Having worked a variety health care and Civil Service jobs to pay the bills, Stephen Mead, now retired, always managed to squeeze out time for writing poetry/essays and creating art. Occasionally he even got paid for this work. Currently he is resident artist/curator for The Chroma Museum, an online site depicting artistic renderings of LGBTQI historical figures, organizations and allies predominantly before Stonewall, https://thestephenmeadchromamuseum.weebly.com/
Statement
Stephen Mead's work has often been an act of survival for him, an outlet, a therapy to balance chemicals and re-find strength. He simply has not known how to live without art and has found that the deprivation of creation has not been good for him. Still, being a hypersensitive and shy person, he has always wanted his writings and artwork to communicate to others, strike chords in their spirits and, hopefully, promote healing.
Sometimes he has found himself delving into what might be psychologically painful (and painful to the vision, the way an archived photo of any atrocity would be), but it is through this exploration that he hopes to find understanding and share the perceptions of the journey which we each experience in our own particular ways. Stephen Mead considers his art to be works of prayerful meditation and acts of peace.