William Kettner-Polley

William Kettner-Polley:
I was born in Wilmington, Delaware but moved to a small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia when I was six. Living on a farm "up a holler" was the best background to stimulate a young artistic mind. My parents {especially my mom} encouraged me from the very beginning; she said she knew greatness at a young age but that does come from my self-proclaimed biggest fan. I pursued every art lesson I could get in a small town and graduated from Fries High school in 1986. I went to Virginia Commonwealth University for a year after high school with hopes of becoming an art teacher. It didn’t take long to realize I didn’t want to teach, but all of the studio classes I attended played a huge role in my artistic growth with perspective, color, composition and drawing the human form. I have lived in Colorado for the last eleven years and have had successful shows at Cedars Jazz Club and the Pikes Peak Community College Gallery. I have also had work hung at Shugas Café, The Warehouse Restaurant and Phantom Canyon Brewery in Colorado Springs. I also took part in Monument’s 2007 Art Hop. Currently I have work hanging at the Plantera Group in Colorado Springs and at the Stones, Bones and Wood Gallery in Green Mountain Falls. I love to work with many different media: Pen & Ink, Charcoal, Graphite Pencil, Color Pencil, Pastels, Acrylic paint and Watercolor (which I have taught myself to use having had no formal training.) Creating art is my life; it’s a passion from within.

A Passion From Within:
When I’m in my studio, when I get inspired, when I stand in front of a blank board, I put some music on and the next thing I know I have been in my studio for hours. It’s crazy actually, simply because I have no idea.