PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Pittsburgh Steeler Baron Batch is living out his dream.
“Every day,” Batch says, “I still wake up and I’m in awe that I’m actually doing it.”
And the kid from West Texas has quickly made Pittsburgh home.
“The thing I love about Pittsburgh,” he says, “is it brings out a lot of creativity in me.”
And one step inside Batch’s Southside Slopes home and you see where all that creativity has gone.
From the coffee table he built from two barrels and an old door he bought at Construction Junction (“I sanded it down and polished it with orange-oil,” he says) to the artwork that adorns the wall, Baron Batch is a true Renaissance man.
“Just like anybody else has a job and has their hobbies that they love to do,” he says, “it just happens that my job is football and I happen to have a lot of hobbies that I love to do.”
From painting to writing to photography to carpentry, there’s no shortage of hobbies; but the paintings are most evident inside his house. And incredibly, Batch only began to paint about six months ago when he was rehabbing from his knee injury.
“I moved into my apartment and nothing was on the walls, and I was like, ‘I need something to occupy my time,’” he says.
And he hasn’t stopped since, painting so many pieces that more than a dozen sit in his basement, which Batch calls “the dungeon.”
“Just sad orphans…looking for a home,” he describes them.
And you can now own one of his works. Batch plans to begin selling his artwork on his website.
And on Nov. 16, Pavilion X downtown will auction off several pieces of his work to benefit The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2012/11/07/steelers-baron-batch-a-true-renaissance-man/
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