We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Steve Alpert. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Steve below.

Steve, 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.

I am a lifelong painter, beginning when I was 19. I made my living as an independent TV producer/Director for 35 years, all the while I painted on the side. But, when I turned 49 I realized I need to do something different. I had no idea what. “Why don’t you go for the painting,” my wife suggested. I had no idea what she meant, “I mean make paintings and sell them.” That had never occurred to me and I did not know a single artist nor anything about the selling of paintings. Men, if you don’t have a wife who challenges you then you are truly missing out.

It was a BIG risk. Maybe the biggest risk of my life. I had felt that the TV work I had done was good, but not long lasting. I was looking for something deeper in and more fulfilling in my life. I worked in news and documentary and videos and films for corporations. It was time for a change.

I had no idea what would lie ahead, how I would do what. And I knew my skill level was limited at the time. But I had that fire in my gut and a sense that this was the right thing to do. Kind of like diving off a high diving board backward with eyes closed.

Steve, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a painter. I make landscapes, portraits, and now abstract paintings, but my mainstay has been to make paints that honor veterans and their families.

I am known for my paintings that honor men and women who serve and have served in the US Armed Forces. My paintings have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to support non-profit organizations that benefit veterans and their families. My work is in a series of national military museums including the Pentagon, The Marine Museum in Quantico VA, the Naval War College in Newport RI, the Women in Service of America Museum at Arlington National Cemetery, the Air Mobility Command Museum at Dover AFB dover DE, and the International War College in Washington DC.

Recently a portrait I made of Ann Berry, Secretary of the United States Senate has been accepted by the Alabama Department of Archive and History Museum in Montgomery, AL. I have many collectors, and I have exhibited in galleries all over the US, currently in Greenwich CT, Red Bank NJ, Mamaroneck NY. A triptych, Portrait of A Woman, three views of a woman soldier saluting an American Flag was on loan to the Vice-President’s mansion (Biden) in 2015 for the holiday season.

I also lead a painting workshop for veterans under the banner of Fordham University in New York. We just began our eighth year.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Resilience is the key for any artist to thrive amidst all the rejection and self-doubt that is a part of the journey for most of us artists. Resilience means that essentially you don’t quit. You keep going. Against all odds. Break out those new big canvases and get to work. Years a go a friend asked me how I got paintings into the home of the Vice-President . My answer was simple, I said, “I didn’t quit.”

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Most definitely. Someone once said, all real artists make work for one reason and one reason only; To Learn The Truth About Themselves. Making art for me is a path that is always taking me through uncharted territory. This path is never ending until my final breath and takes me to vistas and places I never dreamed of being. The paintings tell me who I am. The paintings tell me my true life stories. Viewers may have similar reactions tailored to their own unique life experiences that have nothing to do with mine. That’s fine. My work may carry multiple meanings to different people. I try not to talk about my abstracts since viewers bring their own life stories to their impressions. I don’t want to color anyone’s experience. Why would I want to influence someone else’s experiences of work that is so personal to me? I certainly have my intense opinions about my stuff, but that has no relation to anyone else’s experience per se.

There bottom line is that I view making paintings as a sacred pursuit. It is a wonderful calling. I always want more. I answer only to GOD.

Contact Info:

• Website: [email protected]
• Instagram: steve alpert
• Linkedin: steve alpert

Image Credits

Image photos; Gary Mamay

SA Portrait photo: Maria Reeves Hayes