From February 3 through February 28, 2004 the First Street Gallery will present a special invitational exhibition of drawings and pastels by New York artist, Bill Creevy. The author of "The Pastel Book" and well known teacher, writer, and critic on pastel and painting technique, Bill Creevy has been largely known for his extensive and often experimental work in pastel painting, yet this First Street Gallery show is the very first time Creevy has ever exhibited his drawings.

This First Street Gallery show does not pretend to be a "retrospective" of Bill Creevy's drawings. Nevertheless the exhibition shows a great variety in the work as well as drawing techniques. Creevy revisits favorite themes such as vintage aircraft, Cadillacs, and animals, displaying a virtuosic range of drawing techniques: pen and ink, conte crayon, pencil worked with erasers, and his current favorite--an arresting mixed media combo of lithographic crayon and graphite.

"I drew before I knew I would ever become an artist. Drawing was an almost constant habit," says Creevy. "When I began my professional life, drawing was nothing out of the ordinary. By then it was essential, a daily activity like writing a letter or talking on the telephone." But though drawing was and is "just a habit," Bill Creevy has also come to value the very act of drawing as the keystone of his visual and artistic ideas. Drawing is both a tool and an activity that allows Creevy's inner visions to become immediately real; something he can hold on to and keep.