The Long Hours

Artist Steve R. Mead

Why The Long Hours?

In mid-2001, I moved to Washington, DC from Toledo, Ohio. Many people asked me why I would move to the "Murder Capitol" of the world. When in DC, I found communities rich in culture, families, welcoming grins and open arms to a guy from small-town, middle America. My first art piece was a grandfather clock that had murder statistics from the city, newspaper articles of the violence and dramatic stories of a city 572,000 people called home. I thought hard about the actual stories and not just the statistics. What must it feel like to stare at a clock waiting for that loved one to come home, to walk through a door they will never grace again.  The long hours turn to numbness as the person they love becomes just another story, a boxed checked by a statistician and a joke to those who do not live it.


Steve R. Mead


Steve R Mead

Moving beyond 

I began with bold strokes on large, rectangular canvases—flat worlds with edges. But over time, the urge to break boundaries grew stronger. Now, my work steps off the wall, sculpting space and form into three-dimensional stories.