Austin Spradley, 18, glides his pencil across the canvas to create an image. Outside, the drums of the Wildwood Youth Arts Corps percussion class thunder. The tempos of the drums threaten to rush the pace of Austin's pencil. He brushes the utensil across the canvas. The drums get faster and louder. Yet, the beat does not faze his rhythm. He draws so lightly, one wonders if he can even see the marks. The definition of the lines requires one to focus on the illustration that has depth, even without color.
On this day, numerous youth activities go on at the Wildwood Community Center. The advanced level students instruct the beginners percussion class. The theater classes choose outfits for their headshots. The basketball court echoes the sounds of three different games at the same time. In a classroom at the end of the Youth Arts Corps hall, sporting cornrows, a green T-shirt and trendy jeans with systematic patches, Austin shows his powers.
The Early Years
Before Austin began school, his father, Jarmel Spradley, sat him down to teach him to write his name.
A-U-S-T-I-N
Austin would begin to write his name but would instead draw shapes and lines. He would draw past, over and under the lines on the wide-rule paper.
"No, write your name," Spradley would say to his young son. Since those early years, Austin can't keep his "pencil off the sketchbook."
After four years as an apprentice to Lenzer Evans at the Youth Arts Corps, Austin's sketchbook has expanded. He begins his works in a "little black book"-one without phone numbers. Instead, it houses the visual beginnings of Austin's sculptures, paintings, pinch boxes and ceramic pieces.
"He can make something out of nothing," says his mother, April Causey. She can remember Austin making a boat out of twigs on the beach, complete with an engine and a raft.
Austin begins to add color to his current painting. The main character is a swordfish. His eyes are calm and his arms are focused as he adds yellows and oranges over the browns and greens.
"I don't think in colors," says Austin, who also loves the beauty of black-and-white photographs.
He points outside the small classroom window at the colors he prefers to use the browns of the dirt and the greens of the grass.
"I see the colors of nature," says Austin who is a May graduate of the Pinellas County Center for the Arts, a magnet program at Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg.
"My mind's not like this," he says as he adds the yellows and oranges. He's creating a piece designed by a client for what he calls "commission work." Some clients, he says, can be picky about colors and the formations of colors.
"But it's still worth it," says Austin, who works in a small space at the St. Petersburg Clay Company when he's not at the Youth Arts Center.
For an associate's fee of $90, the Clay Company gives Austin access to pottery wheels, kiln services and a workspace. Artists can use the space until midnight. The Clay Company has an art gallery that artists can utilize, with a 50 percent profit fee. All sculptures and ceramics are on display at a 70 percent artist and 30 percent profit fee. Currently, Austin has on display a platter for $25, a sculpture for $80 and a teacup set for $6 per cup.
He moves his head every couple of minutes to reference the 8½-by-11 prototype he created for his customer. She's a friend of one of his mom's co-workers. Although, he says his mom is "sick of seeing his work all over the house," she's one of his leading advertisers.
"He's like a genius," says Causey, mother of four: Austin; a set of fraternal twin boys, Araeus and Artrez, 17; and daughter Ajayla, 11. Causey says her children were born with the artistic gene. She encourages them not only in the arts but in doing all things that are positive.
Araeus is a fine artist and graphic designer, Artrez is a choreographer and cartoonist and Ajayla sings.
Causey was formerly a member of a singing group, Baker's Dozen, and had interests in drawing as a youth. Now, she works as a cosmetologist.
Austin scratches his nose as he adds color to his black-and-white piece. He works from the back with the background, to the middle and finishes with the subject, leaving no white gaps. This strategy prevents him from covering the swordfish.
The Wonder Years
He puts power behind his blending tool, which resembles a scalpel, as he adds the second layer of color to the background. It's more power than he had at age 14 when he began his apprenticeship under Lenzer at the Youth Arts Corps.
The apprenticeship program requires students to complete the beginners class and specific assignments before acceptance. Their assignments are put on display for sale at open house events and local galleries. The proceeds go to the Youth Arts Corps program.
The students are given specific assignments to prove their commitment and abilities. Lenzer, who's been instructing the beginners and advanced courses for five years, says a lot of the youth have an interest and then discover that ceramics and sculpting are not for them.
"When I got here, I basically knew I would be here for a while," says Austin, who is interested in many aspects of art, including pottery, ceramics and sculpting.
"Austin had a portfolio to show his interest in art," says Lenzer, who attended the Massachusetts College of Art.
"But he still had to go through the beginners class to get familiarized with basic techniques."
Austin says he would often sell out of his prized pieces at the open house events. Austin's pieces ranged from $5 to $125: cups for $5, plates and platters for $25 to $30, vases for $50 to $55, and abstract ceramics for $120 to $125. He began to create slides to keep record of his works.
"I didn't think about the money," says Austin, who earned $5.25 an hour as an apprentice, at 14 years old.
The Artist at Work
He's made a mini-prototype to remind himself of what color scheme his client requested. He hunches his back, just a little, to concentrate on the intricate details above the fish's fin. His head doesn't move to the prototype very often. Maybe once every 2 minutes.
"I keep coming here to get more advanced," which he says he does, day after day. He doesn't see himself doing anything else or working for anyone. Austin can only see himself "doing art and working for commissions." Eventually, he wants to have his own gallery. He may already have enough work for a gallery. His mother says he has so much work around the house that it gets in the way. "I wish he would just sell everything," says Causey.
His teacher says his work is "very good."
"He's very meticulous in the way he works," says Lenzer, who currently instructs six advanced artists and 12 beginners.
"He incorporates his skills of drawing into other artistic forms," says Lenzer, who uses many methods to instruct his young artists. He instructs them as a group, individually, he utilizes reference materials and integrates repetition to educate his apprentices.
Even his color palette is artistic. The palette of reds, yellows, greens and browns looks like an abstract painting.
"I think about the price as I go along," says Austin, who only names pieces that are personal to him.
"You can't create pieces that are too personal of yourself," says Austin, who works to do things that are different, not always for a meaning. He calls himself a loner, yet he likes to experiment to encourage different reactions to his work.
His most recent finished work was a box to put small things in with the image of Bob Marley. This piece is personal for Austin, because it represents his love for reggae music. The box, which took about three weeks to create, radiates the reds, yellows and greens of Marley's home, Jamaica.
Futuristic Austin
He was in the eighth grade when he began this quest at the Youth Arts Corps, now the high school graduate is an assistant, making plans for his transition from the program. He plans to attend St. Petersburg College for two years and then transfer to the Savannah College of Art and Design, which has specialty courses in sequential art, illustration, sculpting and computer graphics.
He stands back, calculating his next stroke on the canvas that displays Austin's powers.
"Everything he touches, turns to gold," says Causey.