11 Stacy M. Pettit ’09 WORDS courtesy PHOTO Not Hays. With thoughts of horses, riding and the thrill of the rodeo still on his mind, Hays sets down his rope, takes off his dusty boots, and his calloused hands pick up the tool needed for his other passion — a paintbrush. “I’m a tall, lean guy who lifts weights and works for a sport, but my passion is on the canvas,” Hays says. “I’m blessed that I’ve been able to travel the world with the sport of rodeo and use that in my art.” Others have noticed this connection as well. Even though Hays graduated from OSU with a bachelor’s in fine arts in May 2009, his work has already become a well-known statement of western culture. Hays’ art, which typically ties together his love of the Midwest with expressionist techniques, has caught the eye of Oklahomans such as Bob Funk, founder of Express Employment and majority owner of the Oklahoma City RedHawks, as well as several Stillwater business owners. Hays realized he could be on his way toward becoming a successful artist when admirers of his work purchased his entire senior show at OSU. “When I was leaving, I was delivering all my paintings throughout Stillwater,” he says. The stack of pieces Hays delivered burst with color, as most of his artwork does. Many of Hays’ creations pop with expressionist techniques and bright colors. They feature anything from horses to Native Americans to eagles — anything that has inspired Hays. Even at an early age, Hays’ unique talents were catching others’ attention. His mother, an art teacher, hoped to encourage those talents when Hays began drawing at 5 years old. “While she cooked in the kitchen, she would give me huge rolls of paper, but she never let me have a coloring book,” he says. “She’d make me illustrate my own stories.” One of these stories, titled Dragonfly, became Hays’ big break into the art world. Dragonfly won a children’s book contest, and the story landed in the Library of Congress. Hays was making a name for himself, all at the age of 12. His father, a rodeo cowboy, encouraged Hays to rope and ride horses as he was growing up. Soon, roping tied his two worlds into one passion. “I had a real connection to what I did with artwork and rodeo and horses,” Hays says. “My parents pushed me to explore and find out who I was and not take the easy road.” After graduating from high school in Bristow, Okla., Hays received a rodeo scholarship at Panhandle State University in Goodwell, Okla., where he studied art for two years. Hays then took a cue from his name and decided to take a chance. He packed up his books, paintbrushes and canvases and walked onto the OSU campus for the first time as an OSU Cowboy. CONTINUES
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