Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Goettee.
Hi Michael, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
From third grade (Jacksonville, FL) when the teacher would hand me the colored chalks to create holiday drawings on the blackboard, I knew I wanted to be an artist. I “made stuff” from then on.
After an unsatisfying degree in Advertising (1969), I enlisted in the Navy and was stationed at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on the personal staff of the Chief Of Naval Operations. The galleries and museums there started me dabbling in paint. After seeing my work, a friend told me that I needed to take it seriously and that I should use the GI Bill (available to those who were in the military) to go back to college for the degree I really wanted. I’d been a pretty average student for most of my life, but I graduated with honors in Design in 1976. I took every fine art course I could while there. Both degrees were at the University of Florida.
I moved to Atlanta. I worked for over eight years at the Atlanta Journal and Constitution newspaper and later went into magazine publishing as a designer and art director. I chose to retire a little early to pursue fine art painting and sculpture exclusively.
A 1995 trip to art-filled Santa Fe, New Mexico, awakened my childhood love of all things western. The art of various cultures out there (Hispanic, Native American) along with the romanticized depictions of the old west lit a fire under me and I began to paint western themed work almost exclusively. I’ve returned to southwest many times, mostly to New Mexico and Arizona to fuel my creativity and inspiration.
The curator of the country’s largest western art museum, the Smithsonian-affiliated Booth Western Art Museum, discovered my work on Facebook and invited me to drive up for a sit-down with them. The Booth is in Cartersville, GA, an hour north of my Atlanta-area home. They made a purchase along with another by the anonymous donor and creator of the museum. In 2016, I was featured in a solo exhibition. Back when I retired early, I felt like I was jumping off a cliff to do what I really wanted. I’d often picture Wile E Coyote from Roadrunner cartoons, falling into a canyon in a puff of dust at the bottom. I noticed he always looked down first. I didn’t. I flew. I learned not to look down. The Booth chose to name my solo exhibition, “The Technicolor Coyote” because of that story. I had also carved an Acme Rocket Boot on a roller skate as part of the show.
Later, I was contacted and told that the same people were building a new automobile museum that would also be filled with art. One of my paintings was the first to be purchased for the museum while it was still under construction.. Later I was commissioned to paint four five-foot-square paintings of vintage cars. I included one of Clark Gable’s 1935 Duesenberg. The architect designed a wall around those paintings. Currently I have seven paintings in the museum after the addition of two smaller commission works.
I’ve now been shown in several prestigious museums around the country and have shown in galleries in New Mexico and Arizona. I also have work in Portugal, Norway and Germany now.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I think that choosing to live as authentically as you can will never really provide you a completely smooth road. I would say that those day-job years with harsh deadlines and a few ornery clients made for a reliable gravel road. Creativity is my rocket fuel and it propelled me through those years. (Back to that Coyote boot) Some of that tough stuff allowed me to hone my skills in ways I’d never imagined. It gave me a solid work ethic. I pride myself in having never missed a deadline at the newspaper or magazines I worked for. It made me a problem solver that I could bring into my work today.
During those last couple of years on long commutes to work, I had an audiobook of Susan Jeffers’ Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway! I listened to it all the way through four times. It became a bible of sorts for me.
Then I launched myself off of that cliff.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
When I began to paint from my inspiration after the first (of several) trips to the southwest in 1995, It began with serious landscapes. I never painted landscapes before that, but the first one sold here in Atlanta before I could even get a picture of it. People started referring to me as a cloud painter for a while. The more I learned about the southwest, the more my art changed. A new flood of subject matter entered the mix. I discovered that my sense of humor became one of the colors on my palette. People enjoy my titles. I used to think “who will buy a joke?” in those cases. Turns out MANY would.
During that first Santa Fe visit, I noticed that people dressed in such great style. It wasn’t the rodeo western style, but the more, let’s say “wealthy rancher with asthetic taste” style. Men in Navajo blanket vests and women in tiered prairie skirts with turquoise and silver jewelry. I decided to create a canvas painting of a skirt that looked like the material was printed with a landscape from that part of the country. It sold at a show and caused a stir. Commissions came from women who wanted one. They became an odd surprise for me. I only planned on the one. I recently created the 19th painting of the subject. The last won a blue ribbon at the Booth Artists Guild showing at the museum, and then a second place award in a publication from publishers of “Artists Magazine” and “American Artist.” It was the 12th annual “Acrylicworks: The Best of Acrylic.” It included a four page article with other works.
During those first talks with the Booth Western Art Museum, I was told that I had one of the most unique approaches to western art that they’d seen.
If that wasn’t enough, the four large paintings for the Savoy Automobile Museum became one of my favorite endeavors. I had painted smaller such things even before my trip to the west, and later created vintage car paintings and small wood sculptures incorporating vintage vehicles and paintings from my photography of the west. That led to my inclusion in a car museum.
I have a photo sent to me from the Savoy of Jay Leno standing in front of my big Cadillac painting with a “thumbs up” gesture. He has a large vintage car collection and a TV show on autos. That photo lit me up big time.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Oh lordy! This is syrupy sounding and I know it, but KINDNESS! It was the VERY first thing that came to mind with that question. There’s so much horrible stuff out there lately, so I want to use this light that I’ve been gifted with through my art to make people smile. Granted, I get angry. Very angry. But when I’m in my studio, I can’t worry about a thing. That makes me want to spread that feeling around when posting on social media. When someone might think “Gimme a break!” in this world, I’d like to be that break. I inherited my humor from my ma. Besides the creativity, that’s my other gift. I spread it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://michaelgoettee.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michael.goettee/
Image Credits
My photo with painting and blue ribbon by Arthur Ratliff
