Staff writer
Brian Davies did not let his dream die even though life rudely interrupted its progress.
“The older I get the more I realize that people start on new paths all the time,” Davies said.
Davies graduated from Kansas State University with a degree in lithography. He moved to Grand Junction, Colo., and his artistic talent was transferred to illustrations for greeting cards and prints.
Davies naturally draws and paints with a colorful, fantasy-driven playful style. When he was starting out he tried to create serious works of art, but even when he drew a bowl of apples, his mind could not help but wander. Eventually, the apples were engulfed in fantastic surroundings.
“All of my stuff ends up looking like a children’s book,” Davies said. “It’s almost like telling a story with a picture.”
Davies’ ambition was to illustrate a book, but he found it difficult to break into the competitive publishing industry. As success remained elusive, Davies’ confidence waned.
At the same time, Davies met his wife, Carole, and they married. Soon she was pregnant with their daughter, Megan, who is now 14 years old. Davies continued to illustrate but the long hours required for illustration did not provide financial stability.
“Money was always an issue,” he said. “For me, my family is the most important thing.”
Faced with this harsh economic reality, Davies had to think about practical employment. He worked as a custodian and eventually moved to Marion and Marion Elementary School.
He would not draw again for nearly 14 years after moving to Marion.
At the same time Davies was working in Colorado, a teenaged Adam Johnson was working on his own drawings. Although he started with comic book-like drawings depicting the X-Men when he was 13, Johnson moved to realistic, detailed colored pencil drawings. The first piece he ever sold was a young blonde-haired girl. He used a photo from a skin cancer awareness advertisement. He made $120.
“I thought that was a lot of money back then,” Johnson said.
He continued to draw, even doing some pictures professionally. He drew a collage of pictures of a neighbor’s son.
“I was pretty proud that I could do something like that,” Johnson said.
He would also draw for relatives. One of the last pieces he completed, at age 19, was for his grandmother. He drew and colored a picture of his brother by a lake in Holland.
Then Johnson went to college. While he continued an artistic focus, music was his new medium. He graduated from Mid-America Nazarene University with a music and education degrees, qualifying him to become a high school band and choral teacher.
After a stop at a 1A school in western Kansas, he ended up as the band and music teacher at Marion Elementary and High schools.
Since college, he had not drawn in 10 years.
Last year, Carole Davies completed the last of six years of nursing school; she is now working for St. Luke Hospital. While she was going through school, Brian performed the role of primary breadwinner and cared for the Davies daughters, Megan and Emily, now 11.
“He was Mr. Mom,” Carole Davies said.
Brian Davies sacrificed his time for his family but he would talk about getting back into illustration. His wife encouraged him to draw again.
“Now it’s kind of his turn,” she said. “It’s kind of payback.”
Slowly, Brian Davies committed himself to art. He tried a few illustrations but they did not feel and look right. Illustrating was not like riding a bike; it took Davies countless hours to perfect his style.
“Brian’s biggest road block is his belief in himself,” Carole Davies said.
Laura Johnson was also trying to persuade her husband to return to drawing.
Adam Johnson said he would sit in a chair and think about drawing but would never commit to putting his ideas on paper.
“He kept saying that he wished he would draw more,” Laura Johnson said.
When Laura Johnson recently became manager of Great Plains Computers, she thought about the rooms above the storefront as an art studio. Great Plains owner Lloyd Davies, Brian’s brother, agreed and the space was rented to Adam Johnson as an art studio.
“She kind of sees herself as our agent,” Adam Johnson said of Laura.
The artists knew each other for three years without either of them knowing about their mutual affection for art.
What reconnected the two USD 408 employees to their respective arts was former art teacher Jan Davis.
Davis had only a few months left before her retirement as Marion Elementary School art teacher last year. One of her last activities with the school was a faculty art gallery.
Johnson and Davies both submitted pieces for the gallery.
“I’ve known Brian was an illustrator, but I hadn’t seen his work until last year,” Davis said.
Both artists said receiving warm reviews from the faculty gallery was a turning point for them to get back into art.
“That gave them a boost,” Davis said. “An artist puts their ego out there for everyone to see. It’s difficult to put out there. People have their opinions.”
Already friends, Johnson and Davies decided to collaborate and move into the art studio above Great Plains in July.
The space, even though Johnson said it was extremely hot in the summer, gave them the place to focus and spend the hours necessary for their craft.
Johnson is currently working on a colored pencil drawing of a butterfly. He is enlarging the two-inch butterfly to huge proportions to highlight the details in its wings.
He said it takes him an hour per square inch. He fills in a layer beneath the tooth, the top surface, of the paper and will combine colored pencils, shading until the picture looks exact.
Before he begins, it takes Johnson about an hour to get into the right mindset to draw.
Davies said he, too, can be obsessive about an image. He said for a 5 by 7 inch work it will take him a total of 30 hours.
The hard work has been rewarded. Both artists have been featured in Davis’ art gallery and have sold prints of their work.
Davis said the reaction from people who observe their work is amazement.
They also sold their work from a booth at art in the park.
The success has encouraged Johnson and Davies to extend their reach. Adam is publicizing the studio, Glory of God In Nature, and is looking to sell more of his art.
Davies is trying to get into publishing. He said this time around he is paying more attention to the viewer. One of his angles is creating prints for nurseries, appealing to young mothers.
“A lot of people ask me, ‘what are you doing cleaning toilets for a living’?’” Davies said. “I get a lot of positive feedback.”
Although they received their inspiration from different spectrums of the art world, Johnson and Davies say they are a lot alike. They use each other to provide focus and encouragement.
One of their similarities is a strong belief in God. Adam’s drive for getting back into art was using a gift that God gave him, a gift he was wasting.
They also think of themselves as lucky.
“It’s just wild. Of all the small towns I could have gone to,” Johnson said. “I get here and discover the janitor is an amazing artist and the elementary school art teacher’s dream was to open an art gallery.”
With the array of coincidences aligned like the planets in the solar system, a divine plan may be what brought the three artists together in Marion.