“You can find art all over town — not just on gallery walls. In this series, we'll be looking at some of the local artists who serve up their work in coffeehouses and other non-gallery businesses around town.
"He (Mike Rogers) teaches drawing, photography and AP art at a school that’s gotten some negative attention from local news outlets. But Rogers knows that mainstream media rarely tells the whole story: “I think we have some of the most talented students, and I think we have one of the best art programs around,” he says.
Art wasn't Rogers's first subject. The Colorado native had been doing Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) since he was six, and at seventeen he started teaching it. “I decided I really liked teaching, but I was better at art than at fighting, so, yeah, I decided to go to school for art,” he explains. In the beginning his own art was more like “a glorified hobby,” as Rogers puts it, but soon he wasn’t content just teaching art — he was ready to create some, too..."
See the entire Westword article Here!
In 2015, Westword, Denver’s renowned arts and culture publication, showcased one of the defining moments in my creative journey. The article, titled “Painter Mike Rogers Finds Unexpected Inspiration for His Fine Art,” told the story of how I discovered a new path through a simple social media post. It was from a selfie posted by a young Kentucky artist named Ariana Jordon, and friends challenged me to interpret her image in paint. That painting marked my first fine art piece and it sparked a decision to take my art to new levels. It was the moment I began really thinking of my work as something more than just a hobby. It became my passion and purpose.