Stephen Sweigart
Fine Art
Passionate about art, music, and philosophy, Mr. Sweigart was born in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1957. He grew up primarily in the Lawrence/Kansas City area and presently lives in Lawrence.
He describes himself as having been a "pretty unremarkable" student, never really able to focus on much until he decided to reproduce photographs with his crayons. His family recognized talent and supported and encouraged him. In High School, he mostly drew cartoons, however, took as much art and art history as he could and knew that art was to be taken seriously.
He graduated from high school in 1976 and immediately took a part time job as a toll collector (like Henri Rousseau) for the Kansas Turnpike Authority. He enrolled at Kansas City Kansas Community College, continuing his part time job as a toll collector. Remarkably, that little college had on it's faculty, James Myrik with whom he studied drawing, painting and art history, and Ion Paleologue (very old school - patient and skilled) with whom he studied drawing, painting and printmaking. He then began to put into practice what he had learned and find his way philosophically. He began working full time for the Kansas Turnpike in 1980 and was a toll collector until 2007, continuing to draw and paint in his spare time, landing the occasional show.
Never forgetting to stay practiced at the fundamentals, He has tried many styles and studied many "isms." He has always loved impressionism and expressionism and they continue to be his primary direction. Music and it's many philosophies influence his art.