About John

John GAwards

Best in Show
Fabulous Forgeries 2011, The Artists Gallery, Virginia Beach

Vide President’s Award
student art show 2009, Tidewater Community College.

First Place, Chesapeake Bay Artists Association 2008 spring show

Third Place, Western show 2008, The Artists Gallery, Virginia Beach

 

 

 

Bio

A native of Kirkland, Washington, I’m an engineer-turned-artist who enjoys capturing the precision of a screwdriver collection and the creative energy of Pike Place Market.

Before pursuing my passion full time, I served four years in the Air Force and earned a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington. For more than 15 years, I wrote, designed and tested software in Southern California and Seattle. Eventually, I left engineering and renovated our 1925 Chicago bungalow.

After a move to Virginia in 2006, I spent time as a resident artist at The Artists Gallery in Virginia Beach, taught painting to residents of Westminster Canterbury, and earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in visual studies from Norfolk State University.

Since then, I’ve been teaching – private lessons as well as college classes in drawing, two-dimensional design, and painting – in Virginia and North Carolina. I’ve visited all 50 states, cycled New Zealand and the Pacific Northwest, and hope eventually to traipse through most of the national parks.

My wife, Candy, a journalist, and I now live in Northwest Arkansas with our elderly lab mutt, Georgie. Candy teaches. I paint. Georgie sleeps. We travel whenever we can.