Beyond his paintings, Steven Bye is also an author, having written a fictional book about Vincent van Gogh.

When Steven Bye was only 4Β½ years old, he broke his jaw.

He couldn’t talk and he didn’t yet know how to write.

β€œThe only way I could communicate β€” I drew pictures,” he says. β€œThat’s how I communicated.”

His injury eventually healed, but his love of art stuck with him for decades to come.

β€œWhen I was 7 or 8 years old, I taught myself to draw Superman by memory,” he says. β€œI did all the comic heroes and stuff. In elementary, I’d do a sketch and sell it to my friends for a nickel.”

Steven Bye has dabbled in other painting mediums, as well as ceramics and photography.

Through the years, Bye says he learned a lot from his middle and high school art teachers β€” so much so that he went on to study art education himself at the University of Alabama.

Artist Steven Bye says he has painted the San Xavier Mission more than a dozen times.

Bye taught high school art in Alabama, Michigan, New Mexico and eventually Arizona, where he retired. He now lives in Tucson, creating Arizona-centric oil paintings with a β€œstory or homage” of landscapes from Sedona to the San Xavier Mission to the recent Bighorn Fire that scorched the Catalina Mountains.

Beyond his paintings, Bye has dabbled in ceramics, photography and jewelry-making. He’s also a published author β€” something that came into fruition when he was trying to figure out how to make his art history class more interesting for his students.

β€œWhat I started to do was write short stories,” he says. β€œThere was a kid in class who was into skateboarding and the X Games, so I gave him an assignment. I said Picasso invented the first skateboard.”

Most of Steven Bye’s paintings are of landscapes, many in Arizona.

Bye wrote a short story for the student β€” filled with both real and fictional elements. It was up to the student to study artist Pablo Picasso and figure out which parts of the story were real.

Bye started doing that for each of his students, writing a personalized story based on their interests.

β€œA couple of kids came to me and said, β€˜Mr. Bye, you should write a book because you’ve written all these short stories,’” he recounts. β€œI said, β€˜That’s really nice, but I’m a painter β€” not a writer.’”

But in 2013, Bye published β€œVincent in Tucson,” a fictional book about artist Vincent van Gogh and what his life would be like had he visited the Old Pueblo.

Steven Bye taught high school art in several states before retiring in Arizona.

Bye is currently working on another book and continues to paint. But he says he wouldn’t be where he is without the support of his wife Nancy, daughter Sara Winter and friends Garry and Debbie Gassel and Jennifer North.

β€œThey have helped me know how to promote myself. They’ve been so supportive, giving me tips,” he says, adding that Garry Gassel helped him film a trailer for his book. β€œThey have just done so many things. I can’t say enough about them.”

Painter Steven Bye creates Arizona-centric oil paintings.Β 


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Contact reporter Gloria Knott at gknott@tucson.com or 573-4235. On Twitter: @gloriaeknott