Duke Ellington

Everett Spruill b. Birmingham, AL. – American painter, photographer, and printmaker. Spruill graduated from Berea College, (class of 76) where he earned a degree in Business Management. Born in a creative household where classical music and piano lessons were the norm, Everett was drawing and painting at a very early age. Spending lots of afternoons in the Birmingham Museum of art drawing the African artifacts fueled his fascination with all things African and helped to shape the direction of all his future creations. It was during this time that he painted loose watercolors 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, not to mention the African influence in Picasso's work. After relocating to Orlando, Spruill took up painting seriously in 1988. Known as The Old School Jazz and Blues series Everett created collages out of magazine cut-outs in the spirit of Romare Bearden. From that time on Spruill consistently created works using an increasingly complex variation of recycled and repurposed materials focusing on Jazz as a central theme. His first radical shift came in 1995, when he combined the principals of serigraphy and graffiti techniques, using spray paint with hand-cut stencils. From the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, Spruill created a large body of work that responded in a general way to his love of stained glass. During this time, the increasing mixture of recycled materials gave way to full three-dimensionality, with sculptural forms derived from discarded electronic parts and wire. Postage Stamps, seashells, and fabric are used to create decorative architectural elements.