Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan on March 22, 1971, Adam Joel Hayward moved to the Cincinnati, Ohio area in 1973.

Adam spent the majority of his adolescence working in the fields of his family owned and operated winery in Clarksville, Ohio. Responsible for a vast number of outdoor, farm-related activities, Adam developed a profound understanding of nature's beauty and sublime tendencies at an early age.

Fran Harlan, Adam's maternal grandmother, played a vital role in nurturing his artistic abilities. A fine artist herself and an enthusiastic painter of her farmhouse surroundings, Fran Harlan introduced Adam to the joys of depicting one's natural surroundings on paper and canvas.

In 1983, Adam's father was diagnosed with manic depression, and spent the rest of his life in and out of various hospitals. Unfortunately, his father's illness forced the family to sell their winery and move to the Cincinnati suburbs due to financial strain. In 1986, Adam's family moved to a gentrified section of Over the Rhine in downtown Cincinnati.

At this point, Adam made the decision to transfer from the Cincinnati Country Day Schools to the School for the Creative and Performing Arts, and began seriously considering the arts as a future profession.

In 1989, after winning a number of awards for his artistic endeavors, Adam enrolled in the graphic design department at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Convinced that advertising was his calling after winning multiple competitions, he decided to join the freelance advertising workforce after graduation.

In 1993, Adam's father died of Lou Gehrig's disease, only one year after being diagnosed. This tragic event took control of Adam's life in unprecedented forms, and caused him to begin questioning his decision to develop a career in advertising. The "understanding" Adam gained from his father's passing would eventually change and define the course of his life as an artist.

After accepting and completing an interim position as the Upper School Fine Arts Teacher for the Cincinnati Country Day Schools in 1995, Adam returned to Miami University with a newfound empowerment, enrolling in a Master's program for certification in art education.

While at Miami, Adam was given the opportunity to embark on his first truly serious body of artwork. Adam found himself heavily influenced by the sublime characters illustrated in the works of Spanish painter Francisco de Zubearan. In fact, the events leading up to this point in his life seemed to mesh with this style of painting.

Heavy religious overtones began to spark Adam's interest in painting inside local Cincinnati churches. In 1997, he was asked to paint a mural-sized piece at the Mater Ecclesia Institute in Hyde Park for the resident cloistered nuns. This opportunity changed Adam's perceptions of painting as an art form, as well as the process of painting itself.

Toward the end of the Mater Ecclesia project, Adam accepted a position at the Good Hope School in the Virgin Islands, serving as the Middle/Upper School Fine Arts Director.

The light, water and beautiful atmosphere of the Virgin Islands began to influence Adam's artistic renderings. Soon, he noticed echoes of turn-of-the-19th century artists such as Van Gogh, Monet and Turner in his works. However, the majority of his works still portrayed his personal love of the relationship between nature and self.

After enjoying much success as a teacher, Adam began gaining notoriety as a fine artist throughout the Virgin Islands. Eventually, his focus moved from teaching to art production, and he decided to make the necessary sacrifices for beginning the next major focus of his life.

In the summer of 2000, Adam moved to Taos, New Mexico to be with his family and concentrate on the art and business of painting full time. While setting up his studio, he began his third body of work. Utilizing the Impressionists as a means of understanding color, Adam moved to the simplification of line while tackling the complex religious culture associated with the town of Taos. The subject matter depicted in Adam's third body of work became reminiscent of Chigall's works and dreamlike associations.

In March of 2001, Adam decided to expand his market by returning to Cincinnati and setting up a second studio. As a Cincinnati artist, his fourth body of work is metaphorically related to the new life that surrounds him. From the students he taught in the past to the children that are now being born to couples he has known for a lifetime, a new sense of beauty has entered into Adam's palate. Though simple and light in composition, each of his new works has its own imprint on Adam's understanding of life's dualities. A rebirth or cycling of the subconscious has begun to unfold in these latest works, in reaction to the life Adam has led so far.

Written by Chris Rice