“I returned from WVU to Shepherdstown and discovered that there was such a thing as graphic design, and that you could go to college to learn it, that in fact Shepherd College offered a bachelor’s degree in it. I enrolled immediately, and have never returned to the mines.”

Jared is a home-grown Shepherdstown artist who has lived his entire life within town limits. But his imagination, as evidenced by his fantastical photo illustrations, knows no bounds. He has recently turned his formidable talents toward painting in acrylics. A few of these new paintings are now available in his online gallery here.

The son of a geologist, Jared delved deeply into the study of mining engineering for two long semesters at WVU before emerging one dark day, from an exam room, with the sudden realization that the pursuit of a degree in engineering, and its math and science requisites, could never offer him the creative outlet his artistic soul so desperately longed for.

At Shepherd Jared truly found his calling, and was by all accounts the star of the Graphic Design Program, earning his BFA in 1989. He even served as interim head of the Program from 1990-1992. He then joined creative forces with Tom Conant in forming Encore Communications, which in 1997 evolved into Studio 105 Marketing Communications, where he remains a partner and Senior Designer.

Early in the new millennium Jared joined “Worth 1000”, then the world’s most prestigious and professional “online creative community and contest Website”, where he collected over 50 Gold Awards in adjudicated international Photoshop Contests—the most ever, by any contestant. Most of the pieces in this show are Worth 1000 winning entries.

Recently, Jared has been exploring the brave new world of painting in acrylics.
You will recognize his signature style in this brilliant new work.