Trevor Norris was born the first time on August 28, 1949 into a large family living in a small English council row house painted in bright colors. His dad, an aspiring drummer who painted other people’s houses and his Mum, a half Spanish gypsy who cleaned other people’s houses, argued daily. Life was turbulent but colorful. He quit school at age 14 and began a series of odd jobs in construction and retail. He hated all of them and was a lost soul. Trevor was born again while driving along the Hwy 101 coastline in January 1977 on his way to start graduate school in Santa Barbara. “I must have been a really good person in a former life to deserve landing here.” The shortage of art history and the consequent freedom to experiment in California led to a change in primary materials from clay to paint for Trevor. He can still be seen blushing when referred to as a painter but wears the title ‘artist’ with pride and just a little attitude. Recently, words have entered his paintings as Trevor improves his writing skills as part of Queerwise, a group of ‘older’ LGBTQI writer/performers here in Los Angeles. He combines these words in his paintings with images and colors excavated from memory during the writing process. All current works are part of his ‘Domestic Recipes’ series and pay homage to his mum. Today, Trevor reads this bio and gently pinches himself. “I must have been a really good person in a former life to be standing here now.”
