This isn't the Jay McChord you're familiar with, and this isn't a story about the Lexington city council, the World Equestrian Games, sewage problems or issues concerning our water supply. It's a story of unrecognized and unrealized artistic talent, aesthetic angst and the gratification of perseverance through inspiration and imagination.
Unbeknownst to most, behind the charismatic city councilman for the 9th District lies a seasoned creative hand, the kind that brings images to life with only a sharpened pencil and a blank sheet of paper.
McChord graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1991 with a degree in fine art, after nurturing, with the help of others, his talents through his younger years.
"I was one of those kids that was drawing all the time," he said. "I had an encouraging mother who was just one of those moms who not only encouraged you to draw and told you you did great and put it up on the fridge, but really was a good artist herself. We would sit around and challenge each other to who could draw the better barn รณ she would just smoke me.
"I was also one of those kids in elementary school who didn't really realize school counted for anything, so I would just draw all day long. Teachers would say, 'Stop, do your math.'
Aside from his mother