User:Wo1887

Born Will Miracle Overstreet in 1978 in Freeport, Ill and raised in the Iowa City area, Will a shy and active child. At the age of three his family moved to Iowa City from Illinios. Like the city he grew up in, he have way been interested in both sports and the fine arts. Will played baseball, footbal; and ran track while in high school.

Artistic Talent ran in the family. His great-grandmother on his mother's side, Norisa Snider, attended the Art Institute of Chicago in the year 1914-1915. She was a contempurary of Georgia O’Keefe, whom attended the same school a few years earlier. Long with her artistic talent she was also fealess and deaf. Her son, Will's grandfather, was a pharmacist. In his retirement years he became quite the wood worker. His brother studied medicine and ceramics in college. His grandfather, Everett Overstreet, on his father's side was a farmer from oklahoma. When he was young he drew for his High School Yearbook. In his later years he did Nature painting and wood scuplture. Everett could doing almost anything with his hands.

Will's Mother, Nancy Snider Overstreet was a kind heart woman known for her sense of humor. She devoted her life to helping men and women with severe and profound disabilities. Nancy inherited her grandmothers fearlessness. She once traveled alone to Uganda, during the reign of Idi Amin. And was held by armed guards who thought she was with the CIA.

Her and husband David Ovestreet divorced when Will was seven years old. David moved down a few blocks away into a house with several roomates. Will's father was a gifted writer who had written numborus manuscripts, books, essays and had a number of poems published over the years.

In high school was very active in sports, playing four sports over the years. Football and track were Will's primalry interests though. Early on in high school found out, after an xray, that his growth plates had grown over and was done growing. Standing only 5 foot 5 inches tall sports got more difficult as his peer continued get larger. Although Will continued to play sports all through out his high school experience, his focased directed more and more to the arts. In 1995 Will ran for and won the Senior Class Presidency. With it came a speech at graduation and became responcible for all future class reunions. The following year was nominated for "Done the Most for the School Award", "Student of the Arts Award" and "Student Art Purchase Award". He won the purchase award for a metal sculpture, which is on perminate display at Iowa City West High School.

His first few years of college were a time when Will struggled to figure out what and who he would become. During these years at Hawkeye Community College in Waterloo, IA, Will continued to paint and sculpt inside his one bedroom apartemnt. After a form U of I painting professor mistakenly told Will that he would "have no problem getting in the MFA program at U of I", after shooting a profolio slides for him. Will replied,"What's a MFA". After explaining what a MFA was to Will. Will informed the man that he wasn't an art student, he just painted on top on a dressor in his living room. "Why, is this stuff good"? Will asked him. "Yes, it is I have nver seen anyone paint like this before". This conversation spured Will into transfering to UNI to become an artist.

Things moved too slow in the freshmen classes for Will at UNI. This caused a lot tension and conflict. As a resolute Will moved to Colorado for a year with a girlfriend. When two of the broke up, his job didn't last much longer after that. He move back to Iowa in January 2004. He returned to UNI, for the first time he felt at home at the school. After graduating with a BA in Studio Art

I completed the Studio Art program at the University Of Northern Iowa (UNI), and graduated with a BA in 2005. I then joined the Iowa Army National Guard in 2006. After basic training I went to grad school to work on a MA in Art Education again at UNI. After graduation in 2008 I worked as an art teacher in Independence Iowa. In the summer of 2010 I was deployed to, and served in, eastern Afghanistan. Currently I am a substitute teacher and a freelance artist

As an artist I am primarily interested in ideas. Generally the ideas dictate the medium I work in. A good idea is a good idea regardless if the situation calls for a 2d or 3d project. Whether it’s a stone carving, oil-realism, graphite-surrealism, fine metal work, or a documentary film, I go for it if the idea is good enough. I believe that good art has social content but art does not need social content to be good. Usually I get so lost within the complexities of design that I lose most social relevance. Instead I work to create a complex arrangement of line, color, form, and an alternating spatial relationship. This is meant to simultaneously confuse and draw the viewer in deeper and deeper. It is my hope that each work is like a mystery novel. The deeper you go, the more that is revealed. Whether this approach works is up to the viewer. I can only hope that a few viewers will be entertained.

http://will-miracle-overstreet.com/