Every year, the City of Ventura publishes a new “Inspiration Guide” for visitors. The graphic on the cover was created by Ventura College alumni Erik Abel.
After graduating high school, I wasn’t really sure how I wanted to pursue my career as an artist. Art school seemed really expensive and I was already living a pretty carefree lifestyle just airbrushing boards for Roberts Surfboards, surfing every day and taking odd freelance jobs to build my graphic design portfolio. A career as an art teacher sounded pretty ideal because I would get summers off to travel. So I started working towards my AA at Ventura College until I found a University where I could get my teaching degree. Along with the AA requirements, I also took a lot of art and design classes at VC and they turned out to be some of the most influential art classes I’ve ever had… particularly the design classes with Ellis Jump, those were literally life-changing. Before I finished my AA, I moved to Utah to snowboard for a winter and then ended up at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon to finish with a BA in Fine Art. At that point, I realized If I was going to teach people about art, I would need to become a successful artist first… I’ve now been a full-time artist for almost 20 years and have never looked back!
Website: abelarts.com
Instagram: instagram.com/abelarts