LAWTON ARTIST’S WORK EXHIBITED AT STATE CAPITOL


Oklahoma City, OK – Lawton artist Jack Bryan begins each of his paintings not by using a paintbrush, but as many young children are first taught to paint – he finger-paints. Through the use of his hands, fingers and rags, he manipulates the paint that has been squeezed from the tube directly onto the painting surface to achieve what he calls the “first state” of the painting. While the paint is still wet, Bryan thins out some areas, outlines other areas and creates patterns by scratching with his fingernails or blotting or wiping with rags. These changes to the paint’s surface create the structural foundation for the painting.

Curated by the Oklahoma Arts Council, Bryan’s exhibit Fingers and Brushes: Improvisational Landscapes is on display in the East Gallery of the State Capitol through January 3, 2010. The East Gallery is open daily from 8:30-6:00.

An opening reception will be held on Friday, November 13th in the East Gallery from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. The public is invited to attend free of charge.

A complete painting may take as many as a dozen sessions of the artist’s hand. Bryan says he decides a work is complete when he feels he has accomplished an “inherent sense of dynamic tension and resolution.” His passion for art and nature are apparent in his work and expressed through dramatic colors, animated lines and dramatic compositions. “I strive to make art that reveals a personal and expressive touch.”

Bryan’s love of art began as a young boy during extended family vacations to Japan in the mid-1950s. There he was inspired by Japanese artists who worked in ceramics, woodblock printing and woodworking. His adventures during his high school years around the Quartz Mountain area and the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge near Lawton helped him develop a love of nature and understand the magnetic power of landscape. The works included in this exhibit express Bryan’s continued adoration of nature and the process of creating.

He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1965 from the University of Oklahoma and he completed a Master of Art History degree at the University of Tulsa in 1967. His principal university mentors were Eugene Bavinger, Alexandre Hogue and Montee Hoke.

Bryan founded the Department of Art at Cameron University in Lawton in 1967 and served as chair of the department for 30 years. During a sabbatical from teaching, he had the opportunity to study with painter and University of Oklahoma Professor Emeritus of Art George Bogart. By the time Bryan retired from teaching in 2000, he had taught in all areas of the art curriculum. Since his retirement, he has continued to paint, draw, work in ceramics and teach workshops to groups that have little or no experience in creative expression.

His artwork has been featured in statewide and regional exhibitions including at the Louis Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts in Lubbock, Texas; the Leslie Powell Gallery in Lawton; and, the Eleanor Kirkpatrick Gallery at City Arts Center in Oklahoma City.

For more information, contact Ann Dee Lee, Public Information Director, Oklahoma Arts Council, (405) 521-2931 or anndee@arts.ok.gov

ABOUT THE OKLAHOMA ARTS COUNCIL

The Oklahoma Arts Council is a state agency whose mission is to improve lives through the arts by promoting and sustaining the development of a thriving arts environment, which is essential to quality of life, education and economic vitality for all Oklahomans.

Categories: Exhibits