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It’s not only his art that Kurtis Watkins has a passion for.

The 30-year-old visual artist is also passionate about the fact that he owns his craft through his own business and his actions.

Watkins encourages others to do the same.

“It’s about taking initiative,” Watkins told YBP Guide in an exclusive interview, voice crackling with energy. “Owning your actions and taking ownership of what you want to do with your life, owning your calling.”

When Watkins ventured out to do his art — his work as a visual artist includes graphic design as well as print, Web and more traditional mediums — he was so moved by the idea of ownership that he penned a mission statement that appears on his Web site.

“This is [taking] something that is mine and embracing it,” Watkins said. “This is what I own…we own cars, or houses, or this or that, but this is something that is deeply connected to who I am. So that’s something that drives me to create.”

He’s committed to his art now, success or fail, not wanting to be a person who always dreamed of starting a business, but never fulfilling that goal.

The artist is already enjoying some success, though. Grammy-award winning artist Mary J. Blige owns one of his  original pieces and Watkins was featured as one of Essence Magazine’s Do Right Men of 2008, in part because of his community service.

Watkins is a mentor for the outreach program Tied to Greatness, which strives to provide positive male images for young men of color. He talks to his mentees about the need for education and strives to set better examples “outside of popular culture,” Watkins explained.

Watkins knows about teaching and setting examples; before he delved into his art full-time, he was a teacher and still holds classes occasionally.

Originally from Camden, N.J., Watkins attended Mason Gross School of the Arts under Rutgers University and completed graduate studies at Morgan State University. He is currently based in New Jersey.

As far as his art is concerned, Watkins is particularly proud of his series, Stronger than Pride, which showcases different stages of relationships. Like most of his projects, the pieces are  mixed media that start off as full paintings, are scanned and then Watkins adds digital renderings for visual effects.

His next collection will be inspired by artist Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss and will be the first time he  bases his work on another arist’s style, he said.

Watkins has described other upcoming  projects as a range of works that will be black and white charcoal drawings, “very clean, very sharp, very dynamic, very rich, very structured” pieces, acrylics, oils, realistic portraiture and some more whimsical abstracts.

Watkins will also begin work on a more personal project, a series that will feature portraits of owners, of  ”people who have been taking ownership of their lives,” he said. The series will be another platform to share stories of success, he added.

He would like to build what he calls a “stronger mentality” around the concept, especially for young professionals and wants to begin speaking more publicly on the topic.

“We buy a lot of things,” Watkins said. “But ultimately, what do we own?”