SOUTHWOOD — Bobby Creech has a knack for art, but it’s often gotten him into trouble.
“I could always draw,” he said. “I would draw on my test because it would help me think.”
His fifth- and sixth-grade teachers held a different viewpoint.
Once, he got creative in the school restroom and drew his signature in “fancy block letters,” as well as an eagle and a few other words — clean words.
When it was discovered, his art teacher was impressed with his work and asked him to draw it on paper.
“But I still got in trouble for writing in the bathroom,” Creech said.
The 23-year-old said he learns differently than the traditional way teachers teach. A hands-on learner, he could show his teachers that he understood what they were teaching, but he had trouble expressing it in writing.
Creech was born in Duplin County and grew up in Seven Springs. He graduated from South Lenoir High School in 2008.
He started taking cosmetology at James Sprunt Community College in Kenansville, but never finished. He’s mostly a self-taught artist, but took art classes all through school.
Once he took a welding course. While the other students were learning a trade to use in an industrial career, Creech gleaned the techniques to use as an artist. His instructor wasn’t as impressed as he was with the robot he crafted.
Lately, he’s been taking continuing education photography and Web classes at Wayne Community College.
“I’ve always done (art),” Creech said, “but now that I’ve gone to school, people can see that I have a piece of paper.”
He sometimes incorporates a three-dimensional item onto the frame of a photo.
“So when you look at it on the wall, it’s alive,” Creech said. “… I can turn something that’s nothing into art.”
His living room walls are vibrant with color from his surrealistic, abstract and graffiti-type drawings — some in colored pencil, some painted and one in chalk. His photos of family are arranged among the splashes of art.
Creech lives with his partner, Mindy Heath, and their two children, Piper, 3, and Jeremiah, 1. For now, he watches the children while Heath works.
When he has some free time, Creech gets out from “the four walls” with his camera and shoots photos or videos wherever he sets his mind on going — maybe the Neuseway Nature Center or downtown Kinston.
“If I see some kids skateboarding,” he said, “I’ll take their video, edit it and put it up on YouTube.”
Sometimes he gets together with long-time school friends to do impromptu skits on video, which run the gamut from comedy to drama to horror.
Creech has written movie scripts, too. His friends tell him he should move to a bigger city. In fact, his goal is to move to Wilmington, a movie-making city. All he needs is a way to break in.
“I want to work behind a camera — a movie camera, preferably,” he said.
Margaret Fisher can be reached at 252-559-1082 or Margaret.Fisher@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @MargaretFishr.