Hardly anyone ever really reads an artist’s biography page, and that’s not without good reason: artist biographies are often dull.
But let me just tell you up front: I’ve enjoyed a really charmed life, with many adventures worth the telling. Seriously. Maybe you’ll find something worth reading here, or maybe you’ll at least enjoy the vintage photos.
Early Life in Michigan (1969 - 1993)
1969 was my year of birth in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I quickly found myself in fortunate circumstances; I was adopted by Marv and Helen Gentry, who proved to be stellar parents. They encouraged my odd, artistic predispositions, rather than trying to suppress or redirect them. I also have a younger sister, Becky, who was also adopted.
Above: These early photos of my parents are some of my favorites from the family photo album.
We lived in Livonia, a suburb of Detroit, on a quiet, wooded street where I learned to appreciate the virtues of the autumn season as the annual color change occurred among the many trees in our neighbohood. Autumn colors and moods, as well as the experience of roaming from house to house on Halloween night, would become influential in my later work.
Above: my childhood home on a foggy October morning.
I took to drawing at a very early age and simply never quit. My dad, who worked as a computer programmer, would bring home thick stacks of printer paper for me - the vintage sort with little holes along each side - and I quickly filled these pages with renderings of dinosaurs and movie monsters. Drawing was by far my favorite occupation, and this did not change as I grew older - a circumstance which would prove nearly ruinous to my grades in other studies from time to time.
After years of art studies in both private and public school classes, I ultimately attended the University of Michigan’s School of Art; I managed to distinguish myself well enough there to receive the school’s Bachelor of Fine Arts Award upon graduation in 1991.
The photo below, captured by student photographers for the university calendar, shows the typical conditions of my single room, #1120, in the basement level of the Couzens Hall dormitory; my tiny space was filled to overflowing with art supplies and books. Since I usually left my door and window open to ventilate turpentine fumes while painting, this display tended to attract attention:
I did tolerably well in southern Michigan, but found that I had no love for its urban sprawl and cold winters. Throughout my high school and college years, I spent most of my time in a restless state of disorientation and impatience, eager to explore distant, exotic lands. Family vacations to Florida had introduced me to the charms of balmy weather, blue skies and towering palm trees, while Disney World attractions such as the Pirates of the Caribbean, the Enchanted Tiki Hut, and the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse had all conspired to steer my young imagination in a tropical direction.
This fascination was especially strong in regard to the islands of Hawaii, which had captured my interest quite early. In the 4th grade, I was required to prepare a school report about a state, and I chose Hawaii because of its wild and tropical appeal. This simple event led me to petition my parents for a summer vacation to Hawaii, which ultimately led to a week’s stay on the rugged island of Kaua’i when I was 15 years old. The place was even greater than I had imagined, far exceeding my wildest preconceptions. The experience was transformative, and would ultimately lead to many years of life in Hawaii.
In Hawaii and the Pacific (1993 - 2009)
I moved to the islands in 1993, settling on Maui because it was known to have a strong art market. I spent my first eight years there working as a night-security guard - a form of employment widely regarded as incompatible with the sensibilities of an artist, although it worked quite well for me in many ways. I enjoyed being outdoors during the night hours (which inspired my earliest night paintings), and I was free to paint Hawaiian landscapes during the day - although with barely sufficient amounts of sleep in between those activities.
In time, I had completed enough work to present to a local gallery for representation. Through a series of fortuitous events and meetings, I soon found representation at The Village Gallery in Lahaina, Maui’s oldest art gallery, where I began a career that eventually became self-sustaining by the year 2000. In that year, I was able to set aside other forms of employment to focus exclusively on painting - truly a dream come true. A happy relationship with Village Gallery continued for over two decades, until the gallery (and all of my work therein) was lost in the fire that destroyed Lahaina in 2023.
Above: a self-portrait that I took for promotional use, probably around 2001, while living on Maui.
My time in Hawaii was characterized by other providential meetings and events, often of a sincerely amazing nature. I encountered other artists who introduced me to knowledge and ideas that altered the course of my career, and I acquired patrons whose financial support kept my career in forward motion. I sailed among Pacific Islands, flew over volcanic mountains, traversed rainforests and bogs, and encountered hot lava, among many other adventures. In retrospect, all of these events have the quality of a dream-like adventure that could not possibly have really happened.
After 16 years on Maui, however, I felt compelled to return to the U.S. mainland. I left Hawaii on the evening of July 14th, 2009.
In a startling coincidence, I later realized that I had left Hawaii 25 years TO THE DAY that I had first set foot in the islands at the age of 15 on July 14th, 1984. This unintended serendipity still continues to amaze me.
In Appalachia (2009 to present)
In search of a new home offering plenty of natural beauty, yet closer to my family in Michigan, I chose to settle in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. There I found a mountainous landscape with an abundance of forests, rivers, waterfalls and wildlife; beautifully moody, foggy weather; lovely seasonal changes (I had by this time lost my younger preference for hot weather); and a strong connection to early American history and folklore - all of these features attracted me to this region.
I first lived in the community of Townsend, where I produced two landscape photography books from the stockpile of photos that I captured during a 14-year residence there. I also branched out to explore the wider country by way of autumn road trips, driving as far as historic Sleepy Hollow in New York. And I travelled to locations as distant as Yosemite, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon and the Canadian Rockies.
The most important activity that began during that period was my ongoing correspondence by e-mail with Ashley Bowen, a superb photographer and resident of North Carolina. We wrote to one another for 8 years before finally meeting face-to-face in the summer of 2022. Following this belated meeting, we were married in February of the following year, at which time I moved from the mountains of East Tennessee to those of Western North Carolina - a mere jump over the Smoky Mountains in actual distance, and yet to an incredibly new and different life with my Sweetheart. I was 54 at the time of our wedding - I had never been married before, but Ashley's beauty, kindness, wisdom and other traits proved that the long wait was well-advised.
You can learn more about Ashley, her photography, our wedding, and fun stories about us by following this link: Ashley.
Below: Ashley and I at a waterfall in Georgia in 2023
Last updated on November 1st, 2023.
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