John MacKah Studio # 236
To paint realistically is a form of intimacy, grounded in curiosity and observation. It seems dispassionate to me to render the natural world without tenderness, but I think the painter…or any artist…honors the subject to try to get it right, to render the form, likeness and phenomena mindfully. It’s very hard to impose a agenda or meaning but allow it to live on in it’s own way.
Each painting is a process of learning of how to bring those moments of clarity alive and share them. About finding a vocabulary and entering into a conversation. Part of the process of learning is also teaching, giving others tools to explore painting.
Growing up in Florida, I spent much of my time outdoors, drawing. I graduated from Ringling College of Art in 1984. A working studio, I also teach drawing, painting, plein-air, and traditional use of oils,both in my studio and area schools. My first studio opened in Asheville in 1996 in the River Arts District. Mine is a working studio and classroom, with weekly classes in drawing, preparation for painting in oil, and materials workshops.
