Jeffrey Bertrand's Biography

My name is Jeff Bertrand, I'm from Nashville Tennessee. I started creating art as a youngster,I received my first art award when I was in in kindergarten. As a young person raised by a single mom, we didn't have a lot of money and art was my outlet to change my world. My mom was my earliest support system she kept finger paints and crayons in my hands and she encouraged me. Later on after lots of practice and a few good teachers I enter the Scholastic art competition and won,an American Visions award and my work was displayed at The corcoran gallery of art in DC at age 17, a year later it was graduation time, and I loved art and planned on continuing my art career with maybe an institute for art or art school, but being from a low income family my dream was over shadowed by the money it would cost to pursue my art career. but I kept painting and drawing,I entered community college and won the award of excellence for a painting I did the first semester, after the lack of interested I had with the community college I dropped out and further my education of art on the streets, graffiti became my teacher. after a lot of debating and contemplating I put down the spray can and picked up the tattoo gun,I was a trained tattoo artist and practiced for 2 years,still wasn't happen with the direction life was taking me I decide to put the tattoo gun down and pick back up the paint brush,I am now a hair stylist pursuing a career in art by doing recent gallery shows with Artnowsf doing a issue release party show for JUXTAPOZ in San Francisco and doing another recent show at the Rymer contemporary art gallery in Nashville TN. I plan on being the artist I always dreamed to be.