Artist Bio
Winston Harrell Jr. was born in Oceanside, California, in 1958, but he grew up in Chicago, Illinois, in 1960. He started his art career at the age of fourteen. In 1970, he participated in Chicago’s Mayor Daley’s Summer Youth Program for inner city youth in 1972.
The program focused on teaching neighborhood inner-city children the value of art through the creation of Murals. To better fuel his curiosity for Art, he later enrolled in a two-year correspondence Art course for commercial artists through Art Instruction Schools located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Where he learned the finer principles of Art and illustration. As his creative desire for learning Art continued and grew he completed the A.S. program for Culinary Arts at Le Cordon Bleu of Chicago in 1997. To better equip himself with the changing world of digital art and graphic design, he enrolled in the Visual Communication Program for graphic designers at Westwood College in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2006. He received an A.S. in computer graphics and design in 2008. In 2011, he attended the Art Institute of Phoenix for 2 1/2 years, where he received comprehensive training as an illustrator. He currently showcases his Artwork at Jarrod’s Tea House and Art Gallery in Mesa and at Whatzit and Whoozit Retail Outlet in Phoenix, Arizona 2023. He also exhibits his Collection of home decor items every month at Art & Chill in Mesa.
In addition, he teaches an Art/exercise class for the developmentally disabled 3 days a week and is an active member of the Arizona Artist Guild, Art Link, and the American Art Award. His Artwork has been featured in Voyage magazine, Current World Masters publications, Astonish magazine, SpotLight Magazine, and Local Mesa News.