grownup's fantasyland, a colorful, magical place brimming with tiny dolls, statues, action figures and other playthings. Surrounded by these childlike collectibles, Jeff Pierson finds both peace and stimulation for his artistry.
Known for his distinctive fantasy drawings, a style he calls "exaggerated realism," he would love to sit there in his home-based studio and eke it out as a full-time illustrator.
So much for the dream. In the real world, he values his position as director of arts for the state Department of Culture and History. It pays the bills.
Apparently, his day job benefits from the same intensity he brings to after-hours artwork. West Virginia ranks among the top 10 states in arts funding, he reported proudly.
"I grew up in Charleston on Newhouse Drive. We later moved to a place in Elk Hills toward Elkview. My parents always, always encouraged me to draw. My dad is an engineer and incredible at woodworking. So he's creative in that sense.
"My extended family is very creative. Everybody in the family says I got my creative juices from my uncle, Roger Cain, my mom's little brother. Every weekend, I would go to his house, and we would draw and draw and draw.
"Even when I was very small, I would draw these little angels. Some were smoking pipes and some were just flying around. I still have those drawings.
"We were getting art in school. I went to Shoals Elementary and Roosevelt Junior High and Capital High. At Shoals, we had art classes, but it was nothing compared to having the hands-on, one-on-one experience with my uncle showing me how to draw.
"In grade school, I remember getting in trouble for the first time when the teacher called my mom and told her they had a problem with me. I wouldn't color in the coloring books. I had a moral dilemma at age 5 that if I didn't do the drawing, I didn't want to color it.
"In math class, I drew. In science class, I drew. That's just what I did. I was driven to be an artist. Originally, I wanted to be an animator for Disney. I would watch Disney movies and old cartoons. I studied how the cartoon was made.
"When we were able to get VCRs later, I would pause them and watch frame by frame and see how things would move. I was fascinated by that process of animation.
"I went to Columbus College of Art and Design, the place to go for animation, and actually did an internship with Disney. About the same time, I met Chris Payne, C.F. Payne, a guy coming in to teach illustration at the college.
"He turned me to illustration. The definition of illustration is illuminating the written word. Animation class was incredibly difficult. You draw and draw and draw just to get a couple seconds of film. With illustration, you draw once and you are done.
"DaVinci and Michelangelo were illustrators. The illustration masters would spend months on painting, and I wasn't into painting. Chris taught me a quick painting style, and I started loving illustration and made that turn.
"After college, I stayed in Columbus about a year. I worked at the library and did freelance illustration. I wanted to come home. I'm a family guy. We've always been very close family. And I just wanted to get home to the mountains. I love West Virginia, the pace of it.
"A friend was trying to talk me into coming to Brooklyn. He said if I was going to be an illustrator, I needed to be in New York. I thought, well, I can do it by Fed Ex.
"I found some local gigs, like illustrations for the Gazette, things that kept me going. All I ever wanted was just enough to make it. I have no interest in wealth and material things other than toys. I love toys.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- It's a grownup's fantasyland, a colorful, magical place brimming with tiny dolls, statues, action figures and other playthings. Surrounded by these childlike collectibles, Jeff Pierson finds both peace and stimulation for his artistry.Known for his distinctive fantasy drawings, a style he calls "exaggerated realism," he would love to sit there in his home-based studio and eke it out as a full-time illustrator.
So much for the dream. In the real world, he values his position as director of arts for the state Department of Culture and History. It pays the bills.
Apparently, his day job benefits from the same intensity he brings to after-hours artwork. West Virginia ranks among the top 10 states in arts funding, he reported proudly.
"I grew up in Charleston on Newhouse Drive. We later moved to a place in Elk Hills toward Elkview. My parents always, always encouraged me to draw. My dad is an engineer and incredible at woodworking. So he's creative in that sense.
"My extended family is very creative. Everybody in the family says I got my creative juices from my uncle, Roger Cain, my mom's little brother. Every weekend, I would go to his house, and we would draw and draw and draw.
"Even when I was very small, I would draw these little angels. Some were smoking pipes and some were just flying around. I still have those drawings.
"We were getting art in school. I went to Shoals Elementary and Roosevelt Junior High and Capital High. At Shoals, we had art classes, but it was nothing compared to having the hands-on, one-on-one experience with my uncle showing me how to draw.
"In grade school, I remember getting in trouble for the first time when the teacher called my mom and told her they had a problem with me. I wouldn't color in the coloring books. I had a moral dilemma at age 5 that if I didn't do the drawing, I didn't want to color it.
"In math class, I drew. In science class, I drew. That's just what I did. I was driven to be an artist. Originally, I wanted to be an animator for Disney. I would watch Disney movies and old cartoons. I studied how the cartoon was made.
"When we were able to get VCRs later, I would pause them and watch frame by frame and see how things would move. I was fascinated by that process of animation.
"I went to Columbus College of Art and Design, the place to go for animation, and actually did an internship with Disney. About the same time, I met Chris Payne, C.F. Payne, a guy coming in to teach illustration at the college.
"He turned me to illustration. The definition of illustration is illuminating the written word. Animation class was incredibly difficult. You draw and draw and draw just to get a couple seconds of film. With illustration, you draw once and you are done.
"DaVinci and Michelangelo were illustrators. The illustration masters would spend months on painting, and I wasn't into painting. Chris taught me a quick painting style, and I started loving illustration and made that turn.
"After college, I stayed in Columbus about a year. I worked at the library and did freelance illustration. I wanted to come home. I'm a family guy. We've always been very close family. And I just wanted to get home to the mountains. I love West Virginia, the pace of it.
"A friend was trying to talk me into coming to Brooklyn. He said if I was going to be an illustrator, I needed to be in New York. I thought, well, I can do it by Fed Ex.
"I found some local gigs, like illustrations for the Gazette, things that kept me going. All I ever wanted was just enough to make it. I have no interest in wealth and material things other than toys. I love toys.
"I'm really connected to my childhood. I had a very positive childhood. I have a lot of toys from when I was a child and I still collect toys. Every time the mood strikes, I buy an action figure. It's one of those guilty pleasures. I surround myself with them. I'm very inspired by color and that nostalgia of having old toys. Illustration is such a whimsical thing.
"I started working for the state five years ago. When I decided to get married and have a child, I needed some job security to support them. You have to pay the bills.
"I work for the Division of Culture and History as the director of arts, which is probably as far away from illustration as you can get. I'm an arts administrator, a paper pusher. I'm over the arts section with seven employees. I administer grants. If you look across the country, West Virginia ranks in the top 10 in arts funding. That's my job. We find money and fund arts.
"I had a math teacher at Capital tell my mom, 'If Jeff thinks he's going to make a career in the arts, he's crazy.' I would love to send her my letterhead now, but that would be arrogant.
"I make time to satisfy my love for illustration. I stay up late and get up early on weekends. I do a lot of commissioned portraits for people as Christmas gifts.
"For a while, I carried three or four clients. I had a law firm I worked with closely for a number of years. Every quarter, we would do a different lawyer who had made significant contributions to the practice of law.
"I always do caricatures. It's very exaggerated. I've always seen things in a skewed view, so for me, that's realism. I can do realism, but I love to exaggerate. If you are going to do realism, take a picture. I admire it, but it doesn't interest me personally.
"I like to call my style exaggerated realism, not quite caricature and not quite realism. I like to push and pull things just a bit. Caricature is another word for cartoon, so it works out.
"I market myself as an illustrator. When someone has a story or an idea, I want to give an image to it. In social situations, when I hear a story, I think, 'Wow, that would be a cool illustration.' That's how some of my paintings come to be.
"I have 14 or 15 children's books I would love to do, but they're sitting on the back burner, books I've written and manuscripts people have sent me. It's just not a very lucrative business.
"I try to draw as much as possible. Drawing is second nature to me. I have stacks and stacks of sketchbooks. In a restaurant, I would turn the placemat around and draw on it. Some of my best drawings in high school were on my math papers.
"I want to stay in West Virginia as long as I can. It's tough because money is always an issue, getting a salary for what I do. As an arts administrator, it seems to be working, kind of.
"I'm the most peaceful in this room working on paintings. I would love to do illustration all day and make money at it. That would be my dream, to be a full-time illustrator, magazines, children's books, whatever. If I were to push myself, I probably could, but it's not steady. It's flooding or drought. So it's scary to try to make it work.
"My Uncle Roger died in '96. My uncle had contracted the AIDS virus. He lived a very eccentric life, and in the '70s and '80s, he did a lot of drugs and was promiscuous. And contracted AIDS.
"He was an educator. He thought he could help people understand the disease and prevent people from getting it. He was very instrumental in creating educational programs. He held candlelight vigils. He fought and fought to get programs for people living with AIDS.
"I submitted his nomination for World AIDS Day, and he won the award this year. I would not be doing what I'm doing without my Uncle Roger's inspiration. It is with me every single day."
Reach Sandy Wells at san...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5173.
Get Connected