Lucas Thornton
What is your favorite art medium to work in, and why?
That's kind of a hard decision for me since I like to work with any medium I can get my hands on. Some days I'm using acrylic or oils on an easel painting and others I'm welding metal together. When the welder runs out of wire I'm working with resins, foam, and clay to satisfying my appetite for sculpture. Then when I run out of money and materials I'll grab some cardboard, sticks, or just plain old trash to busy my idle hands. If my hands tire then it's to the computer and the clicking of a mouse. My personal opinion is that no artist should limit themselves to one medium, it's like a chef that only cooks with potatoes when there's a whole pantry of ingredients within reach.
When did you first figure out that art was important to you?
When I was young my focus was in my sketch books, filling them with doodles and never once thinking of the importance it might play. As I grew older and more mature in my artwork, I knew that art was my direction to follow. The day that art became important to me was when I decided to go full-time and leave behind the things that I felt were holding me back. When I was working for someone else and I was writing papers for a professors I felt a conflict. The artist in me wanted freedom from the distractions and I left it all to pursue my true self. Taking this leap of artistic faith has allowed me to take on projects that I would never have time for if I wasn't at it 100%. Projects like the Kinetic Sculpture Race are a huge undertaking and require a lot of time and skill. I'd say that the KSC is the culmination of all my artistic skills and mediums wrapped up into one event. The fabrication and dedication of a completing a machine is the ultimate artist challenge. The importance of my art is crucial in the success of a finished KSC grand championship race. One that is worthy of a drink raised high and a exclamation of artistic completion! HUZZA!
Who is your art mentor?
As a child my mother put me on to her underground comics by artist RL Crabb and I had a brief correspondence with him. He gave me some good advice and encouraged my pursuit as a draftsman. It wasn't till I met Duane Flatmo that I really created a life long mentor though. Duane came in to teach our sixth grade class how to make masks and he invited me to come paint with his mural group later on. From that day forward we worked together on many projects like a master and apprentice passing down the craft. Duane and I have completed murals and kinetic sculptures together for the past 18 years and I've come to the point now where I'm picking up where he left off. My artistic self is forever grateful for the day I met him.
Finish this sentence: My art is my...
My art is my art and there's no part of a shopping cart that one dart can out smart the heart of Napoleon Bonaparte. Don't take your art so serious, have fun and it will never feel like work.
What advice would you offer someone just beginning their exploration of their own artistic self?
When you're just starting out it's going to be scary at first, but like anything else it gets easier with practice. There will be failure and there will be success in your art. I'd compare the life of an artist as walking on a balance beam, it's easy to fall off, but it's just as easy to get back on. Life and Art are a balancing act. Being humble about your work will get you a long way too. Ego can get in the way of progress and if you think your work is great, most likely some else thinks it's crap. Artworks can always be better, so treat your next work as a challenge to improve on the latter. Your ego will drive you to tears or it will drive you to greatness; it doesn't do so well at making you friends either. For it's best to surround yourself with like minded individuals to share ideas and ask questions. It's in these circles of artist that inspiration will blossom. Also use good brushes, good paint, stretch your own canvas, and make art for the sake of making art.
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