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Artist Statement:
When Cars Were King
Woodstock Folk Art Prints & Antiquities is pleased to represent a young artist whose current body of work aptly represents when cars were king. Nathan is an honors graduate of and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Ringling College of Art & Design and is currently a public school teacher of art in Tennessee. He grew up in a family interested in restoring cars. Wherever he roams, his eyes are searching the landscapes for that special car or truck left alone to weather. When his keen eyes spot that vehicle, Nathan will tolerate pesky hornets or suspicious and sometimes uncooperative landowners to capture the image right on the spot.
In his 20s Nathan started taking night classes at the historic Watkins Institute in Nashville. Those classes would propel him to pursue a life-long vision that would first carry him to The Ringling College of Art & Design in Sarasota, Florida. While majoring in illustration he learned from masters such as Don Brandes and the late Thomas B. Allen. As his studies progressed, Nathan admired the seminal works of Howard Pyle, Frank Schoonover and N. C. Wyeth and by those influences became more interested in painterly expression. He leaned heavily on studio classes where he studied the human figure and the exploration of still life painting. Nathan gained valuable understanding of fundamentals of easel painting. Finally he took that knowledge outdoors and developed a passion for plein air studies.
Nathans work has been exhibited at galleries in Florida and Tennessee and was featured in Better Homes & Gardens, Childrens Edition, Spring 2006.
In the Artists Words
As an enthusiastic traveler and lover of rust, I developed an interest in transforming sketch book rendering or plein air studies of abandoned cars into larger works. These merging passions inform my work to this day.
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