Daily Inspiration: Meet Steven Hughes

Today we’d like to introduce you to Steven Hughes.

Hi Steven, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
I was always connected to the arts and like many people grew up with Bob Ross, making my own landscape paintings on the kitchen table every Saturday afternoon. I was lost in the children’s books of Chris Van Allsburg, the scientific illustrations of dinosaurs, and the fantastic artist depictions of otherworldly moons of Jupiter and the creatures that might exist out there somewhere. My parents were always supportive, so I may be one of the few exceptions you find when talking to artists. There was never really any pushback about, “how are you going to make a living?”. In fact, they made sure I participated in a summer art workshop program at the local university (Kent State), where I ultimately went to school. We also travelled in the summer and saw a lot of the US when I was a kid. That had a huge effect on me to this day. Hiking in national parks, learning about nature, science, indigenous culture, and art, and visiting museums definitely shaped who I am and a lot of my interests today. Most importantly, I had a camera around my neck during all those trips and started to really feel a connection with something I was doing. My mom always likes the story about the how the organizers of art competition in middle school thought that the photo I entered was perhaps taken by a parent, instead of me. I think ultimately, we find our passions in what feeds our ego. That certainly didn’t hurt mine.

Going to Kent State University for Visual Communication Design (VCD), I was going to design album covers and logos for sports teams, but that dream didn’t hold a candle to what illustration offered me. It awakened all those earlier connections I had as a kid to books filled with exciting places and animals that needed an artist to bring them to life. It was a great experience—getting a foundation in design, drawing, illustration, photography—everything I do today. At the time, the VCD program offered a unique opportunity to combine a bachelor’s and master’s degree. So, I stayed at Kent and had the opportunity to become a graduate assistant and shadow my undergrad illustration professors, Jerry Kalback and Douglas Goldsmith. This was the most important time of my career at Kent. They showed a great deal of trust in me to handle a class of my own and really mentored me in terms of how to be a teacher. While I finished my master’s I worked as an adjunct professor and started to understand that this is what I would be doing after school. Today, I’m a Professor at Northern Michigan University (NMU)where I’m responsible for the illustration program. I’ve learned a lot since Kent, but every day I’m in the classroom now is reflective of that time and the wisdom my professors shared.

During my last years at Kent, I fleshed out my education in the summer at the Illustration Academy in Richmond, Virginia, and was hustling to make it as an illustrator, working freelance for a range of local editorial publications. That continued until I was offered my tenure-track position at NMU in 2011, where time became more precious and pulling all-nighters to complete a job became more difficult. The work that I was doing was rooted in traditional materials and much of the illustration world was shifting to digital art. Seeking to find other avenues where my work could be seen I had the opportunity to get in on some early pop culture shows at Spoke Art, a gallery in San Francisco, based on some of the work from my master’s thesis. These exhibitions gave you lots of creative freedom, longer deadlines, and exciting movie and tv properties to play with. I’ve moved away from the pop culture references now to focus more on my own paintings and exploring the human figure as a subject. Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco was the place that first took a chance on my gallery work in this respect. I worked with them on group shows for a number of years and just recently had a solo show, “Emergent,” there in 2020, with another planned for 2023.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
The challenges I have dealt with, or continue to deal with, pale compared to many out there. Like many artists, it is always a struggle to get your work in front of the right people and match your goals with the needs of the moment. I tell my students that the path they see themselves taking will likely unfold before them in many unexpected ways. Those twists and turns are what help us crystalize what’s most important. Going to college, I expected to come out a graphic designer, but I embraced the success and fun that I was having in my illustration classes and switched concentrations. Then, in grad school, I embraced the opportunity to instruct my own classes and a new path opened up were finding a way to connect with the students and relay information was both creatively challenging and stimulating. Every day was different. However, that was exhausting and kept me from developing my own work. I had an especially hard time balancing the time constraints of teaching with finishing my master’s thesis. To this day, the work-life balance of being a professor, working artist, and having a family is what I struggle the most with. There are never enough hours in the day. However, I’ve gotten better at carving out time for my own creative endeavors and been able to pull some of those interests directly into the classroom, so that they feed off of one another—pushing each part of my life forward, rather than holding it back.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Formally, I’m a painter now, albeit with illustrative undertones, and show my work in galleries. I use the pseudonym Primary Hughes as my business name. Portraiture and the human figure are my main emphasis and feature heavily in my solo show, “Emergent.”

‘Emergent’ begins where a separation between elements ends. The formal transitions occurring to blend the feminine and curvilinear designs reveal similarities that imbue the human portraiture with corresponding layers of depth. Built upon the sometimes-blurred edges of distinction, the work strikes at a place between communication and ambiguity, where the viewer can feel a story beginning to coalesce.

Outside of the studio, I get to channel my inner Bob Ross through plein-air painting. I’m lucky to live near Lake Superior and some amazing natural coastlines where I frequently set up an easel and spend the afternoon outside studying nature just like I did as a kid.

Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I would say I’m cautious by nature and like to be overly prepared for situations. The risks I take feel less like risks because I’ve spent time learning and studying how to best succeed at the next steps in whatever I do. However, as an artist that can get in the way and you can stagnate or get bored with the creative process. So, surrounding yourself with a new environment or parameters can be a way of introducing risk into the work. This could be painting outside or traveling, attending a workshop to learn something new, or picking up a tool you’ve never used before. All these things have a way of making you slightly uncomfortable or unfamiliar with the work and what the results will look like. The drawing or painting could be an utter failure, but that’s also when something new and exciting can happen. One of the faculty members at the Illustration Academy, CF Payne, likes to say, “The only one taking a risk here is the piece of paper. We’re not flying F-16s here!”

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.primaryhughes.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/primaryhughes/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/primaryhughes
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/PrimaryHughes

Image Credits
Primary Hughes