Artist Gallery

Everett Spruill b. 1954 Birmingham, AL. - American painter, photographer and printmaker. Everett Spruill attended Berea College, (class of 76) where he majored in Business. Born in a creative household where classical music and piano lessons were the norm, Everett was drawing and painting at a very early age. The Birmingham Museum of Art would prove to have a great influence on his artistic development. Spending lots of afternoons in the Museum drawing the artifacts fueled his fascination with all things African and helped to shape his direction of all his future creations. It was during this time that he painted loose water colors of landscapes and portraits in the tradition of the French Impressionist, but didn’t seriously entertain the idea of a career in the arts. While managing a Hotel in Miami, and with frequent visits to the Miami Museum, a Picasso exhibition changed his mind as he was inspired by the simplicity and the grandeur of the work and the geometric patterns that formed the images. After relocating to Orlando, Spruill took up painting seriously and it was after two accidental paintings that he found his success. Known as The Old School Jazz and Blues series Everett created collages, inspired by Romare Bearden, out of magazine cut outs. From that time on Spruill consistently developed his increasingly complex variations of recycled and repurposed materials focusing on Jazz as a central theme. Spruill constantly challenges himself to source new materials and expand his range of materials. His first radical shift came in 1997, when he combined the principals of serigraphy and graffiti techniques, using spray paint with hand cut stencils. It was around this time as well that he created his first abstract collages with recycled materials with which he became an acknowledged master. During the following decade, Spruill introduced digital materials into his art, which he came to call "" painting for its sculptural qualities. From the mid-1980's to the mid-1990's, Spruill created a large body of work that responded in a general way to his love of stained glass. During this time, the increasingly mixture of recycled paper and spray paint paintings gave way to full three-dimensionality, with sculptural forms derived from cones, pillars, French curves, waves, and decorative architectural elements. To create these works, the artist used collages that were then enlarged and re-created with the aid of digital technologies.   In the 1990's, Spruill began making freestanding sculptures for public spaces and developing architectural projects. Still residing in Orlando Florida today with his many accolades, Everett Spruill prints and paintings are most famous for his work in the areas of cubism and graffiti infused painterly abstraction.