Bio
Nicholas Sheffer was born in Beaver Utah, thought shortly there after moved to Orem Utah. Living across the street from his Grandmother, his Mother and Grandmother shared with him their love of the arts. There are a few key moments in his life that brought him to become an artist. Saturday morning cartoons is the first and most powerful reason behind his interest in art. Living in a world full of color and endless possibility, a crush on rainbow bright made his love of the bright simple primary colors come to light, a fascination with the Teenage mutant ninja turtles made it so he would stay in during recess and draw them and try and perfect them to look just like they did in the cartoon. Nick had cousins that would come and visit from California during his youth. They had amazing artistic skill that made him see that it was possible for him to create amazing visual images with his hands. Hours were spent drawing and trying to mimic what he saw from them. The art that his cousins Danny and Duncan would produce was based heavily on fantasy and science fiction. Nick was very good at reproducing what he saw but it fueled not a fantasy but a photo realistic desire. His art progressed as he learned about perspective from his grandma while drawing his home from her house across the street. Next she taught him that all line was actually created due to a shift in value from light to dark. He drew his first portrait of his older brother Bert to experiment with value shifts in the human face. This was all during his fourth, fifth and sixth grade years. He had some awesome teachers during this time that really helped him see his potential. In Fourth Grade Mr. Sheffer (his father) had him put together a wood bound Utah book that had a artistic cover that he did with a wood burner, inside was filled with his art that consisted of Utah based art. In Fifth Grade Mr Vancott allowed him to design and draw out a huge castle five feet tall and five and a half feet wide. He also encouraged many other art projects starting on the first day having everyone draw there house and explaining that by the end of the year they would be surprised how much better they had become. During his sixth grade year Mr Hunt who was also living in his neighborhood took time to show perspective and had many art based units on birds, fish, and aviation. He found these subjects fascinating and that drove him to draw these things with a high detail approach. His mother stayed up late nights helping him create his vision and bring it to life. From there he moved into his darker stages. Following a few years of butting heads and being told that his huge drawing of buzz lightyear would not win anything. It ended up taking first place in the entire show based on student votes. He went on to fail art multiple times in High school due to his teachers idea of what art is and is not. He choose to stay away from art. He finally went back into it late in his college years and finished with an art degree in 2012. He is now teaching art and loves to take time to create his signature realism pieces.
Artist Statement
I am a realist in life as well as in my artistic preference. I work with fine arts of all kinds, painting, sculpture, drawing, and now photography as well. I find the artistic representations of the world around us add an emotional response to everyday things. The goal of every artist should be to evoke such an emotional response as to bring the viewer into that state that the art was created.
I find myself drawn to prisma color pencils like no other media. I spend hours layering the colors and mixing them together like you would a oil paint. I become lost in the piece like a good book pulling you down the path that is the world you are creating. new challenges come at you from all sides as you continue your quest hoping you will end up the victor of the plane that is yours to command and control. You step back to take retrospect and hope that your vision has not become two near sited during the journey. You must gauge carefully whether the time has come to call it or to continue hoping you do not over work the piece past perfection.
I am currently working on a photo portfolio. This task has brought me leaps and bounds toward becoming a more complete artist. I am able to use the camera as a tool that collects the image that will become art. I have finally begun to see through the lens more fully in order to capture my artistic view. I also use this in my drawing in order to help me compose more dynamic compositions. I hope to continue to learn and one day consider myself to be a artist in the photo realm.
