Artist Biography:
My name is Grady McGovern and I am the artist who created this website. I consider myself somewhat of a modern day Renaissance Man. I thought I would use this curso power bi online area of the website to provide an autobiography so people can get to know me.
I was born in Northfield, MN on February 17th 1978 to Mike and Ann McGovern. I grew up in Northfield, went to college at St. John’s University, Grad School at St. Catherine’s University and have been an Art Teacher and coach for the past eight years.
That is the short version, here is a little more in depth version…
I consider myself an Artist, teacher, writer, athlete, father, mentor, actor, carpenter, brother, son, coach, musician and filmmaker. While, I may do all of these with varying success, I have still done all of them.
As I mentioned before I graduated Northfield High School in 1996, and went on to college and St. John’s University in Collegeville, MN. I graduated from St. Johns with a Major in Art and Business Management in 2000. After taking a year off after graduation I obtained my Graduate Degree from St. Catherine’s University with a Masters in Art Education K-12.
I have spent the last 8 years teaching Art and several subjects in the Lakeville, MN School district as well as coaching high school football and baseball in Northfield.
During my time in high school I started to take an interest in drawing and painting. At the time, I didn’t have much free time to spend on the craft with sports and school taking up most of my time.
I went on to attend college at St. Johns University in Collegeville, MN. While there I continued on with my athletic career playing on both the football and baseball teams. Like most others my age entering college I wasn’t sure what I wanted to major in. It was ingrained in most kids my age to make as much money as possible, so I decided to major in Business Management. Later I would realize that there are far better things one can do with their life then just make money. Like helping others, mentoring kids, teaching and making a difference in peoples lives. These things cannot be quantified with money.
While majoring in business at St. Johns, I discovered I had a lot of open spaces in my class schedule to choose any classes I would like. Some students just didn’t take the extra classes, but I figured if my tuition paid for me to take an extra class each semester whether I took it or not, then I was going to get my moneys worth. So with these openings in my schedule I began to take art classes. Drawing, painting, sculpture and others. I was able to take enough classes to first get my minor in Art, and then a double major after more classes.
After graduating from St. Johns in 2000, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I worked the prior summer at a bank and could not stand it. I had also gotten some experience in sales and did not like that either. I wanted to make a difference in peoples lives and truly help others. So I moved with a friend to Cripple Creek, Colorado to work in a Casino for the summer. It was one of the most unique and awesome experiences in my life. For three months I worked as a security guard checking ID’s at the door, as a bartender and as a vendor at an outdoor movie theatre for the Gold Rush Casino. If you have never been to Cripple Creek, I recommend you go. It is above 10,000 feet elevation, an old ghost town rebuilt as a gambling center. The whole town consists of one street less then a mile long lined with tiny casino’s up and down it.. I learned a lot about a lot of things in these three great months and met some great people that changed the way I viewed things.
After the three months in Cripple creak I spent a year in San Diego, CA. Living with a friend and a few of his classmates from the University of San Diego. We lived right on the beach at the meeting of Mission and Pacific Beach’s. California was a great place to live, but not a place one can stay for very long. Like many others who have left Minnesota over the years, I felt her calling me back.
After my time away I came back to Minnesota and decided I would use my art degree to go back to school and become a teacher. I attended graduate school at St. Catherine’s University in St. Paul, MN. After a year and half I had my Masters in Art Education as well as my teaching license in K-12 Art.
During this time I was blessed with my son, Jadyn, born May 27th 2002. He is the boy you see in most of the paintings. His has been the most important thing in my life since the day he was born.
After a year of substitute teaching in Northfield I was able to get a job teaching Art in Lakeville, MN. In my first year I taught at both JFK Elementary and the Alternative Learning Center. I spent four great years teaching at the ALC and continued to create my art during my spare time. I was also coaching football in Northfield, as well as my son’s baseball teams.
After those four years I was able to get a job teaching Elementary Art full time at Lakeview Elementary School in Lakeville. It was a great and beautiful school to be a part of. It had the best staff and students a teacher could hope for. The parents and community were second to none as well. They really made me feel at home. But, sadly, this last year the Lakeville School District was in a dire financial situation. They made the terribly hard decision to cut their Art program District wide to the bare minimum. They got rid of Art in the Elementary schools, and only had a small amount for middle and high school. Thus, my job was eliminated. So, I have taken the time to create more art for this website, and hopefully create something great and beautiful for you.
While I am off from teaching in Lakeville, I am subbing still in Northfield and coaching baseball, and football here in Northfield. I am also coaching Jadyns Baseball, football, and basketball teams.
I do not know exactly what will be next for me. I hope that my Art and this website will be something that will take up a lot of my time as that will have made it a success. In the mean time we can only hope the State and Local Governments can figure out a way to fund the schools enough to bring back the Art programs in Lakeville so I may go back to teaching the great students of that district. If not/ in the mean time I will continue to search for the next thing in my life while enjoying every second of my son Jadyn’s life as he grows.
Grady McGovern