Artist: Caylee Van Schenck, CBV Fine Art
Medium: Colored Pencil, Chalk Pastel

Artist Bio:

I was born in Arizona, but grew up in Renton, Washington. Our neighbors had a Mustang they had adopted from the Bureau of Land Management, Zeus, who became my friend and artistic inspiration. My first medium was #2 pencil on copy paper. While I loved to draw in general, I drew horses constantly. My early work stemmed mostly from memory and imagination. Many of my childhood sketches of horses show tears in their eyes and express other human emotions. When I became more confident and courageous, I began using pen, challenging myself to create a work of art in one go without the comfort of an eraser. These works were much harsher but expressed a purity and fearlessness that made them some of my best childhood work.

In college, my artistic expression pivoted to music, and for three years I barely picked up pencil and paper to draw. But when I returned to the page after college, it was as if my artistic abilities had been given a fallow season and returned all the richer and more vibrant for the rest they had received. Though I had taken no art classes in college, my post-college work was far more technical. I began working from photographs, and I began using color.

For me, what it means to draw is to see. My lifelong love for and study of horses has given birth to a profound ability to see these animals, their bone, hair, movement, skin – and muscles and veins beneath. People often comment on the light present in my work, but for me, color comes first. If I can get the color right, light and shadow will come automatically.

Though I believe I would have always pursued art in some form, I have a few key supporters to thank. I am grateful to my great uncle, Bill Roller, to my uncle, Chad Walker, and to my father, Garth Bammer, for their undying support and encouragement of my early work. All three are artists themselves and have not just encouraged my work but inspired me with their own. I am also dearly grateful for the encouragement of my sister Isabel and the daily love and support of my husband Jonathan.

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