Gregory S. Whitt
About The Artist:
I was born in Maryville, Tn. in 1955. I was interested in art at the age of 4 years old. As my mother would sit and do sketches for me, I would sit along side her and watch. From that point on I knew what I was going to do with my life. I went to the University of Tennessee in 1975 and spent 3 years there working towards a BFA, but decided I had enough of school,lacking 24 hours towards graduating. So, I went to work in a small graphics firm in Oak Ridge, Tn., but I couldn’t make enough money, so I landed a job with Union Carbide Corp. Nuclear Div. I worked there for 3 years doing charts and graphs with a smattering of illustration thrown in. This wasn’t my idea of art.
I am a huge fan of the automobile as an art subject. At this time I was having some success at doing spot art illustrations for Road & Track Magazine. I read the magazine considerably, and one issue came out with a story about Tony Lapine, chief stylist for Porsche Auto then. He was an immigrant come to this country and ended up in Detroit to work in the auto industry. He climbed the corporate ladder with G.M. and ended up being chief stylist for them in Europe. From there he was hired away by Porsche, and said how much he appreciated the American people helping him along the way and giving him a chance.
I read this story with great interest and decided I was going to try and get a job with Porsche designing cars, thinking Tony might see in me the same thing he went through. I spent a year and a half drawing and designing cars. Even though I had no background in auto design, I figured it was time to take a shot. I sent a letter along with my portfolio I had contrived and with great surprise, I was hired. This was a great blessing to me, even working there for a short time.
After working there, I came back to the states and ended up in Florida. I went to work at Martin-Maretta Corp. working as an illustrator in the aerospace industry for 18 months. I, one day, was reading the classified section of the newspaper, I spied an ad for an architectural illustrator. Again, I had no experience in this field, but I wanted to try it. Again, I was hired and started learning another industry. I worked for them for 13 months and had started getting freelance work. So, it was time to move on again. I have been doing freelance now for 25 years with one interim of working with another architect for 18 months. I was let go from there 2 years ago because of this economic downturn. I’m back at my freelancing again and thats where I am today. Instead of architecture, I am back to the automobile, my first love, as a subject for my art.
Categories:
Classic Car, Exotic Car, Motorsport, Muscle Car (Cutaway, Illustration, T-Shirt Design)
Website:
http://gwhittart.com
