I should probably start off and tell you how to pronounce my last name. The pronunciation has been butchered ever since I can remember. You wouldn't believe the things I've been called. Thaut, phonetically is pronounced "Tout". I still have friends and co-workers introduce me to people and say it incorrectly.
I was born in September of '65 and raised in the thriving metropolis of Hastings, Nebraska, a small town in the South Central part of the state. Don't blink when you drive through, you might miss it. No, I didn't grow up on a farm as many people assume. The only time I saw a cow or a pig was at the country fair and that was close enough for me.
Even as a tiny little thing, my parents must have seen the artist within me bursting to get out and helped cultivate my interest in the arts. One of my earliest recollections, I remember not wanting coloring books and crayons, but asked my Mother for a drawing pad and pencil instead. Why work with someone else's drawings when I could make my own. They even started me on piano lessons at an early age which I continued well into my 20's.
As I was growing up, I found myself not being interested in anything else but Art and Piano. I would rather spend my free time in the art studio, than to hang out with my classmates or attend any social events. I spent my free time either practicing the piano or drawing. By the time I reached High School, I continued my life as a social hermit and made up my mind to be an Artist. I was extremely lucky to have wonderful parents who's only wish was for me to be happy than to spend my life as an Accountant or something.
I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hastings College in 1987, a small Liberal Arts college in my home town. I concentrated my efforts in Drawing, Printing and Glassblowing. My teachers became my mentors and I strived to be as talented as them. Although I never would lose my love for drawing, my passion for Glassblowing after my first day of class continued to grow at an alarming rate. My Senior Thesis Exhibition featured all 3 art forms. The passion for Glass continued well into Graduate School, eventually allowing me to open and work in a studio with my best friend Alison and her family in Topeka Kansas.
Dreams are often short lived. One thing lead to another after a few years and I found myself working in a cubical. At some point we all need stability, income and insurance. I put my dreams on hold. Too many years later, I find myself still there.
My dreams of becoming a famous glassblower diminished, but my love for the drawing the human figure or capturing the details of someone's personality in a portrait, has never left. Although I might be caught up in my life as a 9 to 5 corporate monkey, I'll always have my first love to help me escape.
My ability to draw.
(read less)I should probably start off and tell you how to pronounce my last name. The pronunciation has been butchered ever since I can remember. You wouldn't believe the things I've been called. Thaut, phonetically is pronounced "Tout". I still have friends and co-workers introduce me to people and say it incorrectly.
I was born in September of '65 and raised in the thriving metropolis of Hastings, Nebraska, a small town in the South Central part of the state. Don't blink when you drive through,...
(read more)
