>> Well, I've always known I was going to be an artist.
I think ever since day one, the big move, I think I had a pencil in my hand when I came out.
[laughs] I don't remember scribbling, to be honest.
I really, I must have someplace along the line scribbled,
but I remember in kindergarten drawing something very formative
when everybody else was scribbling.
So my parents knew that I had some ability and they just encouraged me, you know.
And growing up in the '50s -- I'm an old guy -- that was kind of unusual.
I think it's unusual even now for a lot of parents
because it's always an uphill battle, you know.
Oh, art. What are you going to do with art?
How are you going to make a living?
You can make a nice living, actually.
Lots of different areas to go into.
So I always knew I was going to be an artist.
I always had some very, very good art teachers going through school that were very encouraging
and I always, they were good role models for me.
And I think that had something to do with it.
When I got to college here, I enjoyed my art classes a lot,
but they revamped the curriculum back then and I was going to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts
in Art and I thought, "What am I going to do with that?"
So I thought, "I'll switch over to education and explore that, see how I would like that."
And I found that working with students and kids and so on, that I really enjoyed it a lot
and I discovered some new passions that I had that I didn't realize.
I started off on the middle school level and I worked with them for a few years
and then I bounced back and forth between two schools, which was a pain,
but I like the high school students.
And then landed in the high school full-time, which was just home to me.