Steve Latimer and Preston Stafford "East Meets West" Exhibit
Steve Latimer is an artist living in Lakeland Florida. I am orginally from California and grew up in the West when my father was in the Air Force. I lived mainly in Texas and California. Growing up in the West, and traveling in New Mexico and Arizona, gave me a great appreciation of the western landscapes and cowboys. Art has always been a big part of my life since high school. I majored in art in college and received an AA Degree in Art from Polk Jr College in 1967. I then continued my education at the University of South Florida and majored in fine arts.
Living in the West enabled me to paint it correctly in my later years. Arizona, New Mexico and Utah were my back drops. The last few years I have honed my art career in painting Utah and northern Arizona. I am supported by galleries in Arizona and New Mexico. I also have had articles published about my art in Western Art Collector Magazine and Western Architecture and Art Magazine. . It has been an interesting path for me over the years. My art now seems to have gone full circle, from Realism to Abstract and back to something in between. Modernism seems to float into a lot of my work with distance parallel lines and images to set my perspectives and shapes. I love to paint realism but enjoy the minimalist art also. Interpreting art from a realistic view to abstract takes more steps but gives me a deeper attachment to the painting. It makes the viewer look harder at what I am feeling and saying and painting. Thanks for reading my Bio!
Preston Stafford is a Lakeland-based artist who specializes in graphite pencil and prismacolor pencils fine artwork as well as photography. He also works in acrylics and pottery. His love of art began at age four and continued through high school where he enrolled in his first formal art class. Following his first private lessons under Mary Dean, he was accepted into Ringling College of Art and Design, but opted to attend Florida Southern College. Preston taught art at both the Junior High and High School levels for 34 years. Preston is described by a fellow artist as the 'Master of Contrast" particularly in his black and white drawings and photography. He has won numerous major awards and recently placed 2nd at the prestigious Melvin Gallery Show in 2024 as well as receiving 2nd Place in the 2024 The Best of Polk Show with a prisma colored pencil drawing of a 1949 Ford manufactured the year he was born. Preston further 'connected' with the vehicle by drawing his image reflected in the car's hood. Preston serves as a Board Member of the Ridge Art Association in Winter Haven, FL. Preston's mantra is "See everything and look closer. To be better artists, we need to be observant and gather knowledge from others." He still does this today.
