Lifelong Artist: An Interview with Paul Kavanaugh

Paul Kavanaugh said art has always been an important part of his life.

“I’ve been doing artwork my whole life. It kind of runs in the family,” he said. 

Kavanaugh served in the Army after high school, and he said he took his art with him, working on several murals during training. Art became a way for him to get to know people as well, and just cope with the stress of training and military life.

“Art was definitely something that helped me get through that,” he said.

After leaving the military, he attended art classes at Johnson County Community College, an experience which he said allowed him to explore many different art mediums. However, most of his work is acrylic and watercolor painting.

Kavanaugh said his work tends to center around a theme, and he’ll do a series on the same theme, with his most common subject matter being people, animals, and landscapes.

“I really enjoy the whole process,” he said.  “It’s kind of like building something with your hands, you get to see what you create.”

Kavanaugh said he’s looking forward to the art show next year because he enjoys the feedback and discussion around his art from viewers.

“Everyone looks at art differently, and I like hearing the different things that people see, and it may be something that I never would have thought of,” he said. 

Kavanaugh said he’s participated in a few shows before, including First Fridays in the Crossroads and another show in North Kansas City, and he said his hope in exhibiting his art is that something about the colors or the subject or the technique will cause people to pause for a moment and let themselves be drawn into the piece. 

Many of his techniques are self-taught, he explained, and he’s developed his skills over a lifetime of making art. Now, he said his goal is to start to share his work more broadly.

“It’s a hobby, but it’s also a passion,” he said of his artwork.