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Some might say that sport is art.
But former Forest Grove High School standout basketball player Kyle Thompson is no longer working his magic on the hardwood, but rather in the studio where he continues to learn, work on and recently presented his latest artistic endeavor.
“There’s something really satisfying and rewarding about having an image in my brain and then being able to manifest it,” Thompson said. “I’ve worked at it long enough now where I can finally start bringing some of those things to life, which feels very rewarding.”
Thompson, a 2018 FGHS graduate, was a three-time all-league player for the Vikings and helped lead his team to the state playoffs in two of his four varsity seasons. Now, Thompson has a studio in Portland where he continues to hone his craft.
In recent weeks he put that craft on display as part of his “Portraits” show at ADX Portland, a collaborative space downtown. He said the show went well, and he was surprisingly calm — and confident — before and during displaying his work for the public to see.
He doesn’t play much basketball anymore, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have an affection for the game he still loves.
“I miss it,” Thompson said. “I still like basketball. I coached a couple years for the middle school teams when I moved back to Forest Grove after Oregon State. I’m a basketball fan.”
Thompson pointed to a game during his sophomore year as his most memorable moment, and said he’s come to appreciate those times even more as he gets further from them.
“It feels like a really long time ago, but I have nothing but good memories,” Thompson said. “What sticks out a lot as I’ve grown older is that there isn’t really an atmosphere like playing live sports. It sounds sappy, but there’s nothing that compares to that feeling. It really is once in a lifetime.”
Eight years later, he’s moved on.
After two separate stints at Oregon State University, Thompson graduated with an art history degree in 2024. While one would naturally assume painting was part of that educational endeavor, he said he didn’t put brush to canvas much during his time at OSU and, in fact, never took the pursuit seriously until after he graduated.
“I didn’t paint much in college,” Thompson said. “I didn’t really start painting and stuff until after I got out of college. A couple years ago I started taking it more seriously and just realized that it was something I wanted to do.”
The former Viking said that while art in some way, shape or form was always of interest to him, it wasn’t until he got to college that the attraction became real, in addition to something he had a genuine passion for.
“I was always kind of drawn to art in high school, but different things like photography and music,” Thompson said. “Then in college, I started as a psychology major, then withdrew form classes and left school for a while. Then when I went back, I switched to art history because I knew if I was going to finish a degree, I wanted something that I could be interested in and engage in my classes.”
It was also something that didn’t come naturally.
Thompson said that in the beginning he struggled, but through time and hard work he’s learned the craft.
“I was not very good for a while, which is what made me hesitant in college,” Thompson said. “But then after college, I realized that it was something that I wanted to do, so I just committed myself.”
He went on to say that people often think you either have it or you don’t when it comes to art of all types, but what he’s discovered is that acumen with the brush is not innate, but rather a skill one can hone if they so desire.
“I think with art especially, there’s a notion that people are just naturally gifted at it, and that’s not true at all,” Thompson said. “Anybody who has learned an instrument or a new skill knows that. You have to be bad at something for a long time before you can be good at it. It just takes time.
“I think I learned that pretty quick. If it was something I wanted, I was going to have to commit myself to doing it, even if it looked terrible and wasn’t enjoyable.”
And commit he’s done.
“I thought I might be nervous, but once the time actually came I felt really good about my stuff,” Thompson said. “So, I felt satisfied. Even if people didn’t like my stuff, I was just happy to get it all in one place where I could look at it.”
Portrait painting is Thompson’s art of choice. He said that while there are countless directions one can go artistically, he has and continues to be drawn to the genre that allows the artist to represent a specific human subject from a photo or even one’s imagination.
“The show I just had was called ‘Portraits’ because I only paint portraits,” Thompson said. “I’m just interested in the human form, and that’s the kind of art that I like looking at.”
Thompson said that as an artist he’s definitely still a work in progress and at times finds it difficult to manifest his thoughts to the canvas. But while he doesn’t always love his partially or completed work, beauty is sometimes in the eyes of the beholder.
“There’s been a lot of times where friends or family members have come to my studio or have seen something that I just hate or think it’s a throw away, but they think is really cool.”
The 25-year-old is happy with where he is in his burgeoning art career, but at the same time knows he’s just scratching the surface of what he hopes will be bigger and better things to come. If that means a career, great. But if not, for now he’s happy learning and getting better — at what he loves.
“I’ve already sort of surprised myself with how quickly I’ve been able to make things and sell things,” Thompson said. “So, I’m going to keep painting because it’s just what I do now and a part of my life that I love. Being able to make more money off of it and support myself, would be huge.”
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