Receiving this award was a big honor for me back then. I think of it sometimes after all these years.

My advice to those who received this honor, go to college for art. I did not and it took me years and years grinding and doing freelance work barely getting by. The term starving artist is not an old saying for nothing. The only thing that kept pushing me forward was passion. No art jobs are going to fall in your lap, you must hound companies and really network as a freelancer to start landing those jobs. The art world it really is not about how good you are, sincerely, it is all about who you know. Art galleries downtown won’t give your stuff a second look unless you are a paying member and volunteering to work at the gallery. Trust me I tried, it is all politics, not the art. So I never got involved with other artists or the local art scene. The one and only art show I happened to get my work in had photographers for art magazines there from as far as New York swarming around my exhibit… so that was enough for me to prove the local “fine art scene” is a sham. I have also had my work on outsider artist magazine covers. If you aren’t trained in college you are an “outsider artist” the term alone tells you how the fine art world treats you.

Congratulations to the winners, I hope you all become a success in the arts. Just work hard, go get formally trained, don’t get discouraged and no matter what anyone tells you don’t stop.