Bruce North
Artwork Archive
https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/bruce-north-artist
http://www.bruceanorth.com/bio.html
Spring Berries
9”x 12”
9”x 12”
Bruce A. North
August 17, 2024
Artist Statement
I find pleasure exploring the textures of the natural world. My artistic goals are to reveal to others what I experience. Being a representational painter, there is always subject matter, but I prefer to keep narrative elements brief in the desire to lay bare a simple emotion. I try to reveal a new truth about the familiar, for that is more exciting to me than repeating the obvious. I have always cherished my time outdoors, feet on the earth, feeling the wind, listening to the water rippling in a creek. These sensations were instrumental in prompting my transition from the studio to plien-air landscape painting.
The affect that occurs when weather and especially light play on the land has been a consistent focus of my work. My landscapes are inhabited by the trails and shadows of people. As a young painter I documented canals and back streets of my birthplace in Brooklyn. My move to a farm in Upstate New York provided me with the opportunity to explore rural landscape. As an artist viewing life from the inside out, I search for a backstage vantage point, hoping to reveal an underlying truth. If, in a painting I can stop the viewer in front of my work long enough to hear, feel and smell the air, then the journey into my world has begun.
August 17, 2024
Artist Statement
I find pleasure exploring the textures of the natural world. My artistic goals are to reveal to others what I experience. Being a representational painter, there is always subject matter, but I prefer to keep narrative elements brief in the desire to lay bare a simple emotion. I try to reveal a new truth about the familiar, for that is more exciting to me than repeating the obvious. I have always cherished my time outdoors, feet on the earth, feeling the wind, listening to the water rippling in a creek. These sensations were instrumental in prompting my transition from the studio to plien-air landscape painting.
The affect that occurs when weather and especially light play on the land has been a consistent focus of my work. My landscapes are inhabited by the trails and shadows of people. As a young painter I documented canals and back streets of my birthplace in Brooklyn. My move to a farm in Upstate New York provided me with the opportunity to explore rural landscape. As an artist viewing life from the inside out, I search for a backstage vantage point, hoping to reveal an underlying truth. If, in a painting I can stop the viewer in front of my work long enough to hear, feel and smell the air, then the journey into my world has begun.
Sunset Field Cherry Valley
18” x 24”
18” x 24”
Broken Sunset
8”x 10”
8”x 10”
Mortar and Pestle
9” x 12”
9” x 12”
Bruce A. North was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY.
The decision to pursue painting led him to study at University OF Miami, the School of Visual Arts,
the Brooklyn Museum Art School, Scenic Painting at the Studio of Stage and Scenic Design and eventually to earn his MFA degree from Vermont
College. In 1967, he was the head scenic painter at Guild Hall in East Hampton. A love of nature and its sylvan surroundings prompted him to
relocate to the Susquehanna Valley, in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains, and then on to the Finger Lakes in Ithaca, New York.
An avid outdoorsman, in his paintings North prefers to represent the moments of anticipation that precede, or the mellow memory that follows
an event in nature. His investigation of these subjects is expressed with an obvious affinity to the late 19th century French, English and American
landscape painters. He is accomplished in several media including watercolor, oil, printmaking and charcoal. Using his painting sketches as
source material for larger works and printmaking as a means of elaborating on an initial theme, he enjoys the direct physical process of
drypoint combined with the atmospheric qualities of aquatint.
As a representational painter, he believes that attempting to craft an accurate copy of nature is not nearly enough. The painting must exist in a
believable space, and it must reveal a personal truth observed in that moment.
Professor North has had numerous one-person exhibits in New York City, represented first by "FAR Gallery". He was awarded a lifelong membership to Grand Central Galleries. His association with the gallery's former
Director James Cox continues at his Gallery in Woodstock. Bruce has been featured twice in American Artist Magazine and included in "The American Sporting Print, 20th Century Etchers and Drypointists", and "The Art of Shooting Flying". An etching of his appears in the Archives of American Art at The Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.
His pursuit of personal artistic refinement extends to a lifelong teaching career. His most recent work was as Associate Professor of Art at Ithaca
College in New York. He is included in several museum and important collections and has exhibited nationally in many one-man and group
exhibitions. North's rare sporting etchings have been published nationally and are included in several collections.
The decision to pursue painting led him to study at University OF Miami, the School of Visual Arts,
the Brooklyn Museum Art School, Scenic Painting at the Studio of Stage and Scenic Design and eventually to earn his MFA degree from Vermont
College. In 1967, he was the head scenic painter at Guild Hall in East Hampton. A love of nature and its sylvan surroundings prompted him to
relocate to the Susquehanna Valley, in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains, and then on to the Finger Lakes in Ithaca, New York.
An avid outdoorsman, in his paintings North prefers to represent the moments of anticipation that precede, or the mellow memory that follows
an event in nature. His investigation of these subjects is expressed with an obvious affinity to the late 19th century French, English and American
landscape painters. He is accomplished in several media including watercolor, oil, printmaking and charcoal. Using his painting sketches as
source material for larger works and printmaking as a means of elaborating on an initial theme, he enjoys the direct physical process of
drypoint combined with the atmospheric qualities of aquatint.
As a representational painter, he believes that attempting to craft an accurate copy of nature is not nearly enough. The painting must exist in a
believable space, and it must reveal a personal truth observed in that moment.
Professor North has had numerous one-person exhibits in New York City, represented first by "FAR Gallery". He was awarded a lifelong membership to Grand Central Galleries. His association with the gallery's former
Director James Cox continues at his Gallery in Woodstock. Bruce has been featured twice in American Artist Magazine and included in "The American Sporting Print, 20th Century Etchers and Drypointists", and "The Art of Shooting Flying". An etching of his appears in the Archives of American Art at The Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.
His pursuit of personal artistic refinement extends to a lifelong teaching career. His most recent work was as Associate Professor of Art at Ithaca
College in New York. He is included in several museum and important collections and has exhibited nationally in many one-man and group
exhibitions. North's rare sporting etchings have been published nationally and are included in several collections.
Buttermilk Falls Summer
12” x 9”
12” x 9”
August
45” x 35”
45” x 35”
Sulfer Light
18” x 24”
18” x 24”
Making Ready
18”x 24”
18”x 24”
Catherine Creek
18 “ x 24”
18 “ x 24”
Queen of the Mountain
24” x36”
24” x36”
Mike’s Garage
13” x 9”
13” x 9”
The Herdsman
24” x 36”
24” x 36”
Bruce North
Artwork Archive
https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/bruce-north-artist
http://www.bruceanorth.com/bio.html
Artwork Archive
https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/bruce-north-artist
http://www.bruceanorth.com/bio.html