Former Farmington artist makes debut on Extreme Makeover
Brent Alexander paints candy store wall mural for show
By MARIDEE LAWSON
Daily Journal Staff Writer
Daily Journal Staff Writer
Published: Monday, November 23, 2009
Updated: Saturday, October 24, 2009 4:08 AM CDT
Updated: Saturday, October 24, 2009 4:08 AM CDT
A former Farmington resident, Brent Alexander will make his television debut on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Sunday evening on ABC.
Sunday’s show will feature a mural of a candy store wall in the daughter’s bedroom painted by Alexander and a friend. While they were painting, the film crew taped a segment of the show which featured celebrity TV chef Sandra Lee and DeeDee Snider, a crew member. However, Alexander isn’t sure how much of that part will be seen but, at the very least people will get to see the hard work he put in.
He said he was painting and wasn’t sure who the celebrity was for the show and the director came in and said two women were coming in and to act natural. The woman was introduced to him as Sandy. She came in and helped paint the candy store mural. Ty Pennington built a candy counter to go in front of the mural because the daughters like to play candy store.
Alexander said it took two days and 16 hours to complete the mural. The home was completed in seven days from start to finish with the help of volunteers.
After Alexander completed his work he received an e-mail not long after the August filming from a Hollywood Producer inviting him to work on future projects. Because of his work with this project he now has permission to use the ABC and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition logos.
“This has been an exciting and surreal opportunity. The producers found my Web site and were looking for an artist in southern Illinois to work with them on this project,” said Alexander.
The family that received the makeover owns Salt and Light, which hands out food and clothing to people in need. Alexander added that the family was nominated by community members because they lived in a 120-year-old farmhouse that needed a lot of work. Because the family helped those in need they didn’t feel right to use money they made helping others to improve their home.
Brent Alexander grew up in Farmington with his parents Don and Joyce Alexander. By second or third grade teachers were telling them he had a gift and unlike athletes or musicians they were unsure how to keep his gift from fading.
Around the age of 12 or 13 Alexander was doing oil paintings and had been for a while. At one of the first Country Days he set up a booth and sold some of his paintings because friends and family would request his paintings. They believed it was an investment in his future. After graduating from Farmington High School he went to University of Missouri-Columbia and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Alexander said that his career is continuing to prosper and grow. He doesn’t know where all this is taking him but right now he has a lot more attention drawn to his work.
He resides around the St. Louis area for now because there is more work for him there. He hopes to eventually return to the Farmington area, but right now there is not enough work for him. However, he commented that a lot of area residents own work by him.
Even though he worked on the set of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition he didn’t get to meet host Ty Pennington. He said that people made comments that Ty didn’t like to be on set because he believes he is a disruption to workers.
Alexander does work at churches, businesses and homes and said that he rarely uses computers for his work. It’s all handmade and created.
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition will air Sunday evening at 7 on ABC.
For more information or to contact Brent Alexander, his art work Web site is www.alexanderartworks.com.
Maridee Lawson is a reporter for the Daily Journal and can be reached at mlawson@dailyjournalonline.com or 756-8927.
Sunday’s show will feature a mural of a candy store wall in the daughter’s bedroom painted by Alexander and a friend. While they were painting, the film crew taped a segment of the show which featured celebrity TV chef Sandra Lee and DeeDee Snider, a crew member. However, Alexander isn’t sure how much of that part will be seen but, at the very least people will get to see the hard work he put in.
He said he was painting and wasn’t sure who the celebrity was for the show and the director came in and said two women were coming in and to act natural. The woman was introduced to him as Sandy. She came in and helped paint the candy store mural. Ty Pennington built a candy counter to go in front of the mural because the daughters like to play candy store.
Alexander said it took two days and 16 hours to complete the mural. The home was completed in seven days from start to finish with the help of volunteers.
After Alexander completed his work he received an e-mail not long after the August filming from a Hollywood Producer inviting him to work on future projects. Because of his work with this project he now has permission to use the ABC and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition logos.
“This has been an exciting and surreal opportunity. The producers found my Web site and were looking for an artist in southern Illinois to work with them on this project,” said Alexander.
The family that received the makeover owns Salt and Light, which hands out food and clothing to people in need. Alexander added that the family was nominated by community members because they lived in a 120-year-old farmhouse that needed a lot of work. Because the family helped those in need they didn’t feel right to use money they made helping others to improve their home.
Brent Alexander grew up in Farmington with his parents Don and Joyce Alexander. By second or third grade teachers were telling them he had a gift and unlike athletes or musicians they were unsure how to keep his gift from fading.
Around the age of 12 or 13 Alexander was doing oil paintings and had been for a while. At one of the first Country Days he set up a booth and sold some of his paintings because friends and family would request his paintings. They believed it was an investment in his future. After graduating from Farmington High School he went to University of Missouri-Columbia and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Alexander said that his career is continuing to prosper and grow. He doesn’t know where all this is taking him but right now he has a lot more attention drawn to his work.
He resides around the St. Louis area for now because there is more work for him there. He hopes to eventually return to the Farmington area, but right now there is not enough work for him. However, he commented that a lot of area residents own work by him.
Even though he worked on the set of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition he didn’t get to meet host Ty Pennington. He said that people made comments that Ty didn’t like to be on set because he believes he is a disruption to workers.
Alexander does work at churches, businesses and homes and said that he rarely uses computers for his work. It’s all handmade and created.
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition will air Sunday evening at 7 on ABC.
For more information or to contact Brent Alexander, his art work Web site is www.alexanderartworks.com.
Maridee Lawson is a reporter for the Daily Journal and can be reached at mlawson@dailyjournalonline.com or 756-8927.
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Article Comments (3)The comments below are from readers and do not represent the views of the Daily Journal.
roberta posted at Sunday, October 25th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
bunny, don't forget the Ross brothers (Kevin & Scott) who are movie editors
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bunnyhoff posted at Sunday, October 25th, 2009 at 8:24 am
that is great at least there are two people that has left this town and hit the big screen. 1. kyle richardson(football baltimore ravens)
2. brent alexander (extreme makeover) great job men
2. brent alexander (extreme makeover) great job men
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