J.Bird Cremeans

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." - Pablo Picasso 

     J.Bird Cremeans was born and raised in Huntington WV. While attending a high school that had the best art program in the state at the time, she met an art teacher named Marlalie Boyd and so began her art career. Ms. Boyd and her fellow art teachers were so talented at helping their art students secure scholarships that they were very well known by the major art colleges and universities on the eastern side of the U.S. 

       J.Bird recieved a partial scholarship to attend the Art Institute of Pittsburgh to study animation. After graduating and returning home, she was disapointed to discover that the high school art program that was so well known had been shut down in favor of the "No Child Left Behind" Act and a focus on test scores. 

      J.Bird has since gotten involved in reaching out to kids and adults who are denied art in their schools or find it lacking in the area. "I couldn't imagine being in school today. I would be so depressed that I couldn't do what I love - art and music."  

      While she did not recieve a degree in the Education field J.Bird has found a love for it perhaps taking after her father who is a guitar/banjo teacher who also fell in love with teaching. "I feel as though teaching can come from the heart if you truly let it. I discovered I loved it when I started teaching a Photoshop class at the local community college. The feedback and learning experience I got from that was incredible." 

    J.Bird works out of her home studio spending many hours creating art and sharing it with the world through her various websites and art fairs in the area. Current employers include Chic-fil-A, Precision Printing, AK Steel, Kanawah County Ambulance Authority, Ashland Community and Technical College, and MCTC in Huntington WV.

•  J.Bird Cremeans
• jbirdistheword@yahoo.com

Objective: Continue working on my goal to sell my artwork through out the U.S.A. and build up my art business through networking with fellow artists, students, and the general public.

Education:

• Art Institute of Pittsburgh
• Associate Degree in Specialized Technology
• Major: Computer Animation
• Merit Scholarship recipient 2000-2003

 Training and experience in the following areas and software:

• Adobe Photoshop
• Photography
• Concept Art
• Figure Drawing
• Character Design
• Storyboarding
• 2d Animation

Current Employers:

• Marshall Community and Technical College - Continuing Education Program as a Photoshop instructor

Working to establish and educational program for the local artists and photographers to learn Photoshop through hands-on instruction.

Past Experience:

• Glenn's Sporting Goods-Graphic Artist for Art Department

Employed as a Graphic Artist in Huntington, WV from August 2007-August 2008 

Collaborated with Sales Reps and customers to develop sports-themed artwork and logos for unfiorms and spirit packs.

• Johnson Photo Plus

Employed as a Graphic Artist and Photography Lab Technician in Huntington, WV from August 2004-February 2007.

Helped company make a major decision to move forward on purchasing InDesign, a leading graphic design layout program based on a 30 day trial CD. I acquired enough knowledge of this new program to move forward on major design projects within 2 days.

Assigned job as designer of elementary school yearbooks, sports programs, memory books, and other related projects.