Courtesy Photo Steven Bye poses next to one of his paintings at the Besser Museum for Northeast Michigan. His exhibit opens today, with a chance to meet the artist from 5 to 7:30 p.m.

ALPENA ­– He started in Alpena, and he’s back for his “last hurrah.”

Steven Bye grew up here, and grew to love drawing and painting here, thanks to wonderful art instructors and unfortunate circumstances.

When he was four years old, Bye slipped and fell down two flights of stairs, landed on his face and broke his jaw, but it could have been much worse. He landed in a pile of snow his dad had been shoveling, which saved his life.

At that time, his jaw had to be harnessed shut, so he couldn’t talk, Not being able to write yet, his only method of communication was drawing.

“I just always loved drawing, and things of that nature, and I knew that I wanted to be an artist,” he said.

What started out of necessity became a passion, leading him to 30-plus years of creating art.

“My formative years were in Rogers City,” Bye said. “My dad was an industrial arts teacher and head football coach. And then we moved here when I was in seventh grade, to Alpena, so I look at this as my hometown.”

The 1968 Alpena High School graduate is rounding out his career where he started, and he will be at the Besser Museum for Northeast Michigan from 5 to 7:30 p.m. today for the opening of his exhibit, “Travels of a Native Son,” on display through the summer. A reception will be held from 5 to 7:30 p.m. on July 9 as well.

He was the art teacher at Alpena High School, when it was in the old Thunder Bay Junior High School on 2nd Avenue, which has since been torn down.

“I was the art teacher there from ’75 to ’77,” Bye noted.

Born in Marquette, Bye spent most of his early years in Rogers City. He moved to Alpena in 1962. After graduating from AHS, he spent three semesters at Alpena Community College before transferring to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, earning a Bachelor of Science in Education. Four years later he earned a Master of Arts degree from Central Michigan University.

“I ended up in Muskegon, and I spent the majority of my teaching career there, 25 years,” he said. “I also taught Art at Aquinas College.”

He spent 39 years teaching Art, English, and Science in Alabama, New Mexico, Michigan, and Arizona.

He and his wife Nancy Bye have spent the last 17 years in Tucson, Arizona.

A working artist since he was 21, Bye has also been an author for 15 years. His art has appeared in exhibits in La Jolla, California, Daytona, Florida, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Tucson, Arizona, Grand Rapids, Grand Haven, and Muskegon, Michigan. His artwork has been purchased internationally.

Bye works in oils, and will have 30 paintings on display in his exhibit.

“I use the highest quality,” he said. “I actually have my paints imported from London, which are made in France, which are the same ones that Monet and Van Gogh … they come from an original paint company out of Paris, and it’s the highest quality. And what that means is that my paintings will be just as brilliant … in a hundred years from now.”

He and his wife have traveled extensively in Mexico, the U.S., and Europe.

He has written three novels, two of which will be available this evening at the soft opening.

“I’ve been a real active writer for about 15 years,” he said.

He’s got a lot of stuff in his head, so he figured he might as well let it out in his novels.

“I’ve got to tell you, I was very fortunate,” he said. “I had excellent high school teachers in Alpena, here. My high school art teacher, Nancy Feindt, and my English teacher, Blanche Hockett. They were just great.”

He added that his parents were also excellent teachers, and his brother, sister, brother-in-law, and daughter have gone into teaching.

“I guess it’s the family business,” he said of teaching.

Bye’s wife and daughter Sara Bye Winter were instrumental in getting the exhibit together, he added.

“The interesting thing about this is the museum opened in ’65, when I was a sophomore in high school,” Bye recalled. “And they had the first student art show, in an actual museum. And we were all excited about it. So my first couple paintings I ever did were in the museum. So, this is actually my last big hurrah. We’ve done a lot of exhibitions, all over the place, but it’s exhausting, a tremendous amount of work. And I’m getting older … I thought, why don’t I end where I started?”