James Shefik 

I grew up with a very artistically talented mother and was always encouraged in that same pursuit. I was the kid that could draw well at a young age, and kept going when most others stopped. In the 6th grade an art teacher told me I was doing my art project wrong! 29 years later, in 2002, I took my second art class. It was an atelier program teaching oil painting in the renaissance style. We started learning to see form, light and shadow, by drawing from still life. Most of the other students used the plaster casts and reflective bowls filled with fruit etc., that the teacher provided. I began building odd things to draw. Soon I stopped drawing the objects and kept building odd things.