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Joe Olivares - Fine Artist
Born in 1934 in those wonderful post-depression years, I began dabbling in art at an early age. Artistically I am totally unschooled, but developed a talent with the pencil simply because that's all I had. My training in San Francisco came from those unique tenement rooftops where I learned perspective through observation. Raised in the Mission District, I worked at the usual jobs all youngsters did in that part of town, newspaper routes, a butcher boy in the neighborhood butcher shop.
Seeing that I was a normal teenage boy and running a bit wild, my dear sister landed me a job at a lithographic advertising shop, where I spent countless hours as a printers devil. Subsequently, I developed a love for the graphic arts in all its various forms. A three year stint in the the 82nd Airborne Division Band during the Korean Conflict - I played well enough to barely qualify - then a discharge in 1955. I went back to printing as an apprentice pressman. Too many years passed and I realized that I had traveled the country playing tenor in too many run down bars while holding down a variety of printing jobs from back door to front. I ended up in a partnership with a young lady in an advertising agency. She later became my wife. Through the agency my passion for drawing bloomed . . . a bit late in life I might add. I've tried oils and pastels, but always come back to graphite where I began.
It has always been a source of genuine pleasure for me to create an image that will be cherished. My attention to detail has landed many commissions, mostly by word of mouth.
