FROM OLD BOXES COME NEW BEGINNINGS.
I was a pretty lucky kid. Growing up in New York, we had season tickets to the Knicks and Rangers, so Madison Square Garden was my second home. Being a sports fan, I enjoyed going to the games with my Dad or friends. I saved all the ticket stubs and programs from the games, not with the intention of collecting memorabilia but rather as a way of preserving my fond memories of those special moments in my life.
When I started going to concerts, I continued to collect tickets. Perhaps I thought it was a way of showing off my cool taste in music. Not that anyone ever looked at them. They ended up in drawers or boxes joining my sports collection.
These “treasures” followed me from the coast to coast, then from apartment to apartment and house to house. A perfect example is a letter I received from Bill Graham offering me tickets to the Closing of Winterland.
The letter stayed tucked away in a folder for over 20 years. I could never find it in me to part with these special items, thinking one day they would be framed or put on display. I just never had the time to figure out how.
Then a few years ago I started painting, which was a natural progression from my art direction and photography background. I began creating collages as the foundation to tell a story, then laying a wash over certain elements to give the art character, color and emotion. It was definitely time to unpack my boxes and finally let my stories come back to life.
WallStory was born from these personal experiences, allowing me to relive my favorite events and memories in life and share those stories with friends and family. -Walt