Aaron Hensley-The Artist

David L. Foster

Professor Cryer

English Comp II

12 Sept. 2018

The Artist

Aaron Hensley wasn’t the typical kid growing up with dreams of becoming a future doctor, lawyer, police officer, or professional athlete. By the age of twelve, he knew that he wanted to be an Artist.  

Aaron’s love for painting didn’t happen overnight. His dad was the main source of influence. As a kid, Aaron would watch his dad paint in the garage and, as time went on, his love for painting grew. One day, he decided to pick up the brush for himself.  Painting came to him intuitively. He recalls an experience in second grade when some teachers hung a few of his paintings on the hall for the whole school to see.  He also found inspiration through his grade school art teacher, Mr. Grey. Aaron says, “Mr. Grey motivated me. He inspired me to believe I could one day be a great artist.”  

After grade school, Aaron joined the Navy. However, he had to medically retire after just two years, due to a diagnosis of narcolepsy. Shortly after leaving the military, Aaron and his wife had their first child.  Aaron continued to paint during his free time, but had little time to plan a future for a career in the art business because, as he put, “I had to make ends meet. Now I have a family and my love for art wasn’t bringing in any cash flow.” As his kid’s grew, Aaron would find more time to paint and get back to what he aspired to one day become, an artist.  

It took him awhile for him to choose his career path after leaving the military and starting a family he says,” Being in America, where art isn’t highly praised, it became difficult to specify a job in the field that serves the purpose for my artwork.’’  According to Salary.com, “artists in America based off experience usually makes in between $45,172 and $61,804.”  Given that Aaron has a household of five to feed further solidified his decision to wait to pursue his creative career choice. He sacrificed his love for art to raise his family. Once his oldest child graduated college, he decided to pursue his dreams and started back going to school. Even though he knew what he wanted to be by the age of 12, it took him until the age of 43 to get back onto his career path and major in Art Therapy.

Aaron found out about Art Therapy when his friend’s son was diagnosed with cancer. His parents would eventually use art therapy to help keep their son from depression. According to the American Association for Art Therapy, Art Therapy can be described as, “an integrative mental health and human services profession that enriches the lives of individuals, families, and communities through active art-making, creative process, applied psychological theory, and human experience within a psychotherapeutic relationship.” Essentially, art therapy is a style of therapy that uses art as its words. This style of therapy fits Aarons creativity that he uses for art because of all influences he follows with his work.

Aaron likes to frame artwork from his Dad, as well as Salvador Dali. When asked how he would describe Dali, Aaron reflectively describes him as, “A surrealist painter of how he takes real objects and puts them on paintings. His work was something you can’t take a picture of and that is how he made things that doesn’t exist.” Aaron ties these perception of art to his passion; he see’s Art Therapy as one way to express his love and appreciation for Dali’s style. He describes artwork to be his outlet. He says that it can bring joy and pain as well as giving his soul a way to speak. Aaron says, “I’m vulnerable when people see my art which can be a good thing or a bad thing.”

            Towards the end, Aaron makes the statement that, “in order to feed your soul, you need balance.” To further explain, he mentions his family and the importance that they have is his life.  He sacrificed the life of painting and artistry that he had been wanting to pursue for 10 years in order to be there for his family.  Although he hasn’t been able to continue his craft during his off-time, he sometimes likes to sit and create different artistic goals for himself, which he writes down in order to solidify his plans for his future art career. He recently started going back to school to finish his degree in psychology, which he says will give him with an understanding of how to relate with people as a whole, as well as expand his ideas on his artwork. Not only does Aaron Hester sacrifice for his family, but his selfless decision to return to school and better himself on his craft prompts him to say that he hopes to eventually be able to “change people's lives a day at a time.”