artistforlife55's profile

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Relationship

Single

Hometown

Bemus Point, NY

Places I've been

Raised my 2 kids here on Chautauqua Lake, Western New York State. During the military, spent time in the South and West Coast. Have spent time in the Thousand Islands... Used to hop to NYC sometimes , when younger. Experiencing new places is something I intend to do now... finding new fishing spots, creating art and tasting great food!

Education

• State University College at Fredonia, Art - 1975 to 1978
• Edinboro State University, Art - 2006 to 2006

More about me

I've been a practicing artist all my life; a painter by training, with an environmental art practice for a number of years now.  By and large, I've had a day job to provide the necessities, but an artist and writer is who I am.  Through the years, I've taught art, gallery director, worked in various capacities in manufacturing - CNC programming, Industfrial Engineering.  It's been an eclectic history, which has doomed me career-wise.  But I guess I was doomed when I first became an artist.  I live on Chautauqua Lake, in rural Western New York State, about an hour south of Buffalo.  World-class Chautauqua Institution, http://www.ciweb.org/ (arts/lecture, theater, music, education, world speakers), is nearby. 

I have loved my children well, and now loving my new grandbabies.

With both of my kids out making families of their own now, I find myself looking at a changing focus in my life.  It is a time of possibility!  I look to placing myself at what I call "points of intersection with the Universe".  If one does not take steps / actions, one is not in the place to take advantage of possibilities the Universe will present.

My heart's desire is to live life well, and make art that resonates in one's soul.

Activities

Environmental art, drawing, painting, beachcombing, walks by the lake, fishing, my two young adult children, reading, cooking, bike riding, and now my two new grandbabies and one due in May...

Favorite Charities

Chautauqa Watershed Conservancy, Chautauqua Institution

Favorite Music

I like a lot of different music, depending on time of day, where I am and what I'm doing. Pacabel, classical, Clapton, Celtic, Nature, blues, rock, folk...

Favorite TV Shows

Don't really watch much TV.

Favorite Movies

Mindwalk, On Golden Pond, River Runs Through It, Horse Whisperer

Favorite Books

River Runs Through It, Revenge of the Lawn, the Artist's Way, Paul Qinnett books, esp. Fishing Lessons (which has nothing to do with how to fish), Has Modernism Failed?, How To Take a Shit In The Woods.

Favorite Quotes

"Art is not a career - it is a life." - Andy Goldsworthy "Nothing has a stronger influence pychologically on their environment and especially on their chilfren than the unlived life of the parent." - C.G. Jung "When I was young, I used to think that hooking a large steelhead was better than sex - Now that i'm old I'm sure that it is." - Paul Quinnett "My father was very sure about certain matters pertaining to the universe. To him, all good things - trout as well as eternal salvation - come by grace and grace comes by art and art does not come easy. " Norman McClean, A River Runs Through It

Favorite People

My Children, my grandkids, a fishing & watercolor artist buddy, Andy Goldsworthy (environmental artist), Picasso, Lynne Hull (ecoartist), I'll even throw my ex-wife in there, since we've become like "old extended family" in recent years.

Favorite Places

Thousand Islands / St. Lawrence River, Monterey / Carmel, Chautauqua Lake; the Great Lakes, my favorite fishing spots...

Favorite Animals

Birds, waterfowl, dogs, cats, wildlife.

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