Today we’d like to introduce you to Devin Birmingham.
Hi Devin, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My passion for art started when I was very young indeed. I was perhaps 5-6 years of age. I suppose there was always a certain level of “natural talent” granted me from a higher power greater than myself. Drawing, and the understanding of the physical world just came easily. I was just…naturally good, I guess. Initially, it started with simple drawings and doodles of things that children typically gravitate to – animals, dinosaurs, etc. In all honesty, I spent a great deal of time even in school drawing when I should have been paying attention.
The following years of childhood were no different. I continued my passion for drawing – primarily graphite, but as elementary school drew to a close, pen had made its’ way into my drawing arsenal. Classmate requests to have their favorite characters depicted was a frequent occurrence, and since I really hadn’t chosen my subject of focus, I was glad of the attention since I was a bit of a wallflower and misfit anyhow. Outdoor lab in the 6th grade was when I really started seeing the skills I had been developing start emerging and making themselves known. Part of the program during that week in the woods was to draw forest creatures and plant species of the environment, and the illustrations that I made were really starting to look quite good.
Middle school and High school would open up new paths as electives became available, so of course, I enrolled in as many art classes as I could get into. Ceramics, Jewelry, Drawing I & II, Offset printing and Graphic Design all made their appearance on my academic resume, with the latter two being at a vocational school with acute focus in those areas.
After taking about a year off following graduation, I enrolled in a local community college and filled my credit hours with more art related courses alongside the core classes needed. Art History, Music appreciation, more Drawing I & II. It pains me to say that I didn’t stay the course to achieve the degree in Fine Art that I was pursuing.
Life happened. I became the unwitting cog in the machine and worked a variety of jobs ranging in everything from retail and retail management, hotel night auditing, holding and FFL for firearm sales to general contraction in construction renovations and skylight specialization. I lost a brother. I fought my own demons. For many years, in fact. I got absolutely lost in struggles no person should ever have to contend with. Art took a bow out of my life for the better part of 20 years in the chaos. But through all the pain there was a lot of happiness, too. Amidst my battles, I met my beautiful wife Melissa and we had four amazing children – one boy and three girls, whom are all growing up so rapidly we hardly had time to notice it had happened. We bought our first townhome, lost it, went into living in apartment after apartment until we caught another break in life, and then bought our first real home all in these remarkable years.
Fast forward some good measure of time, and while working as a drone for someone else’s retirement, I became aware that I was not doing anything that I was meant to be doing with my life. I was given a gift and I wasn’t using it at all. That, and my health was taking a downward turn from all the stress and sedentary nature of that particular position, so I put in notice to my employer and decided to open my own business.
To add insight into this decision, I believe that art is a crucial and necessary part of our humanity, but has been in decline for far too many generations. Our world still needs art, and with the emergence of varying communication technologies of the past couple decades, we finally have a means today to bring it back from the brink. It took some research into legal compliance, website design, the ever-changing marketing dynamic of today’s world, a lot of trial and error and quite a bit of financial hardship, but DeVine Fine Art LLC was launched in April of 2024. My focus – to create original pieces of art in graphite and charcoal illustration and oil paintings, with subject material including portraiture, landscapes, seascapes, fantasy and dark fantasy, with a little bit of the macabre or occult thrown in for good measure to help express and evoke emotions that seldom have other means of egress or interpretation. After all, art is about creating, feeling, observing and interpreting that which entices our senses in a subjective manner as a means of exploring our humanity and the world we live in. And sometimes…the world we do not live in or see, but wish we did.
Now, support of those around me in this venture has been…a mixed bag if I’m being objective. Nonetheless, I mean to see DeVine Fine Art succeed to its’ greatest potential in the remaining days of my life, even if that success is only to fulfill the pursuit of my own dreams and purpose or make the lives of others a little bit brighter. And hopefully, to inspire and encourage a few aspiring artists to pursue their own dreams along the way, because the world has the potential to be a much more beautiful place with a a little more art within it to make it so.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It definitely hasn’t been smooth sailing. As mentioned, I actually abandoned art for nearly 20 years because I had foolishly convinced myself that art didn’t make sense in a world where it seemed to be waning. I thought I’d have to slog through the decades of working myself to the bone to make ends meet. And in truth, there still needs to be a steady job for most people in this endeavor, but it doesn’t mean that art has no place in the fray.
Finances were also strained while getting an art business off the ground, as that takes time. I found that I had to build the collection of works. I had to take time to get the website built, the marketing, the state and federal regulation compliance, etc. Some people doubt the wisdom of such an undertaking and will always have their own opinions of going after it. Including myself. I’ve doubted the plausibility of starting my own art business many times. Am I good enough? Will people even like what I do? Is this a mistake after all? I think artists are their own worst critics, which seems to be a universal struggle within us all, but making a dream happen will always be the correct choice in life versus never having taken the chance at all and living with the regret.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My art is largely illustration and painting. If I’m oil painting, the creation will likely be a landscape, a seascape or a fantasy painting of some sort.
My illustrations cater to a different persona of my inner artist. I enjoy creating graphite and charcoal portraits as an avenue to hone my skills, but I truly enjoy exploring the darker side of our psyche and my own. By depicting that which may be considered macabre or aligning with the occult, these allow me to express and evoke emotions, thoughts and inner speculation that are seldom given their space, which gets both the observer and myself out of our comfort zone. I believe this to be a primary function of art in general.
While I have observed works from me fellow artists the world over, it is difficult to say that any one thing sets me apart from so many others out there. There is so much talent in the world that I wish everyone would take time to see. When I consider what I see of many creators, I find those who specialize in very specific content as well as those who let their art encompass anything and everything. While some may paint, draw or sculpt animals only, or maybe their shtick is flowers or portraits or landscapes, others may draw, paint or sculpt absolutely everything under the sun – whatever takes their fancy in the moment.
If anything at all sets me apart from other artisans, perhaps it is that I have my more docile, tame content contrasted by the darker, more chaotic side of my art. In that regard, maybe I have something that can appeal to vastly different spectators of my craft…maybe…
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Besides losing myself in the process of artistic creation?
Beautiful music – which is itself subjective. The beauty of nature, calm and pure. Wind as it blows across the tallest trees of the highest peaks. The smell of ponderosa as you look out over countless valleys toward a vast horizon, or the pulsing mysticism of the cool night as it hints at a world still unknown, where magic and the ethereal, still unseen can still be a possibility under the faint flash of the stars from the infinite universe above. A world silenced by a fallen snow – quiet and serene, solitude from the world for a moment. Casting a longing gaze out across the ocean toward a setting sun, hearing the talk of the waves and the breeze while color itself pierces your soul. And a good book.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://devinefineart.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/devinefineart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61558520823611
