RUSSELL'S STORY
My original portfolio was made up of pencil renderings and watercolor paintings. It wasn’t very good. But there was one piece everyone with whom I interviewed seemed to like: 1935 Aston Martin. So, I kept that one as the starting point of a new portfolio and trashed (or gave away) the rest.
Treating the interview critiques of agency art directors as education, my watercolors got better.
Nevertheless, rejection was the result at every stop along my second course of interviews: “I highly recommend the local community college.”
With a humble request, such rejections were easily converted into invitations to return with an improved portfolio. The education continued. Portfolio-three rewarded my first breakthrough: employment at the architectural rendering firm Whitesit Coulter. This was the kind of place where the real education happens―perspective, color pallet, layout, professionalism, and so on. Learning directly from senior artists and peers in the profession was an invaluable foundation.
Moving on, yet a new portfolio was needed for securing work as a freelance illustrator. It included two new mediums: graphite blocks, and markers. It was the 1980s and a good living could be made doing comps and storyboards (preliminary conceptual art) for advertising agencies. During this time an accomplished illustrator and designer, the late Hal Lund, generously and patiently mentored me. His valuable instruction supplies on-going influence for which I will always be grateful.
Seemingly over-night the computer revolution obsoleted comp artists who did not adapt their skills to the new technologies. I was one of those. But I landed on my feet at company with a government contract that included a graphic design department. I was the lone illustrator. The job provided unique opportunities to experiment with techniques and materials. It was there that I developed two signature creative approaches. The first of these was the Bio-Portrait―the visual biographical narrative of a person’s distinguished career or an organization’s mission and/or history.
The second of the two signature developments was my torn paper technique, Paper Mosaics. A commission in 1995 resulted in this invention. Asked by the Israel Air Force to do a work of art commemorating the purchase of Apache Helicopters from the United States, I decided to create a work of art depicting more than military hardware. Using acrylic paint as mortar, I affixed torn pieces of paper to a board for a mosaic-like effect that wove together the Apache Helicopter and the Star of David. This approach enabled me to represent the machinery in the context of a deeper cultural and creative history.
Here I must acknowledge that the entire idea was inspired by the timely observation of my twelve-year-old daughter, Ashley, as she spontaneously slung around some torn pieces of paper, watercolors, and diluted Elmer’s Glue, with remarkable results. When I asked in amazement where she learned such an exciting process, she looked puzzled before pause gave way to the answer, “I’m learning it now.” So, I decided I would learn it too. And some time later, Ashley and I worked together to fulfill a surprisingly fun two-piece executive commission for the pharmaceutical company, Pfizer.
I mention the story about Ashley to share enjoyment of irony: what served fulfillment of an international commission to represent a large business transaction between two notable military organizations would become the style by which I would later portray celebrity athletes and help raise large amounts of money for charitable organizations; and it was inspired by the whimsical expressions of a little girl at play.
My approach to Paper Mosaics has evolved since those beginnings (most significantly in the noisy use of various electric sanders to recover color and imagery from an amalgam of paper layers), but the basics are the same: torn paper affixed with acrylic medium.
Every artist has a primary wellspring of inspiration. My work is indelibly impacted and continually refreshed by the redeeming love of my Savior, Jesus Christ, who daily fills my life with grace and meaning―the abundant life He promised but I have been slow to believe Him for. This wondrous universe of His creation is my constant inspiration and teacher.
“Russell Stuart Irwin is a type of artist archeologist. In his work, layers of [colored] paper bond with acrylic paint to form a rich, mosaic surface, offering a tantalizing glimpse of the past.”
