JEFFREY PHILLIP BISHOP

 

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In 1984 I started drawing and painting instruction at a small art school for adults in New Orleans. The New Orleans Academy of Fine Art was founded in 1978 by Auseklis Ozols based upon the Pennsylvania Academy of The Fine Art's classical training. I had the fortune to study with Auseklis as well as Darrell Brown, Dell Weller, Evelyn Menge, and Terrington Calas. I believed that if I had the guts to go to Northern Ireland and Beirut I could possibly tackle a life drawing class. It was one the best moves I ever made. I moved to Connecticut in 1988 and looked for a similar environment. I found this with various instructors at the Paier College of Art ( John Falato) and at the Silvermine Arts Center (Churchill Davenport, Laurie Fader and Alyse Rosner). In Wesleyan University's Graduate Liberal Studies Program I studied with Peter Waite (drawing ), Marion Belanger (photography) and Sasha Rudensky (photography).

These paintings from 2012 are acrylics on paper. My previous paintings (all in oils) were made from life...on the spot (except for the tanks at dusk) which was made from a drawing executed on location. Increasingly I have relied on photography (always my own), notes, and memory to aid in the process. However, I need to make visits to the location of my subject. Temperature, sound, smell, and an occaisional walk through the space helps me to capture the gesture of a place.

The Connecticut locations are Meriden, Middletown, New Haven, North Haven, Wallingford and Waterbury (not necessarily in that order). Other locations include western New York state (near Buffalo) and the Hudson Valley. A much frequented location is Wallingford which reminds me of early years in Lehighton, Pennsylvania and Youngstown, Ohio.