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 I was born June 13, 1939 in Chicago, Illinois and spent most of my childhood years in Spokane, Washington. I loved to draw, and from my earliest memories, I spent hours drawing on every available scrap of paper. Even as a small child, I gravitated towards realism and loved depicting animals and scenes in careful detail, a love that remains with me still.
Moving to Seattle in 1954, it was suggested to me to enter a children’s art exhibition. A museum staff person glanced at my work and said, “These are excellent illustrations, but they are too tight.” And I walked away perplexed and dejected at not being allowed to enter. It has only been within recent years, after reading the laments of other artists my age who have had similar experiences that I have come to understand about a conflict of “loose” versus “tight.” We were in an era that highly favored abstract or impressionistic art which is often painted in a non-detailed manner referred to as loose. Since I had drawn in a realistic detailed style called tight, this made the seemingly ever-present loose proponents uptight. Thankfully, today, we have moved away from this “loose is best” bias and can appreciate many different styles. We have loosened our appreciation from just the loose to include the once outcast tight.
Around 1997, I began to paint for the first time in my adult life using acrylics, which has ushered in one the most enjoyable periods of my life. I have very little formal art training, but I do read extensively about and examine the works of other tight artists whose paintings I admire. I might add we tight artists are a very close and -well- tight knit people, and we even have a few loose friends.
By choice I am a recluse and have no desire to personally display my paintings. In this firm resolve I stand tight. My trusted and equally tight friend, Charlie Johnston, who “knows what he likes,” is the person who kindly represents me.
C. Cunningham
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