Steven Christopher Seward My parents met each other when they were students at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1948. My father, James Edwin Seward, was raised in the Deep South and had recently finished his service in the Navy. Up till then, he was a totally self-taught artist who had never met a professional artist in his life. With an accent sounding like Gomer Pyle, gales of laughter would erupt when he opened his mouth in art school. Being a very serious student however, he was greatly annoyed when he first heard my mother giggling and talking with her friends in the back of the classroom while he was trying to study. Undeterred by this encounter, they married, moved to Cleveland, Ohio, and raised five children, four of whom became professional artists. Yours truly entered the scene in 1958. My Father, My Teacher I pretty much learned all my painting skills from my father. Recently deceased, he was a free-lance illustrator and portrait painter who worked at home in his studio, so my siblings and I were immersed in the art business whether we liked it or not. I had a sort of old fashioned master/apprentice relationship with my father, where I eventually got good enough that I helped work on some of his paintings. Art School After graduating High School, three of my siblings and I went to different art schools. My own experience (at a very prestigious art school that I shall not name) was almost a complete waste of time. I had teachers who never picked up a pencil or paintbrush, and pretty much just left us students to learn on our own. And all this after paying big bucks! Nevertheless, I continued training under my father (and mother) on the side, and I quit art school after a year and a half. (http://stevensewardportraits.com/bio/) undefined

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