Bean cooking in his kitchen 1987.

“It’s not about talent, it's about what you do with art.” A.E. Backus (circa 1985)

The last brat studio is a play on the group of kids who hung-out around the studio known as “Backus Brats.” I am not special, just happened to be the last one. I met Backus through a school mentorship program and specifically a PE teacher who went above and beyond. It began with a meeting with Bean at his studio one Saturday morning.

Backus was sitting in his chaise lounge next to a small table with the News Tribune and Miami Herald on it. Little did I know we would eventually play multiple games of chess and discuss philosophy, literature, art, and the meaning of life at that little table. He viewed a small sample of my artwork in an old yellow legal pad binder. It was the beginning of a journey that has profoundly changed my life.

We started my mentorship one Saturday a week, which grew into weekend sleep-overs, the entire summer, and picking me up from school on the weekends to paint at the studio. My room was right over the kitchen next to Don’s. From 1985 until 1990 the studio was my second home and Backus was like a father to me. “You can’t chop a tree with a dull axe.” French Proverb

As a young artist the bohemian lifestyle of the studio was the perfect medicine for creativity. I can still remember the smell of oil paint, the sound of jazz, and the comfort from the people who were drawn to the studio. That place was alive, and you never knew when a party could happen, or if the mayor, or stray congressman would show up. If I am ever known for my art, It is my wish to be known as a great humanitarian, and to pass it on.

As Artist’s we spend a lifetime searching for our voice and after 38 years of painting, I have finally found mine. Thank you Jane Howard, PhD, teacher, mentor, and voice inside my head. I see the cup now.