SHELBY COUNTY, Iowa (KMTV) — Frank Hiffernan grew up watching his grandfather, Dennis, paint and sculpt.
"A lot of what he did taught me how form and color and movement all play a role into capturing an emotion into a fixed form," Hiffernan explained.
However, his path to living 'the dream' was anything but straight.
Hiffernan left Nebraska for Florida and then, South Carolina, as he pursued a career in medicine. However, a few years in to medical school, he had an epiphany. Unfulfilled, he quit — and ended up living in a storage room in a commercial building.
Hiffernan says he down to his last $100. Unable to find a job, he turned to the dream he had carried since childhood. (Also helpful: The muffler shop with which he shared an alley gave him access to the metal scraps in their dumpster.)
"I would just sell little botanicals and creatures and it's evolved over time. But I've been really happy that it's worked out," Hiffernan smiled.
In the last three years, he has produced and sold hundreds of pieces. His work is now held in private collections across the region, displayed at schools, and currently featured at Oeno Gallery in Canada. His next local installation is planned for this summer in Blair — of flowers native to Nebraska.
When he paints flowers, like hollyhocks (inspired by those he grows behind his home), Hiffernan works quickly. He believes the pace makes a piece feel more alive.
His gratitude for the life he's living runs deeper than art alone. At 14, Hiffernan was diagnosed with bone cancer — discovered after he broke his arm playing basketball. The diagnosis only came, though, after a second opinion. Saving his life would require extensive chemotherapy and multiple surgeries.
Today, Hiffernan has with a metal implant in the upper part of his left arm. He retained all feeling and use of that hand. When he's sculpting, for example, he relies on his left side to steady — and his right to do more of the work. He also says he's developed a knack for pulley systems to help move heavy pieces. Overall, he says, his doctors at Nebraska Medicine, Don Coulter (chemotherapy) and Sean McGarry (surgery) have been delighted with his progress — including how he's maintained dexterity, range of motion and strength.
"I still have hard days now, but at this point in my life, I've been through so much, I just kind of laugh through the hard times even, because I know that — in the past, a lot of my hardest times, on the other side, if you don't give up, is where all of the glory lies."
Hiffernan is currently working on several projects, including a series of paintings for a solo exhibition in December in Omaha at Clover 24.
To see more of his work, click here.
To connect on Instagram, click here.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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