Spencer Pettit, who apprenticed with artist Thornton Utz, graduated from Ringling School of Art in 1979 and worked as an Illustrator and Graphic Artist for the Orlando Sentinel until 1985. He spent the next 10 years running his own advertising agency, Spencer Pettit & Associates, and then working as an art director with two other Orlando advertising agencies. His job as an art director overlapped with his personal pursuits as a fine artist, and he began exhibiting work throughout Central Florida including at the Orlando Museum of Art, Crealde School of Art, and the Marie Ferrer Gallery. While still producing his own work, he opened two small art galleries in Mount Dora — Chiaroscuro and Three-Legged Dog.
