Jack Bryan
Fingers and Brushes: Improvisational Landscapes
East Gallery - November 9, 2009 ? January 3, 2010
During his high school years he explored Oklahoma with adventures to Otter Creek in Tillman County, the Red River south of Tipton and Elmer, Quartz Mountain, and the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge near his current home in Lawton. These experiences helped him develop a love of nature and understand the magnetic power of landscape. The works included in this exhibit, titled Fingers and Brushes: Improvisational Landscapes, express Bryan's continued adoration of nature and the process of creating.
Bryan begins each painting not by using a paintbrush, but as many young children first experience painting, 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. Some artists call this first stage "under 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 surface create the structural foundation for the painting.
He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1965 from the University of Oklahoma and 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.
His artwork has been featured in statewide and regional exhibitions 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.