By: Yohana de la Torre

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Through his art, Steven B. Turner expresses a pure yearning for instinctive contact with the world.

Turner is an intricate blend of artist, designer, innovator, family man and fisherman. His love of art and the sea is an intense devotion. And his depictions of natural life are realistic and exhibit powerfully its beauty.

Born in Lima, Ohio in 1957, Turner was born into art. His father watercolorist William L. Turner studied at

  
 
A Day at the Office

Sarasota’s Ringling School of Art and after moving to Fort Lauderdale opened a large advertising agency, and became director of the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art.

“Growing up around him, I always drew and did artwork on the side,” Turner says. “I actually wanted to become an architect in high school, but never got around to it because I got into other things.”

Living in Fort Lauderdale, like many young kids, Turner became interested in skateboarding and later surfing. At 13, he began airbrushing surfboards and skateboards, which later turned into motorcycles and even cars. He calls it using artwork wherever he could.

“I got recognized for the extreme surfing and skating we were doing, and started getting sponsored,” he continues. “A couple of buddies of mine and I moved to Mission Beach, San Diego and that’s where I met the guys from the Dogtown Crew. We hooked up with a company called International Recreation and Sports Corporation that built modular fiberglass skateboard parks and we started traveling doing demonstrations.”

Throughout his time in Cali, Turner says he airbrushed T-shirts to pay his way as he surfed. And then, he opened Turner Oaks, a custom skateboard painting company. His final calling came when he realized after working in construction that he knew how to design.

And that’s how Bradford and Company Design Group came to fruition over 20 years ago.

“Bradford and Company does architectural renderings for local and national developers,” Turner explains. “I was born with some talent to visualize. I can look at a paper and see an image on it.”

That hand-drawn image later blossoms into custom designs like Cape Harbour, the Venezia, the Venetian Towers and projects throughout Costa Rica, New Mexico, Sweden and much more.

"Spirit Woods"

“I could have been a doctor, or gone into any other profession,” he admits. “But at the time, I wanted to surf and skateboard and do art for my lifetime. Unfortunately, I needed money to live. But as time went on, I was able to accomplish all I had dreamed of and more.”

And with the interest in surfing and fishing, the artist has grown an entirely different perspective to his numerous styles of painting.

As an artist, Turner specializes in capturing the fluid essence of his salt-laden experiences in his own style.

For example, Beauty and The Beast is a rich, almost poetic contradiction of organic environment. And A Day at the Office is a clever painting that mixes the “eclectic and impulsive” artists abstract and realist qualities flawlessly.

 
Beauty and the Beast

Turner’s uncanny ability to capture an image and transfer it onto canvas is remarkable. He says painting is quite high energy for him, but he can’t take all the credit. His father was a huge inspiration and helped mold his artistic growth.

“I was very fortunate to be born with so much multi-talent,” he says. “My art is the best way of expressing my feelings to others. It’s even gone back to what I loved doing while growing up. I guess the only thing I can say is my dream has become a reality, really.”

Currently, the artist is still designing architectural renderings with the help of his wife Mollie and is enjoying a new series of graffiti-style rock legends paintings, which he describes as “wild and crazy fun.”

- Enjoy more of Steven B. Turner’s work at the Sunset Grill, located at 6536 Pine Avenue in Sanibel, FL!