He’s the creative force behind West Baden’s newest event, Art with Adam, an interactive experience to get participants plugged into their creative side. More on that in a second. First, a little more background and a few words from a guy who never took a formal art class in his life (seriously) and is now one of this area’s most prolific artists, producing everything from public murals to gallery displays to commissioned pieces in homes and offices all over southern Indiana.
Adam has a piece of notebook paper that explains how this art whirlwind started. It’s dated 10/5/18 at the top. He scrawled seven things in black marker. There’s a checkmark by the first three:
1. Paint all day every day!
2. Inspire hundreds
3. Inspire thousands
“That was on a whim at 2:00 in the morning. I had this vision of making a change. I thought, ‘What’s the real negative on the world if you don’t go after your goals? You’re not going to hurt anyone.’ I thought if I write them down, they become reality, and I can see those things. I wrote that down without anybody ever seeing me paint. And I had only painted like five pictures.”
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| Click here to see more of Adam's murals and paintings. |
Adam started as an elementary school teacher. Then ran a furniture store for five years. Wasn’t crazy about either job. Then he ran an eBay business for more than a decade. It was successful, but…
“I had nothing to show. I was doing nothing for anyone but myself. It was unfulfilling and it was sad. Even though things were easy, it was pointless, to me, because I always had a drive to help people — especially kids. I realized 7 years into my daughter being born and growing up that she was watching me do something I didn’t like to do. I fell into art, and I realized I loved it.”
So now begins the pursuit of the last four things on that list:
4. Paint live on stage
5. Inspire millions
6. Change the way schools interpret art on their walls (with movable/shareable murals)
7. Save lives/prevent suicide and give hope to kids with ADHD
“I took to art, because I see a lot of color in everything. I combined it into knowledge of the way things look to me, and have perfected doing it quickly now so I can move toward performance, which is what I want to do: perform on stage and paint on stage and have the crowd excited, and inspire and show kids that they can follow their dreams.”
You can see Adam paint live in the West Baden atrium on select Fridays, and take one of his two-hour class sessions on select Saturdays and Sundays. Adam’s classes don’t adhere to a script. And they aren’t your typical Wine & Canvas sessions.
“It’s actually the exact opposite. It’s not about what I want to paint or what I’m going to show you how to paint. The entire time, we’re working on your understanding of what you’d like to do with the canvas and what you see. You can create whatever you want to create with my guidance.
You can come in, make what you want to make, be super excited about it but also have a lot of fun: listen to music, have a drink, relax. You can stay inside and paint by the bar so everybody can have drinks while you paint. I went to The Pete Dye Course and I painted with three ladies, and it was absolutely amazing. We were in the shade, hundreds of feet above the sixth fairway, and we all painted the landscape. We listened to Steely Dan and the Eagles the whole day. They all had strawberry daiquiris and just kind of chilled. They loved it.”
Adam’s easily spottable when he’s here, since he always paints while wearing a shirt that supports charities or foundations of special needs, disabilities or rare diseases. His original works depicting West Baden Landmarks are available for purchase in the West Baden Mercantile, and he can also be booked to paint for private events at the resort like weddings, corporate outings or golf functions.
And if you’ve got a few free hours on the weekend, carve out some time for a class. It’s a great bang for 85 bucks: two hours (sometimes more) of personal instruction, and the cost of your canvas and acrylic paint set are included. Everyone’s welcome, even if you’re not a pro with a paintbrush. After all, Adam got hooked on art a little later in the game, and look what he's creating today.
“It’s definitely a different class than you’d ever expect and it’s a different experience. I want to make sure everyone goes home talking about what we did, above all else, and about how that transformed their idea in painting, how they look at color and how they look at their joy in life and what they enjoy.”