About realismblog

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Realismblog is a site devoted to discourse and meta-discourse about Realism in the fine arts. I believe that the traditions of Realism, which were primarily shaped over the latter half of the 19th Century, persist as threads in the figurative art that is produced today. I also think that a case can be made that it is truly the dominant worldview in a politically pragmatic democracy such as our own. One finds the philosophy of Realism, as it was practiced by Courbet, the Impressionists and Naturalists, and writers like Zola and Galdos, expressed in many different areas of the expanded visual arts of the 20th and 21st Centuries; in film, in literature, painting and sculpture. It goes without saying that there is nothing more Realist than the Blues, the musical tradition that grew out of the road houses, hard-scrabble farms and whore houses of the American south.

About the author

I am a professional painter living in the Pacific Northwest. I have exhibited extensively over a period of 40 years, and am best known for landscapes and urban images. My work is represented in many public and private collections, including the City of Seattle, the City of Portland OR, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Chicago Title, McGraw Hill Publishing, and many others. I teach ongoing plein air painting classes, and studio classes as well. I am represented in Seattle by Davidson Galleries, and in Spokane Washington by Irimi Art.

I received a BFA degree in painting from Fort Wright College of the Holy Names, studied briefly at California College of Arts and Crafts, and studied privately in New York and Boston. I have either lectured or taught at Marymount Manhattan College, Fort Wright College, Eastern Washington University, University of Washington, Gage Academy, The Spokane Art School, Seattle Art Museum, The Frye Art Museum and other institutions.

I also train regularly in Seido Juku Karate. I'm  a member of the World Seido Karate Organization, hold sandan (3rd degree black belt) rank, and teach adult and childrens karate classes at the Northshore YMCA in Bothell WA. I also assist with classes at the Dale Turner YMCA, and am webmaster for the Seattle Branch of the World Seido Karate Organization.
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