Timmy B-Well graduated from Cascade High School with high hopes of being an artist. Those high hopes are now hanging at Venti’s Café and give customers and staff reason to smile.
Now his day job, working with fresh produce at a sustainable farm, gives him time to perfect his artwork and cultivate his love of nature.
“I took a lot of art classes in high school. I had a couple good teachers along the way,” B-Well said. His goal to graduate from the Art Institute in Portland was derailed due to his grandmother’s death and some rough times. “It was kind of a chaotic time in my life. A good friend died, my grandma died, and it was all a little much. I put it on hold because it didn’t seem like a good fit for me.”
Being an artist doesn’t quite pay the bills yet, but thanks to exposure like he is getting at Venti’s, he is making progress. “I have sold some art, especially in the last couple of months,” B-Well said. “I like showing at Venti’s. They are my caliber of people.”
The feeling is mutual. Venti’s Manager Tricia Hande loves the extra atmosphere boost that the vivid colors bring to the café. “The colors, the designs, everything is bright and energetic. It fits our venue very well. Typically we have one artist upstairs and one downstairs. But he is our only artist right now because people like it.”
Using a mix of skateboard art and India-inspired pieces, his inspiration is a blend of meditation and staring at a blank canvas. “I try and pull energy from the chakras of my body and use that color to destroy the white,” B-Well said.
B-Well is a long time skateboarder and was instrumental in building Aumsville’s skate park. “I have been riding a skateboard for as long as I remember.” Skateboarding has its own subculture according to B-Well. “The art of skateboarding is always changing. It’s different than gallery art. There are artists who don’t represent anything. I like to cover both skateboard artists and mural artists,” B-Well said.
B-Well used to focus on pen-and-ink, but thanks to meeting up with a couple of temple leaders while traveling in Arizona, he discovered color. “I have a lot of desert color in me now. My partner and I were taking classes in Arizona and doing a lot of meditation. The temple leaders invited us to come along to India,” B-Well said.
That decision to say “yes” to India changed B-Well’s artistic vision. “I was moved by the spirituality of the people,” he said. “Their connection to God is their livelihood. They are living in squalor, but they give everything to the temple and share it there. Every community has a temple. It’s the harmony against the chaos that struck me, I guess. I have never felt like that in America. When you walk out your front door in America you are not taking your life into your own hands. In India you very much are,” B-Well said.
Now B-Well’s art is inspired by that found spirituality. “Before India, my stuff was a lot darker. I have been creating since I was a young boy. My art used to be tattoo-driven. India helped me add a spiritual influence to it and dissolve some of that darkness and paint with light,” B-Well said.
“I am very into sacred geometry and the healing powers of art. I love to paint mandalas because I think they can have a wonderful effect on the hearts and minds of viewers, which is my main goal when I paint,” B-Well said.
That light is a multi-media approach: layers of primer coupled with different colors of spray paint and acrylics. B-Well still picks up a pen-and-ink vibe, but the colors are what bring his new pieces to life. His art was once laid on canvas. Now his brighter and bigger pieces are created on plywood. “I had a stack of plywood down in the barn, and I felt like it needed to be painted on,” B-Well said. “I felt like I was outgrowing canvas. Plus, to put these murals on canvas would cost quite a bit more. I want do more murals and full-size pieces of art. Size captures people. I can go more colorful on bigger sheets.”
B-Well plans for art to be in his future. He has a couple more scheduled showings downtown. “My long-term goals are to set up a Web site, continue painting, and just be here now,” he said.
Next up at Venti’s
Timmy B-Well’s art will be on display until May 7 when Dayna Collins takes over the space. Her notes on the show say that the show will be “featuring a delightful array of Fearless Faces and recent textural and mixed media pieces.”
For more information on Collins, visit her website at alleyartstudio.com.
