Artist Statement
I had a dear friend, gone now, who was a real artist, with an actual art degree and everything. Years ago he said to me, in rather an off-the-cuff way, “You know Terry, you are the only true artist I know!” At first I thought he was kidding. I didn’t have an art degree, or even a huge body of work. Then it sunk in, it wasn’t about what I had already done, it was about how I viewed the world and the way I fit into it. That comment has lived in me as one of the most touching complements I have ever received. In it he affirmed to me that being an artist is much more than drawing or painting or sculpture, much more than technique. It is a way of “seeing” the world and the life that we are experiencing in it every day. And then, mirroring back that experience in the things we create. That is why in my creations, be them visual, musical or any other medium, I prefer not to pre-visualize, but like a writer of drama let the story unfold as it is being revealed. Not to “think” about the creation, but to let it create itself through my own perception, memory, skills and energy.
What I hope to convey isn’t some profound insight into reality, but a genuine authentic representation of what I have seen and felt through my adventure of living. What the viewer will see is an aggregate of my emotional history, the places I’ve been and the experiences I’ve had. If I can create in the viewer a tiny part of that emotional memory I will have succeeded.
Terry Halstead - Bio
Terry Halstead is an American creator, artist and musician from Oregon where he has lived with his family for over thirty years. He grew up outside of Detroit in Flint Michigan where he lived the real “American Graffiti” of the 50’s and 60’s. Hotrods, drive-ins and Rock & Roll music set the stage for his teen years. His mother was an artist, an oil painter and his father loved technical things and worked construction. It is no wonder that his energy was influenced (and often conflicted) by both of those worlds, and the reason he decided to study science and art!
Terry has had a long and varied career. But for one decade in the corporate world, his career choices were pretty much always artistically influenced. From a professional touring musician and DECCA recording artist, to photographer, to film maker, to fine artist/oil painter, he loved the challenges of learning and mastering many genera's of the arts.
Today he spends most of his creative time exploring painting. His current passion is the exploration of “intuitive” creation, drawing on his life of memories and experiences to capture the emotions of those times. Many of his memories are from his life “on the road” as a touring musician. A musician’s life is mostly at night in cities. Dark alley’s with random pools of light, maybe a feral cat scurrying by into the darkness. In his current series “Nocturnal Cityscapes” he wants the viewer to hear a lonely saxophone echoing from somewhere in the dark shadows.
“ I sincerely hope you feel my work and enjoy it with the same passion I created it with.”
Thank you for your interest,
Terry Halstead