Local Artist Making a Name for Himself
It seems appropriate that artist Quintin McCann would choose to settle in Springville, the Art City, where he could practice doing what the city’s nickname denotes.
Art, it seems, is something that’s in McCann’s DNA as his mom and oldest brother have above-average art skills. McCann first became aware of his love for drawing as a young child.
“Being a lot younger than them,” he said, “I tried hard to be as good as them. That helped me to challenge myself and develop drawing skills at a young age.”
Though he didn’t take his art skills seriously as a child, he was keenly aware that he enjoyed art, that it was fun and entertaining to him. In high school he realized that there could be a future in his art.
In college, after changing majors several times, he decided to major in art, though still not sure how it would fit into his future.
“At that time, I didn’t know any professional artists personally, but it was what I was most interested in, so I decided to pursue it,” he said.
As graduation got closer, he decided to seek out professional artists for advice. In the process he realized that others were making a living doing art, so he could, too.
McCann’s current day job is teaching art at Westlake High School in Saratoga Springs, a job he enjoys because it affords him the opportunity to help kids develop their art skills. In addition, he teaches part-time at Sentient Academy, a Utah-based company that provides online art education at a professional level.
Drawing, painting, and sculpting are McCann’s favorite types of art. He switches back and forth between each in an attempt to find connections between them.
“I find that as my drawing skills improve, it helps my painting skills,” he said. “They all interconnect in different ways, so I continue to develop each of them.”
All this led to the creation of Quintin McCann Art in 2016, a venture that’s sometimes more financially beneficial than his teaching salary. Even if his art business can someday help him make a living, he loves teaching so much that he doesn’t ever want to step away from the classroom.
At first, his business’ commissions came through Facebook from friends and family, but eventually led to commissions from people he didn’t know.
McCann is pretty busy with his personal art projects, so he’s not currently seeking commissions, but when he does, he does it through Instagram (quintin.mccann). Because he loves doing portraits, he always accepts simple portrait
commissions.
McCann has participated in four sculpting competitions, two in Utah, one in New York, and one in South Carolina. These events involve competitive sculpting, next to other sculptors.
The teacher in McCann is quick to advise young artists: “You’re never too young to start developing your (art) skills. There are ways to make a viable career with your artwork. The sooner you start, the better.”