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Photo by Erin Nelson.
Steve Skipper, Homewood native and renowned artist, works on a commissioned painting of former Florida State head football coach Bobby Bowden, celebrating Bowden’s 55-year coaching career, in his home studio in Roebuck.
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Photo courtesy of The Kid Photography.
Steve Skipper is a renowned artist and native of Homewood.
Steve Skipper said it might sound a little strange, but it was a “personal instruction from God” that sent him to meet with Ray Perkins, coach of the University of Alabama football team, in the 1980s.
Skipper, an artist, says he didn’t have any formal art training and didn’t have a college education — or an appointment with Perkins.
He got turned away twice. But on the third try, Perkins let him in.
“Once we got to meet each other, we hit it off, and he hired me on the spot to do portraits of the senior football players,” said Skipper, who was born in Homewood’s Rosedale district. “From that one time, I started making friends with the players, and that grew into what I’m doing now.”
What Skipper does now is continue a long painting career he says also started with divine guidance.
“From age 13 to 16 I was in a gang, then at 16 I became a Christian,” he said, noting that he attended a revival service on a dare, not expecting it to change his life. “I found out where my talent came from. I started using it to glorify God.”
He was awarded art scholarships but turned them down — he said God would teach him. And when people told him he’d never make a living as a professional artist, he kept going.
Now, decades later, he has a long list of accomplishments, the most recent his being named Sports Artist of the Year by the United States Sports Academy.
He said after he met Perkins and his players, everything “just exploded from there.”
Skipper is the first African American artist to do sanctioned and officially licensed artwork for the University of Alabama, Auburn University, the Dallas Cowboys, the Green Bay Packers, NASCAR, the Professional Bull Riders and the Professional Golfers Association of America.
His artwork has hung in the Professional Football Hall of Fame, the U.S. Capitol, the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the Paul W. “Bear” Bryant Museum, the National Art Museum of Sport and the NCAA headquarters.
Current Alabama head coach Nick Saban chose Skipper as an official, endorsed artist for his national championship commemorative paintings and limited editions.
The mayor of Selma also commissioned a painting celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday and the crossing of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and the Bahamian government commissioned him to do a painting celebrating the pilgrimage of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to the Bahamas where he wrote his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech.
And the list goes on and on.
Skipper said for him it “comes down to really being obedient to God and doing exactly what He wants me to do.”
“The players, coaches or organizations I work with, I always pray about it to make sure it’s what He wants me to do,” he said.
Skipper said the relationships he gets to build are the best part of what he does.
“You start to see that, as celebrities, players and coaches are perceived to be these superhuman people, but they’re ordinary people who need somebody who cares about them also,” Skipper said.
Nancy Raia, USSA artist in residence, said Skipper’s “powerful story, his journey that brought him home to his place in front of a canvas” grabbed her.
“His art skill is amazing, and the scenes he captures are very moving and grab at your heart,” Raia said. “It makes you stop and consider all that went into making the piece. His thinking, his skill, his inspiration and grace that led him to this day are why I can’t wait to meet Steve Skipper and share his art with others."
For more information about Skipper’s art, visit steveskipperstudio.com.
