When I was a boy I wanted to be an Artist. I drew all my peers' portraits. I sent in the drawings solicited in comic books and got offers to attend one Art school or another. My father, who was a practical working-man, insisted however, that I study engineering. So, I attended Purdue University and studied engineering for three years and sneaked into the Industrial Design program in my fourth year, to my father's protests and discontinuance of his support. This was the '60s, and I was drafted in 1969. My professors said they could get a deferment for me, but I for many reasons too long to go into in this biography, enlisted. After serving as a counterintelligence agent in Vietnam, I worked as a criminal investigator for the state of California for couple of years. I suppose I became disillusioned with society and retreated to the forests of Oregon for 13 years, building, painting, sculpting and going back to school at Western Oregon State, 1983 -- 86, to finally study Fine Art [and mathematics -- dad's influence never ends]. In 1986 I closed my studio there and moved to Hawaii, the island of Lanaii mainly, and spent six years building hotel and homes and establishing another studio. I left in 1991 to follow opportunity and a beautiful woman to Atlanta, Georgia, returning after nearly 30 years to my native region.
For the last ten years, other than maintaining my private studio here, I've held the position of Art Director, Conservator, and Designer for Avery Fine Art and Framing in Atlanta. My unique combination of training in engineering, investigation, design, report writing, and in my greatest passion, Fine Art, has served me well [thanks dad]. Hopefully it will go on serving the Art world for many years to come.
- Steve Bernard Lance