Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kevin Kehoe. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Kevin, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
My mission as an artist couldn’t be simpler. My mission was to answer the slightly daunting question…”What if?”
“What if I became an artist? What if I became a photographer at the same time as becoming a painter?
What if became a storyteller about becoming both a painter and a photographer?
What if I left my successful thirty-year career in advertising to do all of the above?”
What if I took a risk the size of Utah? “What if? What if? What if?”
I wasn’t interested in a partial answer either. I was after the whole enchilada of an answer.
I wanted the deep, dimensional, enlightening, revealing, life-changing answer.
So that’s where I’ll begin my story.
Right there.
Is taking a risk the risk, or is not taking the risk the actual risk?
I whole-heartedly subscribe to the latter, and I have the beautiful, partial, work-in-progress answer to prove it.
Ten years ago I pulled the plug on a very lucrative, intense, stimulating, wild, creatively fun advertising career that spanned thirty years and awarded me a seat as Chief Creative Officer of a large West-coast agency.
I then rented a studio space in Heber Valley, Utah, next door to Park City, and started my journey as full-time painter, evolving photographer, and terrified human being.
I went from being surrounded by an a small army of people that could bring an advertising idea to life to a guy alone in a room staring at a blank canvas who wanted to take dead aim at becoming a serious artist.
GULP.
I hadn’t picked up a brush since art school thirty years prior because my advertising career kept me in full-time day-and-night survival mode and there just wasn’t time to dabble as an artist let alone devote myself to navigating the path to becoming a legit painter.
Okay, let’s leave it there and fast forward ten plus years so I can make my point about taking a risk.
When I began as an artist my goals were many; identify what inspired me and why, identify my painting style, figure out my medium, my materials, my everything.
My main goal was to see if I could get my work accepted into a gallery for representation.
Looking back, those were important, if not lofty, goals for someone who hadn’t picked up a brush in thirty years.
Ten years later, a lot of beautifully rewarding things have happened, things I wouldn’t have imagined when I took those first few steps on the path to becoming a full-time artist.
I can honestly say that after leaving that 30-year advertising career, I’ve never looked back.
I paint almost every single day and when I’m not painting I’m shooting images for my collection of limited edition prints.
The reality of walking in my studio each morning to immerse myself in whatever piece I’m working on is the kind of creative fulfillment and personal reward that I was never able to realize in advertising.
The personal reward that has come with each passing year of the risk of reinventing myself is invaluable.
While the day-to-day working as a full-time painter/photographer is the driving force behind my happiness, the things that I’ve accomplished along the way are the meaningful milestones that propel me forward and have given me the confidence, energy, and inspiration to aim higher and believe that my very best work is ahead of me.
Here’s why not taking the risk ten years ago would have been the real risk.
and I only outline the following list as inspiration for whoever’s contemplating taking a similar risk in their career and their life.
My work has been represented by several of the top galleries in the Western United States including Altamira Fine Art in Jackson, WY and Scottsdale, The Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery in Tucson, and Gallery MAR in Park City, Utah. I’ve also had work hang in The George Billis Gallery in New York City.
I’ve had two solo exhibitions, one at Altamira Fine Art in Scottsdale and one at Modern West Fine Art in Sat Lake City.
I was invited to be one half of the inaugural exhibition of paintings to open a new, beautiful museum in Southern Utah. The Southern Utah Museum of Art in Cedar City, Utah.
I have a painting in the permanent collection of the State of Utah and it currently hangs in the Governor’s mansion. I also have a painting in the permanent collection of the Booth Western Art Museum in Georgia.
I was named “New Artist to Watch” by Southwest Art Magazine in 2018.
My work has been published in Western Art Magazine, Southwest Art Magazine, Heber Valley Life Magazine and others.
On the photography front, I’ve had three images make it as Finalists in Communication Arts Photography competition in the past two years.
I’ve had my photography exhibited throughout five Showcase of Homes events in the Park City / Heber Valley area.
I’m currently in the process of opening Heber’s first gallery. A gallery for my Simple Beauty Limited Edition prints.
I’ve painted three commission pieces and am currently on my fourth, which will equal my largest painting to date.
These are just some of the highlights that I offer up as why not taking a risk can prove to be the bigger risk.
When I set out to become a painter it was to answer the question, “What if?”
I knew then, that if I got to a point in my life, and couldn’t take the risk, and wasn’t able to answer that question, it would have eaten me alive.
And as far as I know, no soul searching, career-changing “What if?” asking person wants to be eaten alive.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My mission as an artist couldn’t be simpler. My mission is to answer the slightly daunting question….. “What if?”
“What if I had become an artist? What if I became a photographer at the same time as becoming a painter?
What if became a storyteller about becoming both a painter and a photographer?
What if I leave my successful, thirty year career in advertising to do all of the above?”
What if I take a risk the size of Utah? “What if?, What if? What if?”
I not interested in a partial answer either. I’m after the whole enchilada of an answer.
I want the deep, dimensional, enlightening, revealing, life-changing answer.
So that’s where I’ll begin my story.
Right there.
Is taking a risk the risk, or is not taking the risk the risk?
I whole-heartedly subscribe to the latter, and I have the beautiful, partial, work-in-progress answer to prove it.
Ten years ago I pulled the plug on a very lucrative, intense, stimulating, wild, creatively fun advertising career that spanned thirty years and awarded me a seat as Chief Creative Officer of a large West-coast agency.
Instead, I rented a studio space in Heber Valley, Utah, next door to Park City and started my journey as full-time painter, evolving photographer, and terrified human being.
I went from being surrounded by an a small army of people that could bring an idea to life to a guy, alone in a room staring at a blank canvas who wanted to take dead aim at becoming a serious artist.
GULP.
I hadn’t picked up a brush since art school thirty years prior because my advertising career kept me in full time, day and night survival mode and there just wasn’t time to dabble as an artist let alone devote myself to navigating the path to becoming a legit painter.
Okay, let’s leave it there and fast forward ten plus years so I can make my point about taking a risk.
When I began as an artist my goals were many; identify what inspired me and why, Identify my painting style, figure out my medium, my materials, my everything.
My main goal was to see if I could get my work accepted into a gallery for representation.
looking back, those were important, if not lofty goals for someone who hadn’t picked up brush in thirty years.
Ten years later, a lot of beautifully rewarding things have happened, things I wouldn’t have imagined when I took those first few steps on the path to becoming a full-time artist.
I can honestly say that after leaving that thirty year advertising career, I’ve never looked back.
I paint almost every single day and when I’m not painting I’m shooting images for my collection of limited edition prints.
The reality of walking in my studio each morning to immerse myself in whatever piece I’m working on is the kind of creative fulfillment and personal reward that I was never able to realize in advertising.
The personal reward that has come with each passing year of the risk of reinventing myself is invaluable.
While the day to day working as a full-time painter / photographer is the driving force behind my happiness, the things that I’ve accomplished along the way are the meaningful milestones that propel me forward and have given me the confidence, energy, and inspiration to aim higher and believe that my very best work is ahead of me.
Here’s why not taking the risk ten years ago would have been the real risk.
and I only outline the following list as inspiration to whoever’s contemplating taking a similar risk in there career and their life.
My work has been represented by several of the top galleries in the Western United States including Altamira Fine Art in Jackson, Wy and Scottsdale, AZ, The Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery in Tucson, AZ and Gallery MAR in Park City, Utah. I’ve also had work hang in The George Billis Gallery in New York.
I’ve has two solo exhibitions, one at Altamira Fine Art in Scottsdale and one at Modern West Fine Art in Sat Lake City.
I was invited to be one half of the inaugural exhibition of paintings to open a new, beautiful museum in Southern Utah. The Southern Utah Museum of Art in Cedar City, Utah.
I have a painting in he permanent collection of the State of Utah and it currently hangs in the Governor’s mansion in Salt Lake City. I also have a painting in the permanent collection of the Booth Western Art Museum in Georgia.
I was named “New Artist to Watch” by Southwest Art Magazine in 2018.
My work has been published in Western Art Magazine, Southwest Art Magazine, Heber Valley Life Magazine and others.
On the photography front, I’ve had three images make it a finalists in Communication Arts Photography competition in the past two years.
I’ve had my photography exhibited throughout five Showcase of Homes events in the Park City / Heber Valley area.
I’m currently in the process of opening Heber’s first gallery. A gallery for my Simple Beauty Limited Edition prints.
I’ve painted three commission pieces and am currently on my fourth, which will equal my largest painting to date.
These are just some of the highlights hat I offer up as why not taking a risk can prove to be the real risk.
When I set out to become a painter it was to answer the question, “What if?”
I knew then, that if I got to a point in my life, and couldn’t take the risk, and wasn’t able to answer that question it would have eaten me alive.
And as far as I know, no soul searching, career-changing, “What if?” asking person wants to be eaten alive.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Sometimes I think risk and resilience are forces that are presented to us in tandem to test our will in situations, or as I prefer to call them, opportunities. I was invited to have 12 paintings exhibited in the brand new Southern Utah Museum of Art in 2015. The theme of the painting series was called Western Therapy. These were large paintings, each with a human element immersed in the grandeur of a landscape that celebrate how the majestic, spiritual spaces and places of the American West nourish us by feeding our soul, giving us perspective, and helping us hit the reset button in the context of life’s trials and tribulations.
I had six or seven paintings in the series but would need to have 12, a request made by the braintrust of the museum. All paintings would need to be completed by an early July deadline for a mid-July opening exhibition. It was late April.
Generally my paintings take me about a month each so I needed to create five more in the timespan that it takes me to do about two and a half.
GULP.
I clearly understood that the opportunity to have work exhibited and be one half of the inaugural exhibit to open a brand new museum was a once in a lifetime opportunity, especially for an emerging artist. So this deadline was a major test. A major challenge. I like to call this kind of test in life, “running into the storm, not from it.”
Long story short, I reached down deep and painted day and night from April to July.
It was hard. It was difficult. I was tired. Staying sharp and focused during very long days and nights was very tough.
But paintings don’t paint themselves, and my aim was to make the last five pieces stronger than the first seven.
I made the deadline, I made it to the show with a series of 12 pieces I was immensely proud of, and that exposure, awareness, and zeal for my work by visitors to the museum made my career leap forward in countless ways. More doors opened and I ran through them.
I often fondly use the phrase, “Cowboy Up”. I truly believe I “Cowboy’d Up” at a time when it mattered most.
As proud as I am of the work that was hung on those museum walls, I was even more proud of my effort.
I still draw upon that test when I face new ones.
Finding out what you’re made of is a beautiful thing. And once you know, the big, beautiful Western sky is the limit.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is having a platform of visual personal expression that allows friends, family and acquaintances to get to know you in a way and on a deeper level than they would know you otherwise. For people in general, they come to know and understand what truly inspires you, how you’re wired, and what’s in your heart. For me, because of my paintings and photography, I feel people who follow my work see the threads that knit the holistic sweater. They see, through my eyes and through my lens, the beauty I observe in our world and what truly speaks to me and resonates with me. My expression has become a second language, a visual voice in which I can communicate in ways that are more dimensional and dynamic. There’s a Jackson Pollock quote that I agree with. “Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is.”
I think people have gotten to know me more deeply through what I create than any other engagement.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kkpainter.com https://kevinkehoe-simplebeauty.com
- Instagram: kevinkehoeart simplebeautyimages
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newamericanpainter https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064840983776
- Linkedin: Kevin Kehoe – Fine Artist – New American Painter
- Twitter: Not on Twitter
- Youtube: Not on Youtube
- Yelp: Not on Yelp