Wall of Heroes

Item Description

I believe artists to be historians.  Any artwork we do becomes a representation of the artist’s mind set on any particular day.  And someday in the future, near or far, that artwork will speak to future generations on who and what we are today. 

In my youth I always like to draw, and had I lived in Detroit instead of Denver, I would have liked to design cars.  Yep, sleek and fast, Muscle cars, after all I grew up in the ’50’s & ’60’s.  But I had all sorts of counseling telling me that designing cars was a pipe dream, and artists didn’t make good money.  Instead I was encouraged to take all kinds of math & science classes, and the last art class I took was in the 8th grade. 

But as I grew into adult hood there was this inner drive to draw and create.  Even while in the Army I would paint cartoons or lettering on military vehicles.  Then later on as a service manager at an automobile dealer I started doing my own ad layouts and illustrations (finally got to draw those cars).  The creativity really started coming out when I owned and operated a sign company for nearly 20 years.  But I still wouldn’t call myself an artist. 

Then in 2001 life happened, I closed the sign business, and I went back to school and learned how to do computer graphics.  It was here where a couple of instructors convinced me I was an artist, and I haven’t looked back since.

In running the sign company I learned and became comfortable using a variety of mediums.  Add to those the computer graphics and the photography I do, I became what I call a Multi-Media Artist.  On any given day you might see me doing a Pointillism drawing in ink, a large Chalk Art image in the street, portraits of an athlete in marker, or hand lettering with 1-Shot Lettering Enamel.  My two biggest Multi-Media influences are Leonardo DaVinci and King David.  Yes that David, the barbaric chieftain who was a pretty good poet.   

You can see my work on a variety of Facebook pages.  My personal page under Kyle Banister, and other pages listed as Kyle Banister - Baseball Art, Kyle Banister - Chalk Art, Kyle Banister - Photography, Kyle Banister - Sports Art, & Kyle Banister - Auto Art.

This is my third year of participation in The Denver Hospice, Mask Project, and I consider it an honor to have become involved with the Denver Hospice.  I have seen their level of service first hand, as my Dad was one of their patients before he passed away  three years ago.  Personnel of the Denver Hospice also sent care packages to my daughter Lyndee during her deployment to Afghanistan with the US Air Force.  So I look upon The Denver Hospice with great respect and I’m thrilled I can help in this project. 

This year I painted eight masks.  Seven were signed by current players for the Colorado Rockies Baseball team.  I have been involved with the Rockies for years and this project was a labor of love.  The last mask is for the Wall of Heroes.  As a veteran, son of a veteran, and the father of an active duty member of the Air Force this mask was a way of paying respect to all who serve and have served.