Steve Pazur was a prolific artist, poet and storyteller, who tapped into an innate creativity to bring his unique view of life to those around him. His early artwork used vibrant colors and bold shapes, and was more characteristic of typical childhood drawings. But as he grew into adolescence, Steve's artwork and writings took on a more somber tone to reflect his inner struggles.

Steve gave many of the eccentric shapes and images he crafted in pen and pastels to his high school friends. "Draw me a picture," they'd say. "Or tell us a story." And Steve always obliged. His imaginary storehouse of vivid and absurd imagery was mesmerizing and seemed never ending.

Below is a sampling of Steve's drawings. There are many more to come. If you have something to share with us that Steve gave you, email us at bpazur@excel.net. If you can, include a few words about his drawing and your impression of Steve at the time he created it.

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CAT - Steve, Feb 1992, age 9:     Steve's beloved cat Daisy. She came to live with us in 1986 as a four-month-old adolescent cat who was caged at the Animal Protective League in Cleveland, Ohio, where Steve spent the first 15 years of his life. Daisy lived to be 12,and grew to be 16 pounds of white fluff with a pink nose, ears and pawpads. Instead of "meow" she would say "noun."

SNOW KING & SON KING - Steve, age 7:    Two of Steve's favorite stuffed animals - Snow King and Sun King. Although he spelled it "Son" here, Sun King was named after Sun Bears on exhibit at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo that Steve had first seen when he was little.

WINE FACE - Steve, age 16:    Typical of Steve's drawings during adolescence. He worked primarily in pencil and pen, and had a preoccupation with faces and profiles in this highly-stylized form.  

BONFIRE and MINDLESS - Steve, age 17:    More pen drawings - he typically drew these for someone , and gave them to that person. These are from the collection of Nicky P.

Below is the full text of the poem 'The Dream'. This poem was written as part of a school assignment.

The Dream

Sip some soap
And breathe bubbles

Drink a bottle o’ steak sauce

And lay back relax

Imagine yourself

Floating lightly

Through the air

On a pleasant day

A pelican flies past

And hands you a pack

Of ricola mints

With a pelican smile

You then collide

With one of the bubbles

One which you produced

It is multicolored

And now you float in it

And you relax and observe

Those orange houses

The green people

The red and white grass

You look down at the blue sky

In a daze

Was it the ricolas?

Now you are out of ricolas

Suddenly, lightning appears

And it strikes your bubble

You fall, hit, and begin walking

You are in front of the pond

The one where you were born

Its clear water sparkles at you

It is very bright

So many sparkles

Now you are in your pond

And you are happy.