Blue Sky was born on September 18, 1938, in
Columbia,
South Carolina, as Warren Edward Johnson. In 1954, his first foray into art won him a national poster competition For the next six years, he served as a
jet aircraft technician in the
Air National Guard, 169th Cameron Squad, while working several different jobs to pay for college – including as a
parade float builder, a layout artist, and a dance instructor, among others. from 1958 to 1964. During this time, he received instruction from the
Ash Can painter
Edmund Yaghjian. Meanwhile, he sold original works through USC student art auctions at
McMaster College. At the Springs Mills Show in 1964, in which over 700 artists participated, he was judged "best of show" by
Henry Geldzahler, who was then curator of modern art at the
Metropolitan Museum. Sky was then invited to study at the
Art Students League of New York, where he lived and worked for the next year. Upon moving back to Columbia in 1966, Sky worked as a
draftsman and
conceptual artist for Wilbur Smith & Associates before returning to USC for graduate school. In 1970, he graduated, earning a
Master of Education because the university had not yet been certified to award a
Master of Fine Arts. In 1974, Sky legally changed his name from Warren Edward Johnson to Blue Sky. He signed paintings before this year with the abbreviation
"WAR." In 2000, Sky was awarded the
Order of the Palmetto, South Carolina's highest civilian state honor, for his contributions to the arts - particularly for painting the state's first large-scale public mural in 1975. == Career ==