When Steven Bye was only 4陆 years old, he broke his jaw.
He couldn鈥檛 talk and he didn鈥檛 yet know how to write.
鈥淭he only way I could communicate 鈥 I drew pictures,鈥 he says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 how I communicated.鈥
His injury eventually healed, but his love of art stuck with him for decades to come.
鈥淲hen I was 7 or 8 years old, I taught myself to draw Superman by memory,鈥 he says. 鈥淚 did all the comic heroes and stuff. In elementary, I鈥檇 do a sketch and sell it to my friends for a nickel.鈥
Steven Bye has dabbled in other painting mediums, as well as ceramics and photography.
Through the years, Bye says he learned a lot from his middle and high school art teachers 鈥 so much so that he went on to study art education himself at the University of Alabama.
Artist Steven Bye says he has painted the San Xavier Mission more than a dozen times.
Bye taught high school art in Alabama, Michigan, New Mexico and eventually Arizona, where he retired. He now lives in Tucson, creating Arizona-centric oil paintings with a 鈥渟tory or homage鈥 of landscapes from Sedona to the San Xavier Mission to the recent Bighorn Fire that scorched the Catalina Mountains.
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Beyond his paintings, Bye has dabbled in ceramics, photography and jewelry-making. He鈥檚 also a published author 鈥 something that came into fruition when he was trying to figure out how to make his art history class more interesting for his students.
鈥淲hat I started to do was write short stories,鈥 he says. 鈥淭here was a kid in class who was into skateboarding and the X Games, so I gave him an assignment. I said Picasso invented the first skateboard.鈥
Most of Steven Bye鈥檚 paintings are of landscapes, many in Arizona.
Bye wrote a short story for the student 鈥 filled with both real and fictional elements. It was up to the student to study artist Pablo Picasso and figure out which parts of the story were real.
Bye started doing that for each of his students, writing a personalized story based on their interests.
鈥淎 couple of kids came to me and said, 鈥楳r. Bye, you should write a book because you鈥檝e written all these short stories,鈥欌 he recounts. 鈥淚 said, 鈥楾hat鈥檚 really nice, but I鈥檓 a painter 鈥 not a writer.鈥欌
But in 2013, Bye published 鈥淰incent in Tucson,鈥 a fictional book about artist Vincent van Gogh and what his life would be like had he visited the Old Pueblo.
Steven Bye taught high school art in several states before retiring in Arizona.
Bye is currently working on another book and continues to paint. But he says he wouldn鈥檛 be where he is without the support of his wife Nancy, daughter Sara Winter and friends Garry and Debbie Gassel and Jennifer North.
鈥淭hey have helped me know how to promote myself. They鈥檝e been so supportive, giving me tips,鈥 he says, adding that Garry Gassel helped him film a trailer for his book. 鈥淭hey have just done so many things. I can鈥檛 say enough about them.鈥
Painter Steven Bye creates Arizona-centric oil paintings.听
Contact reporter Gloria Knott at gknott@tucson.com or 573-4235. On Twitter: @gloriaeknott
Gloria Knott
#ThisIsTucson Editor
