About John Frentress

Born in Manchester Iowa, one a.m. on June 4th 1963. The 10th child the 4th son of 15 children. I first started drawing when I was 3 years old. I remember exactly what I drew – it was a picture of an ape’s head/face.  It was a relatively realistic drawing and when I showed it around I got a lot of attention for it – which I liked a lot. In a large family one has to do what one can to separate himself from the crowd and I thought it would be fun to see how people would react to my drawings.

I would get almost daily a request to come up with some caricatures, in retrospect I think they thought of me as a freak with an entertaining penchant for doodles. My mom would have me run and get my latest batch of drawings and the adults would pass them around and chuckle. I liked the attention a lot and became kind of a vulture by the age of 8 or 10, waiting to swoop down on this helpless audience trapped on my parents couch.

My popularity as an artist ebbed and flowed in my family and school settings. In my teens my work was considered by all but the twisted to be gross and/or inappropriate – I thought they were wierd and hilarious.

My education in art has been varied and on-going. I considered my college education a spring board into the greater world of art and I soon became equally obsessed with the academic and productive sides of art. I loved learning about 2oth century artists in particular and also learning the techniques of print making, painting and ceramic sculpture. I had some excellent and eccentric professors who gave me the motivation to carry on with art as a life long passion.