ARD SU/ NEXTGENRADIO
What is the meaning of
home?
Mark Burbridge speaks with Kevin Haller, a former IT specialist and current traveling artist from St. Louis. Having traveled across the Western United States, Haller says that his passion and drive to capture these natural locales is tied to his own personal sense of home. He says that his main goal is to share that love of the countryside that he experienced as a kid, both with his patrons and with his wife, who help him foster that creative expression of home.
St. Louis artist shares his sense of home through his paintings of the American West
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[Room Ambience]
Me being able to express my art kind of creates a home feeling for me. That’s how our art magnifies our sense of home.
My name’s Kevin Haller. I’m from St. Louis. I’ve spent most of my life here. I worked for various companies in and around St. Louis and around the country.
I started art when I was a teenager.
I was really into hunting and fishing, and what got me started with art was they had art on the cover of fishing magazines. And I wanted to make a copy of that for my room.
It was a fish chasing a lure under the water, which I thought was really cool that, you know, you can’t take a photograph of that. You can’t see it in person. The only way that comes to life is through art.
And so, it fascinated me and I picked up a paint set and copied the best I could. It turned out pretty good. I found out I really liked it and I’ve been painting ever since.
About a year and a half ago, I decided that I really wanted to pursue my art dream. And, you know, I’m not getting any younger, so I decided I’m just gonna stop the I.T. Even though it was a good career, I liked what I was doing. I got to meet a lot of people, worked on a lot of interesting projects. I didn’t leave it because I didn’t like it, but I just wanted to pursue my art passion.
[Foot Steps]
This is my main studio and I put my artwork, you know, like here. And you know you sort of attach it there, and then your paints are here and your brushes solvent or walnut oil, things like that.
I have lovely light in this room. I’ve produced many paintings here, and so at this point it’s my home base and I’m very comfortable with creating paintings here.
I like to paint the American West.
My parents came from small family farms in the middle of Missouri and we were out on the farm a lot when I was young. Even when I was a teenager.
I had a twin brother and we used to roam around the farm all day long every day. We were outside, you know, roaming the countryside, having fun, finding adventure. And so I love that life. That to me seems like a really good way to live life.
I spent a lot of time on the farm, and I do have paintings around the house of different scenes from the farm.
I really do paint peoples’ homes a lot.
You know, I have never really noticed that, but painting home and creating a feeling of home is a big part of my art.
[Room Ambience]
When my wife and I purchased this house, we saw this as, oh boy, what a nice sunroom. I sort of immediately thought of it as, oh, it’s, it’s a great art place.
It’s a little cluttered, but my wife and I are okay with that… there’s a part of us that are very creative and, and, we don’t mind that people see the clutter that comes along with that.
That’s a sense of home for me
A painting, propped up informally on Kevin Haller’s mantle, shows a South Dakotan log cabin once owned by the late cowboy-poet Badger Clark, the first poet laureate of South Dakota. For Haller, the painting represents an ideal way of life, out in the middle of nowhere.
This is what was on his mind when he left a fulfilling and lucrative career in IT that enabled him to travel widely and meet many new people. For the past couple of years he reflected, and pivoted in his professional life.
“I was [always] a serious hobbyist with art. I did watercolor, that’s where I got my start. And then over the last 15 years, I’ve been doing oil painting,” Haller said. “I’m not getting any younger, so I decided I’m just gonna stop with the IT [work]. Even though it was a good career … I just wanted to pursue my art passion.”
Haller’s journey reflects a larger trend. According to a 2022 report from CNBC, some 53 % of adults within the United States decided to leave their current field of work to pursue other interests. Additionally, the Wall Street Journal has reported a desire for work flexibility among people 60 and older has led to a disproportionate number of early retirements after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kevin Haller, 63, a former IT professional-turned-professional artist, stands in his home in Oakville on Monday, Sept. 18, 2023. Several of his paintings are displayed behind him. He has found his scenes of the American West and rural life help him to frequently express a sense of home. “I really do paint peoples’ homes a lot,” he said. “You know, painting home and creating a feeling of home is a big part of my art.”.
JAZ’MIN FRANKS/ NEXTGENRADIO
For Haller, this desire for flexibility is tied to his own sense of home. He says through his art, he is able to portray his history and connection with nature. As an example, he walked toward a painting of his family’s old tractor. The image is one of the many that he has created that reflects the nostalgia of his rural youth. It informs much of the art he’s doing today.
“My parents were raised on family farms … I’ve lived in the city my whole [adult] life, but my mind has sort of been out in the country all the time,” Haller said. “Doing paintings, like this little tractor painting, allows me to bring that rural side out and I can see it and I can experience it anytime I look at the painting.”
Haller now captures images of rural life in his travels to the Great Plains and American West, where now he spends weeks at a time, several times a year.
As he crammed several boxes of supplies into his Honda SUV in his garage, he explained how his sense of home emerges while on these trips, and how they have enabled him to capture and identify with various styles of country living.
A clear container filled with different colored paints on Monday, Sept. 18, 2023, at Kevin Haller’s home studio in Oakville. Within his at-home art studio, Haller holds many different supplies, which oftentimes can get quite cluttered. “It’s an art room so it gets a little messy,” he said. “When people come over, they’re not going to see a real tidy little place.”
JAZ’MIN FRANKS/ NEXTGENRADIO
In Kevin Haller’s home studio, a MacBook rests on a wooden easel next to a painting in progress on Monday, Sept. 18, 2023, in Oakville. Whether he is working on-location or in his home art studio, Haller often enjoys capturing natural settings and rural lifestyles. “I would love to be out in the middle of nowhere all by myself with my family, you know, just me and nature,” he said.
MARK BURBRIDGE / NEXTGENRADIO
While long road trips to capture remote home settings might get lonely for some, Haller enjoys them. He has always had the support of his wife, Penny Martin, 59.
“Art is what gives us the ability to express our individuality, and both of us get to show that we appreciate that part of you,” Haller said. “Like I created that painting of my wife baking cookies. I guess that’s probably my favorite painting of all time, ‘cause she’s the love of my life.”
The couple’s home art studio, a sunroom off the kitchen, was repurposed into a space where they can express themselves artistically. Even though the studio can often get a little cluttered and might draw occasional looks from his guests, the two of them both view it as a space where they can authentically express themselves.
“Neither of us have regretted setting up this hobby room … for us, it really worked,” Haller said. “Me being able to express my art, and her accepting it, kind of is a home, it creates a home feeling for me. You know, I can feel like she loves me for who I am.”
Kevin Haller, 63, begins to pack his art supplies into the back of his Honda Pilot SUV on Monday, Sept. 18, 2023, in Oakville. In order to create paintings that capture settings such as the Black Hills, Haller will travel west in his SUV several times a year, with each trip lasting an extended period of time. “It’s a Honda Pilot SUV. Very reliable. That’s why I use this car because it never breaks,” he said. “It always runs, and I can trust it when I’m many miles away from home.”
MARK BURBRIDGE / NEXTGENRADIO