Photo courtesy of David Myers
Dave
David Myers and family
David Myers doesn’t shy away from life's challenges, but rather he embraces them.
It’s the driving force that led him to open the David Myers Art Studio & Galleries in Uptown Westerville in 2002, his victory over testicular cancer in 2019 and how he’s dealt with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2020, Myers, who normally provides one-on-one art instruction in addition to gallery operations, was forced to change many elements to meet CDC guidelines. Despite being among those who are most at-risk for COVID-19, Myers did not let the pandemic slow him down.
“Being an artist, it’s in our wheelhouse to be creative and problem solve,” Myers says. “When the pandemic came along, I thought, ‘OK, how can we adapt to the ever-changing situation?’”
While gallery hours were suspended last year, Myers created an artwork display outside of the gallery and continued art instructions through virtual instruction and on the gallery outdoor porch.
After the onset of the pandemic, Myers says students from New York, Chicago and other U.S. cities reached out to see if he offered online instruction. He didn’t need much persuasion, he says, and through video conference programs, such as FaceTime, he helps clients set up studios in their homes for their lessons.
The lessons offer their own benefits compared with traditional in-person instruction, Myers adds.
“You have more confidence when you're at your home field,” he says. “I sense that confidence when I go to them with FaceTime.”
Photo courtesy of David Myers
Cathy Camacho
Cathy Camacho of Powell who started her instructions with Myers in 2019, has taken advantage of the lessons on FaceTime and outside on the gallery’s porch.
Camacho says the virtual instructions were not that different, but preferred taking them at the studio rather than at home.
“I have a lot more distractions here,” she says. She adds that the porch instructions were liberating and had done one while it was raining, getting a little wet in the process. Sometimes a passerby who sees a porch lesson would stop and ask questions.
“It’s been really great,” Camacho says.
Kathleen Norris, a now retired Westerville school principal, says the porch lessons were beneficial to her and that she feels like she hasn’t missed out on anything. Her art sessions with Myers have helped her look beyond the challenges and negatives of the pandemic.
Kathleen Norris
Myers goes beyond teaching his clients to draw or paint. Originally from northeast Ohio, Myers studied fine art at Miami University and art therapy at California State University, Los Angeles. During his art education, Myers struggled with red-green colorblindness as he attempted to draw or paint for normal-sighted people.
“I had a lot more doubts when I was younger,” Myers says.
With help from good mentors, Myers was able to embrace his weakness and himself as an individual artist. He now wants to pass that wisdom on to his students, focusing more on why paint or draw rather than how.
“That’s what I focus on being for other people,” he says. “I’m really intrigued by the psychological approach to being creative and productive.”
Camacho says Myers’ art therapy helped her work through mental blocks to her creativity. He helped her through a time when she was the primary caregiver of her mother, who passed away in early 2020.
“He was just amazingly supportive,” she says. “I don’t think I could’ve gotten through that without him.”
Norris says Myers helped her overcome her insecurities about her artwork.
“He doesn’t judge you; he doesn’t judge your art,” she says. “I basically found my artistic voice.”
Norris and Camacho’s two-person exhibition Two Voices, One Heart was well received, Myers says.
Photo courtesy of David Myers
Myers’ life experiences have helped him become the person Norris and Camacho needed in an art instructor.
After living in California for 15 years, Myers and his family moved to central Ohio for a change of scene where they could experience all four seasons. When passing through Westerville, he noticed many vacancies in the Uptown area as the economy was struggling after the 9/11 attacks.
Myers saw it as an opportunity to open the studio. This created the work-life balance to take care of his children, Massillon and cherish, with his wife, Silvia, when the children were toddlers at the time.
“I like to look for voids and fill the voids,” he says.
Following his 2017diagnosis, Myers has been cancer free since his second surgery in June 2019. He says the experience impacted his views on life.
“That created a sense of urgency for me,” he says. “This isn’t a practice life. We don’t get another shot at it.”
Myers continues to offer virtual and on-the-porch instructions. His indoor lessons at his studio continue to follow COVID-19 guidelines.
“Art instruction sessions have gained in popularity for artists of all ages for a variety of reasons. I find people being more focused on personal expression and self-acceptance,” he says. “They appreciate the freedom to create, independent of technology. Many use art as an equalizer and as a vehicle for their mental health. …I am grateful to instruct and mentor artists of all ages, whatever the means or method.”
Brandon Klein is the senior editor. Feedback welcome at bklein@cityscenemediagroup.com.
