As an only child, Scott Garder spent long periods of his youth alone contemplating the natural world around him. In this deep observation of his surroundings, he began to develop a keen sense of perception and visual memory. Whether laying in a field of grass in Northern California watching shapeshifting summer clouds, or taking pencil to paper drawing everything from oak trees to comic book characters, Garder’s imagination and visual acuity began incubating from his earliest childhood memories. 

As a young adult however, he lost touch with his more sensitive nature and fell into a period of addiction and depression. Having fallen out of contact with what drives him most - love for the visual experience - Garder sought to escape his disconnected life through hard drugs and alcohol. After several years and a series of rock bottoms, Garder found that sobriety and spirituality were the keys to unlocking a fulfilling life. 

During this reconnection with the self and newfound clarity of mind, Garder rediscovered his love for art and committed to learning the craft of drawing and painting as the old masters once learned. He now studies full time in Brooklyn, New York at Grand Central Atelier where he is further developing his visual vocabulary and creating works of art that harken back to his childhood, evoking a sense of childlike wonder and reverence for the beauty of the human experience.