(828) 526-0173 | [email protected] | Copyright 2024 – All Rights Reserved.
Making Tracks with Mud
Written By: - NONE - | Issue: 2019/01 - Winter
Growing up an Air Force brat, Steven Chandler moved around a lot and found himself having to make and remake his mark in new communities.
Born in Nebraska, he grew up all over. His father was an officer and worked in the Space Program.
When asked how he got involved in art, Steven replies, “I started in kindergarten. One day I crawled up a ladder and with a crayon drew large animals on the side of our base quarters. I got one of my only whuppins for that! In school, I drew constantly – war zones, airplanes, shark attacks…you could not close my desktop because of the drawings. But instead of praise, encouragement, and understanding, I got tested to see if I was crazy.”
As Steven’s father was employed by the Air Force and was involved with the Challenger mission, the tragic disaster changed the course for his father. The family had to move to Denver, but Steven opted to head south to South Carolina to live with his grandfather on his farm. He “worked hard slopping pigs, driving hay bales to the cattle on the tractors, mending fences, castrating bulls, and many other God-awful things you do on a farm.”
About his work, Steven says, “I use everything, anything, whatever makes me achieve the look I want. I try not to limit to any medium, but some are easier to work with than others. I prefer natural elements as opposed to processed, but even with that, there are exceptions. I’ve used house paint because it’s cheap, and since it will last years on the outside of your house, it should last forever on a canvas.”
Many people have asked, “Why mud?”
“I was inspired to use the red soil when our outdoor plumbing was dug up,” he says. “Then came a bad storm, and my dog and cat tracked red mud all over the place. There was something in it that caught my eye and stirred something in me. Nothing in a tube can achieve that color. Regular paint, to me now, is like painting with artificial sweetener.”
These paintings are archivally sealed when finished.
Others have tried placing labels on him; of himself, he says, “I am educated, but not trained, self-taught, but not ignorant.”
Around Back at Rocky’s Place has a nice variety of Steven Chandler’s mud paintings, and many different subjects as well as his classics. Visit the gallery at 3631 Highway 53 East in Dawsonville, Georgia, or online at aroundbackatrockysplace.com.
