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GENE THREATS | Return to art helps others find expression
itting along the walls and the a banker. MY STORY floor of Gene Threats’ apart“My mother would say, ‘Son, I didn’t ment are matte board paintsend you to college for art to work in a Why I live here ings of people and historical bank.’ But it taught me so much. I learned landmarks. Some are steeped in how to be professional and how to dress “I think BrunsAfrican-American history. Others give wick, with all of professionally. Things that you need to a snapshot of life in the Golden Isles. learn for other jobs. I learned everything the islands, is But they all utilize a tool that not many becoming an art you need to know about the bank,” Threats artists in the area use: color pencils. says. town, and I would Threats has been interested in fine In 1996, his life changed when he was like to produce my arts for as long as he can remember, diagnosed with kidney failure. He had to artwork here if I crediting his passion for drawing to quit his job as a banker and spend most of can. And there are his mother, a seamstress and designer. his days at the hospital in dialysis. different things to “While she was sewing, I would sit at “I spent four hours, three times a week capture here.” the foot of the sewing machine and in dialysis, and one day while I was in the draw,” Threats says. What I tell others hospital, God called out to me and said, He and his mother moved from ‘Now you have all the time in the world to about life here Butler to Brunswick when he was a work on your art,’” he says, adding that he “There are a lot teenager. He attended Glynn Academy, received a life-saving kidney transplant at of historical things where his love for drawing flourished the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta here that showafter spending some time with Bill in May 2000. case the Golden Hendrix, a local artist who became Threats turned to color pencil illustraIsles.” a source of inspiration. Shortly after tion, something he had learned at Valdosta graduating in 1976, Threats, who is State. He worked part-time as a freelancer inspired by Norman Rockwell and photographer and is now an adjunct art French impressionism, began his journey to a career instructor at College of Coastal Georgia. “Everybody in art when he attended Valdosta State University. It can draw. It’s your version of what you see and how was there that he fine-tuned his craft in printmaking you see it. You can express how you feel, and we all and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in art. have our own way of expressing ourselves. I want to However, with few job openings available in his help others with their perspective and show them they field of choice and his mother’s health in poor condican do anything they put their minds to,” he says. tion, Threats returned to Glynn County and became – Brittany Tate
Bobby Haven photo
PROFILES The Brunswick News / Saturday, March 29, 2014 57