Quincie Douglas Library invites you to an exhibit by local artist Chip Travers, on display until April 30, 2025.
Chip Travers’ Story:
When I was a child growing up in New York, I always knew I would be an artist of some sort. I never was really too good with crayons or water paints but they intrigued me greatly, I guess it was the color in the lines thing, border and limits.
When it was time to answer the eternal question all adolescents face “What are you going to be when you grow up?” I panicked. What was I good at? Math? Writing? Sports? Nope,,,Art, I could draw and create images...the rest is history.
My initial thought was did I want to be a starving artist? A beatnik in Greenwich Village? An art teacher? Or a commercial artist (known today as a graphic designer). So the trail was in front of me. All I needed to do is finish high school and the world was mine.
Fast forward to my senior year in high school...college time was in front of me and now the fork in my career path emerged with 3 options, a. State College and become an art teacher b. get drafted or Join the military c. go to a technical college to study commercial art and set my career path. So it was off to a 2 year college to study commercial art...not the fine arts.
After I got my degree from the State of NY university system, It was off to the races. My first job was as an assistant art director at a large ad agency in NY. It was a great experience and I started to build a decent portfolio.
I guess I was a young “mad man” creating designs for anything printable or production oriented. This was okay but still not fulfilling...too much production and not enough creation or actual artwork.
After a few years in the trenches it was time to broaden my horizons and head west and look for that perfect job, as an artist. Arrived in Tucson and started to build a resume and accumulate a decent book and start my new base of operations.
The world of the local media was my launching pad of my career with Radio, TV, Outdoor Advertising doing creative approaches for my client base. After many successful years on my own it was time to join the ranks of a working stiff.
So here I was after a long and successful career and I was still missing something it was my desire to actually draw, paint and create pieces of art….kind of a cyclical series of events resulting in my creation of art to entertain the masses and put a smile on some faces. In the past 14 years I have been busy painting and drawing images of the west, wildlife and life in general...after a real busy year in 2023 with many shows and exhibitions I continue to have the inspiration and drive to keep on going.
I have been an exhibitor at the Spring art Festival at Tubac, Reid Park, Patagonia, Tucson Museum of Art ‘s marketplace, Tucson’s Airport Terminal (2x), Pima County’s Library System, Agua Caliente Park, various community shows and the annual Mountain Oyster Club’s Western Art Show (4of the past 5 years) along with various shows in the Old Pueblo.
I am a founding member of the Leaping Lizard Art Gallery
Images courtesy of the artist
