How Art Saved His Life: Bo Huff's Story

Professionally trained as a jeweler, Bo Huff owned a family jewelry business with his brother for 15 years.  During this time, his wife was diagnosed with cancer.  She passed away after a four-year struggle.  After her death, Bo closed the jewelry business and ran away.  He found it difficult to be creative.  It was during this period that he was diagnosed with Bipolar 1.  Bo began to experiment with painting and found it to be very therapeutic.   Being Bipolar accentuated his creativity.  He battled with whether he should separate his art from his mental illness, but it was simply impossible.  When showing his art, mental illness always comes into the conversation.  It is not something he hangs his head about.  He uses this to reach out and give others hope.  His passion has become painting.  It is what he does for fun – for recreation, for creativity.   He also enjoys teaching others what he has learned about how to succeed with a mental illness.  One area Bo pays special attention to in his work is with suicide prevention.  Outside of his art, his other passion is his dogs.  Bo spent a number of years volunteering at a local no-kill dog shelter and has personally adopted 4 dogs from this shelter.   Bo's business has flourished over the past 10 years, and he has found a great niche.   He can now truly call myself an artist, an "outsider artist".  Bo's medium is acrylic on canvas or wood.  You will likely find him painting either in his studio in north Texas or his studio on the northwest side of Houston.