Art that Restores | Artist Trevor Lucas - ListenUp Podcast

A colorblind muralist who sees more clearly than most. That’s Trevor Lucas—founder of Anomaly Art Studio—whose life spans rural Louisiana, a military move to Virginia, and a bold career painting community stories on brick and concrete. We dive into faith as a daily practice, not a slogan, and how a solid moral compass reshapes conflict, marriage, fatherhood, and creative decisions. Trevor’s lens is simple: judge by fruit, love with courage, and let the work serve people first.

We explore the winter grind behind his Sentara “Community Care” murals in Newport News—paint that had to dodge rain and freezing temps—and the history embedded in the design: Black physicians, a community hospital, Smith Pharmacy, and a 1930s Black-owned funeral home. Then we head to Busch Gardens for his “I Am Virginian” piece, built for everyone to see themselves in it: Black, Hispanic, Asian, Indigenous, European, all centered in belonging. Along the way we tackle culture wars and NFL expansion with a clear take on representation: growth demands wider circles, not tighter gates.

Trevor opens up about trauma—abuse, addiction, and a near-fatal burglary at 15—then the boys’ home detox, the Navy, and the first ship murals that told him his gift mattered. He reflects on forgiveness, reconciling with his father and stepfather, and why unresolved childhood wounds often drive adult rage and hypermasculinity. We talk responsibility, too: microphones and paintbrushes shape behavior; leaders owe their audience honesty, empathy, and accountability.

We close with War Paint, Trevor’s group art therapy that pairs guided images—like breaking shackles—with raw conversation about recovery and identity. It’s visual activism with heart: give people something to look at and they’ll see new options for who they can be. Want more of Trevor’s work or to bring War Paint to your community? Visit anomalyartstudio.com and follow along. If this conversation moved you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review to help more listeners find these stories.

Transcript

Meet Trevor Lucas

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Hello everyone, I'm Al Neely. Welcome to Listen Up Podcast, and today we have Trevor Lucas from Anomalies Art Studio. Yes, sir. Okay, so we've had um interviews with Trevor in the past. He's working on a mural here in the Virginia Beach area, and it was a Timberland Way mural. So Trevor's been um the early nineties, you started anomalies. It wasn't called anomaly in the early 90s, but I was painting definitely in the early 90s. Okay. So you are from Louisiana. Louisiana.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Specifically Naggettish Louisiana would be the hometown. Okay. How'd you get here? Military. Okay. Military got me in. I would say that you you're probably safe if you say that to about 60, 65% of the people. How'd you get here? And got stuck.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

Now I I I say stuck, but it's not a negative uh thing. Uh I I I like it here, man. It's it's not too country, not too city. Because I come from the country, you know what I mean? Yeah. So I come from a place, stop light. When they build a Walmart, we're hanging out up in there, you know what I mean? Yeah. Holling at girls at the Walmart. But uh this is not too fast, not too slow. It's a good spot.

Roots, Military Move, And Family Surprise

SPEAKER_01 1:25

So yeah, I agree. Um, you're married. No, you have a daughter, but do you have more children? Yes, sir. I got a son. Okay, how old is he? Uh he's 27.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Uh did he grow up here? No. I I don't know if you know that whole story about my son.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

No.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

I didn't know I had a son two years ago. Oh my God. Right. Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

So you you're yeah. You know, when you say, when you say uh that I know of, um, that would fall into the category for you.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

Yeah, man. Um, so what happened? Um, my daughter, she's she's uh 24 now and uh doing well. And uh that's the only child I knew I had, right? Yeah, but apparently, just to make a long story long, uh you know you you you um you're young. I was getting into the military, um had a uh a one-night encounter, kept went on to boot camp, and knew you know, no social media, no nothing, yeah, no numbers exchange, anything like that. Nobody said anything. I didn't know anything. My daughter does uh ancestry and uh in doing the ancestry, you know, they give you your immediate family first. So it's her grandmother, her mother, uh um, her sister, and this other person. So she's like, Well, who's this? Zoom in when I tell you stole my face, like same person. Long story short, ended up reaching out to him, and uh he's been looking for his father for the last so many years, and we found each other, and it's it's been it's been good, man. It's been good. So my family has definitely got some reconciliation. We've come together, and where is he located? He's in Texarkana, Texas.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Okay. Yeah. One of the things that you know, it was a brief interview meeting you um for the Timberland event. Yeah. But during our time before the interview when we were talking, afterwards, and then meeting you out in in public, um, one of the things I notice about you is uh um your mannerisms, your grace, and then of course following you. I see um your commitment to Christ and family. So I think you are an amazing, amazing artist. Okay. And um, you've done some tremendous works. So your legacy has been built as far as that's concerned. Okay. Um but you as a person, I don't think people, unless they're close to you, know the legacy that you're building. Um, it's just you you're just it's just great. I appreciate it. As a person and a father and and a husband, well, I guess I should ask your wife about the husband part. Ask her. See what she's saying. I think I'll do it all right. Yeah, if you talk to her. Well, good. Where does that come from?

Faith As Foundation And Fruit

SPEAKER_00 4:43

Man, um, I mean, you said it at first. Like, I have a Christ foundation, you know what I mean? If you don't have a um a moral compass or a standard to live by, there's chaos, right? Um, when I was out in the street drugging and whatever else, there was really no standard. If if there was, it was kind of, you know, um, I was getting my my cues from my favorite rapper or, you know, uh somebody from the street, and they really, the outcomes of that aren't positive. You know what I'm saying? So everybody's kind of scrambling, trying to figure things out, or forever learn learning, but never coming to the knowledge of something.

SPEAKER_02 5:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

But if I have a firm foundation in Christ, in that in that belief system, um, I've seen it both ways. Living this way is more beneficial to not only my life, but people around me. My responses to conflict, uh, when it comes to how I deal with my wife, how I deal with family, how I know how to apologize and clean up when I make a mess, all these things. Those that may not have uh may not subscribe to that belief system and may not have read about it, they may not understand the um the positive aspects. You feel what I'm saying? Yeah. They may have this, these myths about it, but I am because of who he is. So that's that's that's basically it. I mean, I can go deeper into it, but my principles and and my foundation is Christ-led, and that's why I am who I am.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

That's a lifestyle.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

It isn't just Yeah, I admire that because right now we're in a time where being a Christian means two different things. Absolutely. So right now we have the Christians that are politically charged Christianity, yeah, and and they're mean and um they don't really care about people.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

And I want to stop you because I want to speak to those that see that, right? Write that off on Christianity. Right. You can tell a the Bible itself says you will tell a tree by its fruit, right? I can sit and say I'm a Christian all day. Right. But if I'm I'm I'm mean, I'm I'm trolling, I'm I'm cussing this person out, and I'm hateful towards this person, that fruit doesn't match up with the tree you telling me that you are. Yeah. You can tell me you're a banana tree, but I'm I'm sitting here and seeing the acorns. You know what I'm saying? What's going on? That's right. So there that that's not um how Christ would deal with things. And if you knew how he lived and how to match up these activities to who he is, you'd understand that that's not that's that's another Christ that they're speaking of. That's not the one I know.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

Right. And that's one of the first things I I I realize and um I recognize about you. I thought that was fantastic. So, and if you ever get an opportunity to to meet uh Trevor, you'll you'll see what I mean. Um since October, and we're gonna talk about quite a few things. No, it's cool. Okay, since October, um, of course, you had the Timberland mural in Virginia Beach. Uh what have you done?

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Um, after Timberland, I had to do a couple of murals for Sintera in Newport News. Okay. That was over the before and over the Christmas holiday, all the way through uh New Year. Um it was cold out there, brother.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

Well, I'm I was looking at your Facebook pages and it says back to work. I don't know when that was, and you were at a Sintera. Yeah. So it's been like 20 degrees for three weeks now.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

Listen to me. It's been crazy. It's been wild. And the thing is, when you paint in cold weather, you have to also not only watch for rain, you have to watch for the cold because the paint won't stick under 35 degrees, absolutely, or to get super thick. So um it stretches the job out longer. You know what I'm saying? So I was I was I was out there dodging snowflakes and raindrops, bro. But we got it done. So you have to get it done, huh? Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

I gotta get it done. So let's talk about the two murals. First one was when? Uh the first one was right before Christmas. Okay. And what is it called?

SPEAKER_00 9:09

Um, it's called um community care. Yeah, community care is what I call it. So the the premise behind it was we're of course doing a mural for Centera. At that location, they have a food bank connected. Okay. Um, the location it's in is 35th and Chestnut out in New Panoo's. And if you know anything about that area, that that that is a um what's the word I use? I just say it.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

It's it's a low-income area. Yeah, it was some people would say the hood, yeah. And it well, it's changed. It has changed. I don't know how long you've been here. When I first came here, they were like equating it to like major gun violence for like rich men in you know, bigger cities, New York.

SPEAKER_00 9:53

But it's changed. But it's not, it definitely is definitely not that anymore. So uh with that, you know, there was a food desert there.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

That's Alan Irison. He could tell you. There you go.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

He street right up the road, yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

Yeah.

Murals In Winter And Community Care

SPEAKER_00 10:05

So um there was a food desert there, there's a care desert, like the hospital wasn't close, they didn't have a lot of things there. So Centera uh came together with the food bank and other organizations to bring resources to that community, which was awesome. So community care represented the care that they had for the community to bring that there. And also it represented the people in the community that cared for each other. You know, one of the first uh, I think the first black physician in this area came from Newport News. Oh, really? Yeah, absolutely. And we have representation of the uh, what's the name of that hospital from out there? Um, the Memorial Hospital. I keep forgetting the name. Edited in or put it put it somewhere in the corner, however y'all do it whenever you find it. But either way, it represented the black hospital that was out there, uh, Smith Pharmacy that was out there that was black-owned. Um it also represented uh one of the first black businesses in that area that started in the 1930s. Um, it was a funeral home. So all of these things are encompassed in in those murals. So community care was about how the community was being cared for by that facility.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

So they asked you to do that? Yeah. So they they gave you the history and they said we want you to do this. How how does something like that happen?

SPEAKER_00 11:29

Well, you know, you you speak to the to the to the client, and they they have that, they may not even have ideas at the moment, but they did. They they had some ideas. I would come up with a rendering based on what they told me, the the history, the what they're they want to convey with their business. I'll come up with the concept and they'll either tell me yay or nay. And it was a little back and forth with that one because um you had to it's chains of commands. Other people it's more than one person that has to come up with the final say on that. So at the end of it all, that's what we ended up landing on. It was something that Center could appreciate and the community that they were serving appreciated. So it was cool to do that and to have that there to represent the neighborhood.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

So just in case you guys don't know, um you'll see his murals and they're beautiful. But Trevor is colorblind, he is very colorblind. So he has a committee for the color council. The color council, yeah. Yeah, the color council. So um that that's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

Um that's where the name comes from, Anomaly Art Studio. Because the the condition that I have is called Duder Anomaly, right? That's the type of colorblindness I have. So anomaly art studio is fitting. Gotcha. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:53

You have a posting of a mural from November 8th. Um I don't remember, man. And you're standing in front of it. So it says I am Virginian.

SPEAKER_00 13:05

Oh, yeah. Where is that at? That that was that's at Bush Gardens, actually. Okay. Bush Gardens had a um what they call the uh I think it was the summer of Summer of Wonder festival. And they had, it wasn't just me, it was um, I think it was nine other artists that were from different areas in Virginia, but it was all Virginia-based artists that do this for a living. And I was one of the guys there. And that was my representation of, you know, Virginia and the people that pass through the park. And I wanted, whenever people walk past it, you'll be able to see somebody that you can relate to. You can stand in the middle, take the picture, and be proud of where you're from.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

Okay. So in the mural, from left to right, uh it's a young black lady, uh, Hispanic person. And I'm assuming that would be um someone of Asian. Oh, yeah, yeah. European, yeah. Of European background. Then, of course, you in the middle. All right, which you know covers all of them. So then you have the Asian, and you have an indigenous person, and you have an Asian Indian person. Absolutely, yeah. And that's how you see Virginia?

SPEAKER_00 14:20

That's how I see the world, man. You know what I mean? But yes, Virginia is a melting pot of people.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

Absolutely. All right, so I agree. I agree. I agree that we're all connected, and um right now we're in a time where we think it's really important to focus on uh one group of people and to call them um an American. And um basically there there is no growth there in terms of diversity and ideology. It's us against them. Whoever you claim to be as the us, you know what I mean, kind of deal. Yeah. So um I love that. Yeah, because you see that. And coming from um for Jinzi begin to be more diverse. Absolutely, especially in this area with the military. Yes, yeah, and I I come from a place where you can go downtown and walk down the street, and that's all right there. Yes, sir. Right there. And um you can go in any with any one of these cultural restaurants, yeah. Or everybody's in there. Yeah. Taking part. Yeah right. And it's it's a comfortable, um, it's a comfortable situation. And I know art kind of drives culture, and or is it the other way around to you? Which one do you think it is?

SPEAKER_00 15:48

I think I think as an artist, I have the ability to to uh influence influence and engineer. Okay. Do you find yourself doing that? I do it all the time.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

And I make it a point to do it.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

Okay, so let's talk about that.

SPEAKER_00 16:04

Well, um, even before, because a lot of people see me, a lot of people know me from different phases in my life. Like some people know me when I was making making clothes. I used to make clothes for a long time.

unknown 16:16

Yeah.

Representation At Busch Gardens

SPEAKER_00 16:16

Um, a lot of people know me from when I had a television show, you know. We would do the video show, you know, and a lot of people know me from now. When was that? That was between 2012 and 2018. And what was the show? It was a community-based show, and um it's basically here. I had we had buses, we were sponsored by HRT. Um we had billboards and all of this. Uh, we were bringing the community together. The whole idea behind everything that I do is to because a lot of people talk, you know, they got these ideas and things like that. And that's cool. But I feel like a lot of people say knowledge is power, but applied knowledge is power.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 17:00

So if we know we do better together, I want to show that in certain ways. There's messages in everything that I do with the clothing. There's messages that I would put in it. I had a clothing line called Drive and Ambition with my guys. And we had shirts that said failure's not an option, the sky's not the limit, footprints on the moon. We would do these things and they would give messages to people. The television show. It's all art. The television show, the way we would deliver things, we may pull up, hop out of out of a helicopter. I know I got your attention now, but when we get out, we'll we'll be talking about if we put our money together, we can get a bus. Uh, black businesses having a hard time. What day are you having a hard time? On Tuesdays, your slow day? Let's do a cash mob. We'll all come through here and spend money. We were doing things like that and seeing the effects of it. You know what I'm saying? And people can only go as far as they can see, right? Right. So I call myself a visual activist at the time. So I was showing you. I could preach to you all day, but the greatest gospel preach is the one live. So through the clothing, the television show, through my art, I'm showing you better and more. So therefore, you see it. You answer your own questions. How did you see it work? Even through my lifestyle, I can preach to you all day about Christ and all these things. Yeah. But you see how I live, you see how people respond to me, you see how life happens for me. Not saying that everything's all good. Oh, no. Because Christ never said that you're gonna, I'm gonna answer all your wishes like a genie, but he said, I'll be with you always, even to the end of the age. So no matter what I go through, you see how I get through it. So you answer your own question. Is it beneficial? You see it. I don't have to tell it to you. So everything that I've done, whether it was clothing, whether it was art, whether it was a television show, it was all about letting people see more, see that we can go farther, see the results of positivity, see the results of what we can do when we come together. I had my blackface on an HRT bus for three years, running around here with other businesses on the other side. Everybody thought it was crazy. But we already said if we put our money together, how much we can do, I was able to show it to you. So all of this is my art. And through my art, I do shift culture.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

Okay. So I and I completely agree with that. The um why are you not doing the shows anymore? The TV show? Two things. Um you're probably really busy, but well, no, no, no.

Culture Wars, NFL, And Inclusion

SPEAKER_00 19:30

It wasn't that. Um, I live life on assignments. Um I feel God puts me on an assignment. I'm an empty vessel for whatever the assignment is. That was the assignment for the time. I felt it when it was over. So I moved on to the next. I pray about it, ask him what he wants me to do next. I'm never really tied to a certain thing. I don't want to be defined by what I do. You know what I'm saying? Um, as a creative, there's many things I can do, but I don't want to do what I think is right. I feel like, and again, not to get preachy, but this is my belief. You know what I mean? I want God's wisdom. I want God's opinion on what I should be doing. The Bible says, a righteous man's steps are ordered by the Lord. He may not always have me ordered to do a television show. It may have just been for that moment. Right. So he's ordered me to do something else. I got to a point to where I just felt a little overwhelmed and honestly, and this ain't good. I felt weary of well doing. It just got a little heavy on me. Um, even when you when you're doing positive things in our community, sometimes we can be our own enemy. Sometimes our people will bash the people who come in the save you to come help. You know what I'm saying? Because maybe you're not doing it the way they felt like you should do it, or maybe you're not moving fast enough, or whatever it may be. We complain a lot, you know what I mean? So that was another additive to why I backed up. Because the older you get, man, I don't work for money, I work for peace. You feel what I'm saying? So it was kind of it was pulling at my peace, which made me feel like sometimes you get in situations where gotta make you uncomfortable because it's time to get up and move.

SPEAKER_01 21:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:11

And that's what it was with that.

SPEAKER_01 21:12

I I see that a lot with younger people and ambitious. Yeah. Because they're chasing the dollar. So once you get to a certain point, you realize that sometimes you just rather have some peace, some quiet. That's it.

SPEAKER_00 21:25

And just let it come to you. That's it. And that's it. I I chase my full potential. Right. And money and all that stuff will chase you. Or whatever God got for you. Right. May not be for you to be rich. It may not be for me to be. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 21:38

I want whatever you got for me. Yeah, absolutely. So you say you don't watch sports, but one of the games you do watch at the end of the year is the Super Bowl. It's a tradition. Yeah. Okay. I watched it. Okay. Do you see it this year? Yes, sir. Okay. Mm hmm. Did you see the halftime show? Yeah, I watched it. Have you followed Bad Bunny at all?

SPEAKER_00 21:57

Not really. I mean, I've seen some of his. His uh his past videos and things. There's some things that I don't agree with from not just Bad Bunny, but just music in general. Okay. Um the the influences of our youth in general. You know what I mean? But um, but no, I don't really follow him, but I have seen some things I was just like, but you know, talented brother. Yeah. So your opinion about the halftime show was my opinion about the halftime show, understanding from a cultural standpoint. Absolutely. Because I know that the elephant in the room is the division in our nation over every single thing. Absolutely. I mean, what type of toothpaste you use? That's not a Republican toothpaste. That's, you know, whatever it is, they complaining. But what I say It has to be labeled. It it has to have a label on it, right? Yeah. But I um what I first I'll answer the question about my opinion there. Um, I thought that it was a great representation of uh the Latin community, and I thought that they got their moment and they should, they deserve their moment, just like we did. Um uh last year I heard a lot of complaining about Kendrick Lamar because y'all didn't, you know, because certain groups didn't like the music. But I thought it was great. You know what I mean? You you're not gonna always get what you want. And and the other thing is that man is from Puerto Rico. That's America.

SPEAKER_01 23:23

You know what I'm saying? Yeah, and and and that's where that's there's a number of things there, but that's the part that kind of really bothers me.

SPEAKER_00 23:30

Yeah, could they have some subtitles so I could get involved and understand what was saying most? Yeah, they could. And I'm just being, I'm just giving you the opinion of it of it all. But the messaging, the fact that they got representation uh from a Latin standpoint, I thought it was a good production. I didn't understand everything, but I thought it was dope to kind of walk me into the culture, you know what I mean, j of of the Latin or Spanish culture. That was cool. I thought that was nice. I thought he did a good job, and I thought it was great.

SPEAKER_01 24:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:02

Um, but I think what has happened, we've been trained to feel like if we don't understand it, or if it's opposite of what I believe, it's my enemy or it's a problem. Right. And America's made up of different thoughts, different people, different cultures, and things like that. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for that. As a matter of fact, there was a culture that was here before we even showed up. So if we think about it that way, to a certain extent. Well, when you say we, you you mean um. Well, let me not say we. Yeah, because at the end of the day, my family is is Native American in background in a lot of ways. Okay. So we was already here. So if it's anybody who would have a complaint about anything, it should be the Native Americans. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_02 24:47

Right.

SPEAKER_00 24:47

But um, either rate, I like the show. I thought it was cool. I don't agree with all of the messaging that he may put out. I don't agree with all the messaging that many of the artists before him may put out. But when it comes to the grand scheme of things, there was representation there, and and it's only right to allow that. Period.

SPEAKER_01 25:06

Yeah, yeah. I think I think there's several things um is the focus there. One is the culture and the representation. Yeah. And then um the other one is what the NFL is trying to accomplish. And both of them are miss because you're focused on this little box or something that's comfortable for you, and you can't see the bigger picture. Okay. The NFL is trying to expand. That's the bottom line. Okay. Um, I'm a Philadelphia Eagles fan. The the Eagles' home country is Brazil. Is it? Yes.

SPEAKER_02 25:47

I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

Okay. There's a teams that have home countries that are Mexico. There's teams that have home countries that are uh England. How? They play one game there every year or every couple of years. Okay. So they usually have home field advantage for that that particular so they're trying to expand. Yeah, okay. Okay. Gotcha. So when I look at the people that have an issue with um the the Bad Bunny show in the NFL, they're locking themselves into um not growing. Okay. Oh, yeah. But you're also locking yourself into not growing by not realizing that we're all connected. Yeah. You know, like your photo, I am Virginia. Absolutely. We're all connected. Absolutely. And that's the bottom line, right? And the other part of that is um we're not gonna stop evolution, right? So I just happen to be from an area where there's a large Hispanic community. Yeah. I've had family members that are Hispanic, you know, just learn Spanish. Because you're not gonna stop it.

SPEAKER_00 26:56

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That is a concern for many, but um I think it's a selfish ambition. Almost like um certain people in conservative spaces feel like uh Jesus is just for America.

SPEAKER_01 27:11

You know what I'm saying? Like Well, I mean, that's that's white Christian nationalism. Yeah, and that's that's that's not Jesus are all the things that you're fighting against. He's an immigrant, his parents were refugees. It's yeah, you give it's just love your neighbors, you love yourself. And that was the message.

Art’s Power To Shape Behavior

SPEAKER_00 27:27

Yeah. Love is, you know, you Yeah, yeah. And see, I don't get into the politics of it all. Um I'm more of a this the only term I'd be using. I'm politically atheist, if you will. Right. Um, whenever I vote, I vote like a business deal. Who's best benefiting my household and my community, right? Yeah, that's how I do it. I don't jump in the clicks because your click ain't always right across the board. You can, you should not.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:56

Um, so whenever I think of all these things and these complaints and these uh this banter back and forth, how I see it is, since we're talking football, I see it as if if you took a football football team and you pitted the offense against the defense, will we win any games? Does that make sense? That's how I see politics. You're you're pitting this team, we're all Americans, right? The way that media, depending on what channel you watch, they pit you against somebody who lives next door to you, who's on the same team as if they're your enemy. So if I was to feel like I'm finna burn your house down, that fire gonna end up in my yard. So that's how I see it. It's it's it's dumb to me to operate like that if we have to be neighbors. We have to, from a, let's say, from even from a business standpoint, you just don't pit your office against itself. No, because you need each you need each one of you need everybody to survive. A house divided cannot stand.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

Right. And we are literally a house divided. The way you were when you were doing the um the TV station and then the things in the community, you've seen it from a groundswell that if you bring everybody onto that that boat, that tide lifts all the boats, right? Absolutely so if you you have to think like that. Yes. Okay. Um I forgot what I was gonna say. My bad. But no, no, no, it's not your it's not your your your your thing. So that is definitely a fact, but as far as art is concerned, I think artists have a tremendous I don't say it's a responsibility, but um art in all forms. Okay. Absolutely. It's it brings people together. Or it could tear people apart. Oh, really? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 29:58

You know the power that microphone you got.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

You know what I'm saying? Oh, okay. When you me as an artist painting my brush, I don't think it is negative. Never thought about like that, but go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 30:07

It can go either way because you're given the power to send messages to people. If you're given a microphone, you're the loudest person there. So you're sending a message to someone, and there is a level of responsibility with that. Now, when you young, say a young rapper or whatever, he's just trying to get his money, he don't see that what I'm saying, deaf, deaf, kill, kill, murder, murder, is causing these kids who may not have had a father or influence. I'm the influence now. That's leadership. Right. I'm leading them into the dish, I'm leading them into death and destruction. That's true. So I feel like God gave me a gift, just like he gave a musician a gift to sing or rap or whatever. If he gave that to me, the gift I'm gonna give back is what I do with that. Because how disrespectful is it for you to give your kids a car and they go and run into everything they can. They start running over people with it. I gave you that. I didn't give you that for that. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So that's why I feel like it's a responsibility as an artist, no matter what kind of artist you are, you can take on that responsibility. Or you don't have to. You can just be selfish as a lot of people are and just get your money at the detriment of the message that you're giving the people who are looking up to you. Yeah, I'm not gonna do that, man. I understand the the power of my position. Not saying that I'm some big superstar or anything like that, but if you're looking at me for as an example, I'm gonna try to give you a good one. And if I'm slipping or I'm doing something the wrong way, I'm gonna say, yo, my bad, man. I I did I didn't handle that properly. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So I I think we do have a responsibility.

SPEAKER_01 31:44

Yeah, and I I it starts with you. It does. Because people see you every day. Right? People if you're in some high office or you are uh CEO, people don't see that person. Absolutely. But they see you there, and you can ascend to those positions. And when you're able to ascend to those positions, they know that they have a mentor. Yep. Right.

SPEAKER_00 32:07

And how did you ascend? I can follow your path there. You know what I'm saying? Right. Or if I'm stepping on everybody to get there, should I follow your path? If I'm super disrespectful, I'm in a leadership position, but I'm trolling everybody and being super disrespectful. You've got to motivate other people to act that way.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:25

You you know what I'm saying? Yeah. No matter what office or wherever you sit. So that's what we gotta keep in mind, man.

SPEAKER_01 32:32

Yeah. Um, I'm gonna get back to your art. We um I know you told me over the years you worked in different places. So let's talk about some of the the places that you worked or you did murals that um you went, wow, I never thought that I would be able to do a mural in this particular place. Oh man.

From Addiction To Purpose

SPEAKER_00 32:56

Or no, I'm gonna let you finish. All what else? Um I got a thought already. Keep going. Okay. What first came to mind when you said that was Africa. You know, bro, when I was in Africa, that was bro. I I started out a young drug addict in an alley painting. Okay. And somebody calling me to go to Africa to do the, you know what I'm saying? It just blew my mind. Um, not saying, I know God expands my territory. It can't be nobody but him. But at the end of the day, sometimes I have an issue feeling worthy of that. And Africa was one of those moments, just to be there painting, it was the entrance of a school. So kids are gonna go in. Speaking of messages. What country? It was in Ghana. Okay. Sway Drew, Ghana. Um uh so kids, when they walk in and go to school, my artist, the first thing that welcomes them into that school, say it with positive statements, have them looking upstanding and proud of who they are when they walk in. You know what I'm saying? I I took pride in that. And that would, that was, that was a surreal moment. I was there for nine days, painted my heart out, almost died from heat exhaustion. But it was uh it was an awesome experience. It really was.

SPEAKER_01 34:19

Okay. Give us another. Well, you know what? Now we talked about that. Tell us about your background, because that's interesting. You said you were a drug addict painting in an alley. Oh, yeah. Was this in Louisiana?

SPEAKER_00 34:31

This is in Louisiana, okay. And you know, graffiti ain't a Louisiana thing, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 34:36

No, not really. I can't think of the graffiti artist from Philadelphia that I I want to see as many. Have you been there? I have not. Now I've heard so much about the art there, man. Yeah. So I gotta. That's I think that's like one of the top cities as far as graffiti? Really? For not for murals. Oh, okay, okay, okay. Yeah, so um, and there's one person that they say is the basically the person that got started and created, and he has a mural, he has a studio there. So I need to check it out next to the city. Yeah, I'm gonna have to look into that. Um, I'll get the information.

SPEAKER_00 35:09

My past, um I grew up in in an abusive household, as a lot of people have.

SPEAKER_02 35:15

You know.

SPEAKER_00 35:16

Um in a lot of ways, it could have been a little torturous. There was, you know, stepfather put me on my knees on dry rice. Oh, yeah, torturous stuff, whippings with wet ropes, stuff like that. Um, sexual abuse coming up as well. Um, my mother died in front of us when I was 12. She got electrocuted, putting up an uh antenna. It hit a power line. That happened. So, as a as a child, when all of these traumatic things are happening, your your mind isn't, you haven't prepared your mind to understand how to process these things.

SPEAKER_01 35:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:58

So, with that, um, I had two ways of escape. Um, my stepfather had got on drugs real bad. And praise God, later on, we were able to make amends with all of this. He was able to apologize and all of that. We was able to talk about it. But anyway, that's a side note. My two getaways was I used to watch Bob Ross. You ever you know Bob Ross is? White guy with the Afro?

SPEAKER_01 36:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:21

I used to watch Bob Ross, man. And though I was going through all of this, all this was happening. Um Bob Ross was kind of a getaway. You know, he he he would paint these different uh places, you know. So it was almost like he transported me to those places. Yeah. So for me, in my head, my little young mind, I can't get up and drive away from my situation. I can't go anywhere, I don't have a job or anything like that. But maybe I can do this artwork thing and make my own getaway, you know? So that's that was where my love for art started. I started doing it, and it was a getaway for me. It also was a getaway in a place that I'm a young, I was still in the Eat at that time. My stepfather, um, he would disappear. He had drug issues, I would steal school clothes for me and my sister and all this good stuff. But in between all of this happening, the artwork was like not only a getaway for me, but I would stand across the street when I would do little pictures on the on a wall or whatever and see people looking at it, and it made me feel like somebody. Like you see, you don't see me, but you see me. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, I can bring something positive to this world. Yeah. Because I didn't see myself as that. My stepdaddy told me I was everything but good. Um, doggone, uh, I'm a drug addict, I'm stealing, I'm robbing from people. I didn't feel like a good person, but the art made me feel that way. Right. But then there was another side of it. The drugs was a getaway too.

SPEAKER_01 37:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 37:55

So the people I would hang out with, yeah, they smoke weed, but they also would snort heroin. So therefore, some of them were spiking, some of them was snorting. And spiking was shooting up, is what we call it. So I would get into that as well, and it would take me somewhere else, which was in my mind cool. I ain't gotta think about life. But the problem was when that high goes down, the problems are still there, and not to mention the pain that comes with, you know, kicking the drug. So, either way, um, I was high one night, and as a kid, how do you get drugs? You don't have a job. You steal. So I'm stealing and selling things. So I would break into people's houses. There was some, I wouldn't just brazenly break in with guns. I would wait till I thought they weren't home. So it's this house that I went into, thought the man wasn't home or the woman, whoever I thought stayed there. And as I'm in the house, I hear something in the other room. And when that happens, I hear also hear a shotgun cock. So I run out the back door, I go to hop the fence. That shotgun actually went off. And I got shot. Not by buckshot, praise God. It was by bird shot. So if you know anything about like guns, bird shot, it it sprays pellets. So I got peppered with the pellets. Um, after I got over the fence, I'm trying to run, but I'm in pain and I smell my flesh burning. So with that, I'm going to the hospital. I went to the hospital because I didn't know what was happening. What was I thought I was going to die. Went to the hospital, not thinking if you go to this hospital, they're going to connect you to what just happened, and you know, there's going to be further issues. And that's what happened. And I ended up having to go to the boys' home.

SPEAKER_01 39:44

How old were you?

SPEAKER_00 39:45

Uh, I had to be somewhere between 15 and 16. Okay. But I'm thinking I was, I think I was 15. But um, once that happened, that's why I had to kick off of the drugs in boys' home. And that was a terrible experience. But it got me up out of that. Um, after I got out of there, I would that whole situation allowed some people to make some calls and uh get me out of that situation and back to my family up north in Louisiana. Because I was in Lafayette, Louisiana at the time. And um, that's when life started to kind of change. I stayed with my grandmother, stay with aunties for a while, um, and I really appreciate them um, you know, caring for me in that way, you know, my teammate, Uncle Joe. I just want to give them a shout-out because I don't get a lot of times to tell him thank you, you know what I mean? Um, so they took me in, my grandmother took me in, and um, she convinced me to go to the military, and that's how I got here. She signed me in when I was 17, and um, it was all from there, all up from there. And I started my um professional career on the ship. They started asking me to do murals on the ship, so I'm painting on the ship, and I'm like, yo, these are million-dollar ships, man. And you got my little crackhead self-painting pictures on. This gotta be something. You know what I'm saying? Maybe I got something. That's when the light bulb hit, and I've been painting ever since, man.

Healing, Forgiveness, And Fatherhood

SPEAKER_01 41:12

That's awesome. Um I appreciate you uh sharing that with us. Yeah. Because uh there's people that have not the exact same story, very similar stories, and they don't talk about it. Yeah, okay. And they've ascended to places where they didn't think they would ascend to. And people don't associate um the legal issues, the drug abuse, the sexual abuse. Yeah, and it's especially if you're a male. Yeah. So men don't first of all, men don't want to talk about the sexual abuse and it happens a lot with with men. Well not. Um people just think that's something for women. No, sir. Yeah, yeah. So I appreciate you you talking about that. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:00

Because the the again, this, this, you may not subscribe to this, but it's my belief system. Um the enemy wants to catch you at the root. Because it's a lot of us as grown men still trying to resolve issues that happen to us as a child. Right. You wonder why he's acting out, he he acting like a thug and because something happened to him. You know what I'm saying? Not saying you not not not excusing the activity, but there's a source issue. He we may not even know. Why is that girl so promiscuous? You know, why is this? Why is that? Something happened as a kid that didn't quite heal properly. Right. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And you're seeing the results of that.

SPEAKER_01 42:44

Yeah, and they don't even know. They don't even know. Yeah, so you you have to have grace, patience, you gotta ask questions and don't just call people crazy, man. No, I that drives me nuts. Yeah, it drives me nuts too. Yeah, that that shows that you don't have any impact on people.

SPEAKER_00 43:00

Absolutely. Yeah. And then another thing I'll say, um, and my father came into my life and and helped be an example of a biological father. Helped to be an example of what a man should look like. Because at the time How old were you when he came in? Um, well, he he came and picked me up when I was 15 at one when I ran away and I was at um my auntie's house. Okay. So he brought me back to his home and he was doing extremely well. You know what I'm saying? Big house and brother had a plug-in. Who has a plug-in llamo? What are you doing? He had a cell phone at the time. People didn't have cell phones unless they was. I was able to see someone that looked like me in a successful position. You feel what I'm saying? So it made it a little more, like I said, you can only go as far as you can see. It planted a seed of possibility.

SPEAKER_01 43:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:52

Now he brought me back home, but um, later we still stayed in contact. But later, when I was 21, I think 20 or 21, he came to visit me. He gave his apologies for not, you know, being there and all that good stuff. And I ain't gonna say, of course, I forgave him because some people don't. But I think the right thing to do was to forgive him. Yeah, you have to understand what his reasoning was, right?

SPEAKER_01 44:17

Absolutely. Were you able to talk to him about that? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 44:19

Yeah, see, that's why you have to ask questions, right? You do. You do. And it gives you a little bit more um understanding. Um that's why relationships. Somebody else's perspective. Because, bro, how many things have I done that I needed to apologize for? Right. So what I look like, not allowing you know that grace to him. So we we're a made, got an amazing relationship now. You know what I'm saying? He came down when I found my son. We all was down there. It was awesome. But um, I I've gotten off track, haven't I? What was he talking about before then?

SPEAKER_01 44:48

No, that's we're cool. This is where we at? Okay. Yeah, you were you were talking about your relationship um with your father. Oh, your biological father after you got in trouble. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:57

I think it's also important if you've made it out of a burning house, you had um a terrible background growing up and you were able to make it to the other side and be successful, as you said. People made it there, they don't talk about it. It's only right. You don't have to, but I think it's only right to help other people out of that too. What did you do, bro? Like if you went through, if you got sexually abused, I know it can be embarrassing, but I'm keeping it to myself and it's killing me like a cancer because I don't, I feel alone. You feel what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 45:30

You got three guys over here that's dealing with it, don't know how to deal with it. They self-medica or they act out in rage because they don't know how to deal with it.

SPEAKER_00 45:38

And I I've heard a guy, I was on a panel with a guy that just got out of prison for murder. Yeah. And when I had said that, and that was one of the first times I said it, I I had a hard time saying it too. You know what I mean? But the more I say it, it's almost like letting steam out of a pot. It takes the pressure off, it takes a weight off me. But either rate, um, when I said it, he he tearfully responded, and it's a hardened, you would see him as a hardened criminal out of jail. He was in jail for murder, and he said, Brother, I'm glad you said that. He said, because the reason why I was so angry, fighting, and and and and doing what I was doing, thugging and all that, is because that happened to me, and I wanted to make sure nobody seen me like the word he used was the B-I-T-C-H. Weakness. Right. So a lot of people out here thugging because something happened to them, and they're like, you ain't gonna do that to me no more. Right. You know what I'm saying? So I had a moment of that too. I had anger issues and I went through all the phases, right? But um, at the end of the day, um, because that gives you, you start to question your identity. Absolutely. You feel what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah. I never questioned it from a uh uh sexual standpoint, as in, like I didn't go to the homosexual side of things, but some people do. And a lot of people want to will argue with me about that. But I'm telling you right now, there's a lot of people out here right now, if they're being honest, the reason why they had those issues is because somebody molested them. What they what you do with that, do what you will, and will whatever you did moving forward, that's on you. But I'm telling you right now, I've got other people that are in my family. Yeah, I know the source. It ain't always the source, but for many, yeah. So at the end of the day, we need to have these conversations, stop throwing people in boxes, stop leading with hate and and and be judgmental. Love on people. And it's the thing, the Bible says you a lot of people like to say, uh only God can judge me, you shouldn't judge. No, the Bible says you should righteous judge righteously. So what that means is if I know I got my own issues, I'm not gonna look at down my nose at you.

SPEAKER_01 47:50

Right.

SPEAKER_00 47:50

I'm gonna come to you with love, bro. I know I understand. You know what I mean? We judge every day. If you going into the store and you see some dudes standing outside with guns on their hip looking a little funny, you may not walk in. Right. You your kid come in looking a little suspect. I'm judging something up. What's up? Yeah. So don't say you don't judge. We judge. You need to to make it in life, but you judge righteously. Yeah, and you don't look down your nose at nobody. Right. And I think even with uh Christians in the homosexual community, we we need better Christian PR because we we treat people and outcast people. But just like you lying and all this stuff, that's a sin too, bro. You feel what I'm saying? We talk to people and treat them with love, and maybe we can have a conversation, at least, even if we don't agree. I can't force myself on you, but at least we can have a conversation.

SPEAKER_01 48:45

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 48:46

But that's it, that's why I'm at with it.

Responsibility, Judgment, And Grace

SPEAKER_01 48:47

Yeah, I agree. I agree. As I've gotten older, I I stopped judging as much. Yeah, yeah. Patient. Trying to make sure I talk to everybody. Yeah, man. Everybody deserves that. Yeah. Um anomaly art studios. Of course, where your art is important, but I wanted to talk with you as the person you are. Where's your studio? You're looking at it. Okay, gotcha. All right. I didn't know because I I saw something on Facebook um where you were are you teaching some classes or you have something going on?

SPEAKER_00 49:22

Um, I have um classes are coming up. There's talks about that. So there may be classes this year for children and family, but um I do something called war paint.

SPEAKER_01 49:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 49:33

War paint is um, you know how they do the paint parties where everybody comes and they paint a picture and at the end of the day, you know, have some drinks, paint, paint sips or whatever. Yeah. Um, mine is it's not that, but it's a group thing. Mine is more art therapy. Like, say if uh, and that's why I call it war paint. Um, we all battling against something. You know what I'm saying? So I figure you can only go as far as you can see. So say if I'm painting with people who have addiction issues, yeah. Um, I've done this before. We'll paint, uh, I'll draw out these hands with shackles on them that are broken, but I'll have you draw what were you, what was you your shackle, what were you bound by? Draw it in and we'll talk about it. You know what I'm saying? And once you see it and you see, you can take that home. I broke free from alcohol, I broke free from drug addiction or cell phone or whatever it may have been, and we talk through that through the process of painting it out. It brings the person that may be going through some issues peace, because art is a peaceful process, and it also could help us find clarity together through this conversation that we're having artistically here. Yeah. So war paint is just my way of giving art therapy, not just enjoying the artwork, but also growing from the artwork. Yeah. So that that's what I do with as well.

SPEAKER_01 51:04

Yeah. I find that interesting. I was just recently introduced to that several months ago about art therapy and analysis. Yeah. So uh it's um it's quite interesting. It is, man. So you're the third person I've heard talk about maybe confirmation. You may need to get some art therapy, man. I I'm good. I I'm good. I draw a stick, man, pretty good. Okay. That's good.

SPEAKER_00 51:26

That's all you need.

SPEAKER_01 51:27

But anyway, I appreciate you coming in and talking with us. Yeah, bro. And um, we can find you on Facebook.

SPEAKER_00 51:32

Absolutely. Um, on Facebook, Trevor Lucas, uh uh AnomalyArt Studio. Um, anomalyartstudio.com is my website. And if you go there, it'll take you everywhere. Instagram, Facebook, you can see my portfolio and all of that. Anomalyartstudio.com.

SPEAKER_01 51:50

All right.

SPEAKER_00 51:50

Appreciate you so much. Yes, sir. All right.

SPEAKER_01 51:54

Thank you. That concludes today's episode. Listen up. You have a great time, and we'll see you next time on listen up. If you enjoyed today's episode, I'm gonna ask you to click on the links below. Follow, subscribe, become part of the conversation. And remember, listen up.