By Heather Lusk
He teaches art in Zionsville schools, but local artist Justin Patten also has found a niche painting logos and mascots for universities across the country, selling his original art in campus bookstores and through his Etsy website.
Patten combines his love of art with paintings of sports teams as an officially licensed crafter for 15 institutions, including Purdue, Ohio State and the University of Kansas. Agreements with Auburn and Butler are pending.
“My passion has always been sports and art,” Patten said. “I’ve had so many times where they needed to be separate.”
Because his mascot paintings are original works of art, he feels it’s something that anyone can hang in a living room or formal area while still showing support for their team.
Patten and his wife, Rachel, have plenty of family members who are artists in a variety of media and want to pass along original pieces to customers.
“I just like to be able to give people a real piece of artwork,” he said, “and not have something that someone just signed a name to.”
His first customer was his brother, whose wife liked the pieces so much that Patten was prompted to create the Etsy site. Besides sports, Patten primarily paints children and pets based on photos submitted by customers.
“When I went to art school I wanted to become an art teacher so I could be around art for the rest of my life,” he said. “I didn’t think that being an artist was an actual opportunity.”
With the exception of some landscapes, his paintings show a definite cozy perspective of his subject matter.
“I like to get closer to the subject,” he said. “Luckily, a lot of the universities have been OK with that, with me cropping the images.”
An art teacher in college told him he had a “confident line,” he said. He tries to maintain energy and motion in his artwork.
Patten taught in Lawrence Township schools for more than 10 years, starting as an art teacher then moving into engineering and robotics with a goal to help children combine STEM activities with creativity.
“That was a lot of fun,” he said. “I really enjoyed that, but I really wanted to get back to teaching art.”
He speculated that shifting from art to STEM might have prompted him to pursue his original paintings because he felt he needed an art outlet.
He will teach art at Stonegate and Boone Meadow Elementary schools for the rest of the school year, which has been a pleasant adjustment with his sons in the school system.
“It’s been interesting to go from just a parent to also a teacher in Zionsville,” he said.
Patten tries to make art that people can afford and enjoy rather than making art for a small population.
“I would like to be seen by the larger community as an artist,” he said. “I’d love to be painting for the NHL or Major League Baseball or the NFL.
Patten also would like to have a dedicated space to paint. His home studio doubles as a dining room, but he wants a space close to home so that his sons can paint with him on occasion.
“I don’t like to disappear,” he said. “I like to be here with the family.”
The art of baseball
When Justin Patten’s not creating art, he fills his passion for sports by coaching Little League baseball and playing vintage baseball with the Indianapolis Hoosiers. He has been a member of the team for 11 years after a college friend started the club through the Indiana Historical Society.
Teams compete wearing vintage uniforms and adopting equipment and rules associated with each team’s chosen time period, with teams often playing a doubleheader adhering to the rules for each team’s era in different games. Patten’s team focuses on 1886, during which players didn’t use gloves, so he tends to catch with his non-painting hand. Batters in the 1880s were called “strikers,” which was the inspiration for his son’s middle name.
That also inspired the name of his shop on Etsy.com, “Storm Striker,” deriving from both sons’ middle names.
Helping Riley
One of the 2016 Riley Hospital for Children ornaments features artwork by Justin Patten. Proceeds benefit the hospital. It is available at rileyholidaycards.com.
