LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Wylie Caudill’s life has always included art and creativity.
At least that’s what his family tells him.
“My parents tell the story that I was drawing as soon as I could hold a pencil,” Caudill said.
The pencil evolved into a paint brush for Caudill.
Raised in Cynthiana and now living in Lexington, Caudill’s artistic muse more often than not is for murals.
Over the years, Caudill has built up a strong online following for people to follow his work and it’s helped him continue to call his passion his career.
“Social media is everything. It’s kind of my whole career. I get a lot of jobs through my Tik Tok and Instagram. I keep everything updated on social media,” Caudill said.
While much of his work is in mural form, Caudill has created quite a few canvas paintings in his time.
One of the latest is a striking image of a lone man on a mountain top as origami cranes fill the sky.
A beautiful piece inspired by the work of a young girl in Lexington.
“I chose this drawing that this student made of these triangular shaped mountains everywhere and I thought that was really appealing because it matched an element of my style which is a lot of repetition,” Caudill said.
“I thought I could turn all of these mountains into three dimensional, colorful landscapes.”
Wylie was not alone in this kid collaboration.
Several artists took kids' drawings and made their own renderings ahead of this year’s Reimagine Exhibit at the Living Arts and Science Center.
It’s put on through Arts Connect, a non-profit founded by Kate Savage six years ago to help give artists more exposure and opportunity.
The Reimagine Exhibit has become a mainstay for Arts Connect—honoring the experience of Laurie Barnett—who inspired the event through an interaction with her daughter.
“Laurie’s daughter had a little drawing that she’d done and she asked her mom to reimagine it in an adult way,” Savage said.
“It’s not only the student inspiring the adult. It’s also the adult artist inspiring the youth to continue to make art. To practice that particular creative talent that they have.”
The exhibition will be open starting Friday, September 16 through Friday, October 14 at the Living Arts and Science Center.
Once it’s closed, all of the art pieces will be auctioned off with the proceeds going back to local schools for art supplies and programs.
It’s a great experience for kids that Caudill wished he had as a kid.
“They can take their drawing they did now and later in life grow up, learn a few artistic skills, be more creative and create something like that one day,” Caudill said.
