About Me

My name is Todd Watson. I was born and raised in the Finger Lakes area of New York State. I now reside in NYC. For the last eight years, I have been a stay-at-home dad caring for my daughter and son and making a home for our family. Early in my life, I lost my dad. Around that time, I was fortunate to meet an artist named Chuck Maciulewicz. He became a role model for me and inspired me to sketch, doodle, build things, and see where my talent could take me. Chuck attended Cleveland Institute of Art and eventually, so did I. We shared that experience. Chuck passed away many years ago, so he never got to be part of my adult life. But his work is evident in mine. I consider myself an artist and bring an aesthetic to everything I do. Whether I am drawing, creating clothes for my kids, preparing our dinner, cleaning, shopping, and maneuvering through NYC, I sense shapes, color, space, movement, and energy. Color has always been important to me from muted tones to brilliant splashes made brighter by sunlight. I need it all around me. It helps me feel good. I love design; the process, the surprises, the discipline, and the discovery. I love to draw, especially forms related to architecture and volume, or fashion with its challenge to be free, but useful and not wasteful. I am increasingly aware of humans' impact on the climate and how this awareness is influencing my approach to design. We have one earth and how we protect it plays into my choices and decisions about design. I am lucky to have been raised in an area where I was free to enjoy the outdoors but still have a small city feel. I am extremely lucky to now live in the greatest city in the world where I do not need to go far to experience a situation that calls for a design solution or sparks a new direction of thinking. Especially in a city like New York, it needs to work for everyone. These are some of my thoughts about design. They come alive in my drawings. They become useful when built for purpose.

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