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Help!!!!!!
I'm an artist trapped in the role of a body and fender man. It all started in 1967. High School years... it looked fun... part-time... sanding... sweeping... helping out in a neighborhood body shop. Then it was a way to pay for college.
Really, I wanted to be a marine biologist; "Right Kid!" Take some business courses. Gag, maybe next semester, or the next...
Getting better all along in collision repair... extended childhood. Started playing with oil paints... washout... 1975 ... first acrylics... yeah!
Work Hard... play Hard. 1979... dump all house sale equity into opening "Auto Body Complex"
1982... son Ian was born. Work hard... play hard.
1984... took first art class... 3-day pastel... loved it... got me divorced in 1987. Maximo money crunch... $24,000.00 tax lien on business... maximum stress. Back to doing all work myself with apprentices. Moved business to smaller building... paid off lien. Began auto sculptures in spare time.
1990... married Carlene Klassen an amazing, wonderful and ornery woman. Kept working and praying toward dream of full-time art production. 1994... son Webster was born.
February, 1996... announced to four employees I was going it alone... hoping to cut overhead and distractions... making time for artistic concentration. Established: "Greg Johnson Sculpture," a division of Auto Body Complex, Inc.
Labor Day, 1996, Steamboat Springs, Colorado... "Art at the Depot,"... a three-day event with the vintage auto races... my first exhibit... big success.
April, 1997... taking first opportunity to exhibit in Wichita, my hometown, at "High Octane Decadence" show.
Help! I'm still spending most of my work week paying bills with collision repair. It's been 30 years. I've got hundreds of projects started in my head. I want to spend my energy creating not repairing.
Let me out!!!!!!!
Greg Johnson
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