SOLON SUN HERALD
Artist Is Starting To Make His Mark

Michael Winston never intended to be an artist. In fact, it took him a while to figure out that his, work even qualified as art. "I'm a teacher," Winston said. "All teachers have markers their brief case. I started doodling and would pull out the markers and fill in the doodling."

But in 1999, he switched the word 'doodling for art. In that year, he and wife Dawn built a house in Twinsburg. When she suggested they buy some paintings to liven up the environment; Winston had another idea. "I can do some pictures for the walls. I'm not paying any money for that,' he said. So he did four drawings and took them to a framer in Solon. When he went back to pick them up, she had an application for him to the 2000 Russell Art Show.
According to Winston, the framer thought the drawings were watercolors and told him there was something different about his work, After some convincing, Winston entered the show and won third place in the graphics division.

People have pigeonholed markers for illustrations.  It's plain old naive!

Back when Winston was a student at John Adams High School, he thought he wanted to be an art teacher, but he changed his mind in college.. Why? While enrolled at Cleveland State University, he took an art class. "I did horribly! Man, they were talking over my head. Basically, I was embarrassed," Winston, 55, said. By the time the class was over, he had decided physical education was more his speed. He teaches it now at Warrensville Heights Middle School.

 I was totally removed from the art world. It had been 30 years since I had painted.

Winston works with Permacolor markers on Bristol paper. Unlike painting, working with markers leaves no room for error. He said. "Once a stroke is down on the paper, it's there for good. Shading and keeping the strokes from showing overlap lines are also challenges of the medium.  But it has at least one distinct advantage: Markers are neat. Winston said he would never work acrylics or oils or even watercolors because they are too messy.
Just put a cap on the marker and I am done," Winston said.

Most of Winston's work is abstract. It has no background, which Winston said creates an illusion of space.  He said lie has finished about 140 pieces, and he names them reluctantly for how purposes. His whimsical titles include "When Water Cans Dream" and "A Chili Pepper in a Red Garden."


Winston has shown his work at festivals like the Berea Arts Fest, Tremont Arts and Cultural Festival, LakeArts Festival, Art in the Park, the Beachwood-Lyndhurst Arts Festival, and at the Valley Art Center. His budding career as an artist is still as much of a surprise to him as his medium is to others.


"I still believe in a way that I am a dream world," he said.


Contact Zickefoose at
jarrod_zickefoose@yahoo.com

Michael Winston is one of the few people in the country making fine art with permanent markers.

by By Jarrod Zickefoose; Arts & Entertainment Editor -

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