Artist Statement                Visual Arts Resume                 Biography                      

Artist Statement

My paintings express the passion of visual achievement  through images, symbols, compositions and elements stemming  from experiences which can be personal, social, political and environmental. This passion, or my desire of artistic creation, began at a very early age and has never faded. I paint. My work changes. It evolves. My vision is to create art that makes a strong visual statement that is unique.  I achieve this by designing compositions with realistic images juxtaposed with abstract designs that  contain collage elements, textures, geometric and hard edge shapes, and free flowing lines and areas of color that range from bright and bold to very subdued earth tones. At times, I use gold and silver metallic paint and apply it by dripping, pouring, and spreading it randomly over parts of the surface, and let it dry. This technique creates an interesting visual effect.  I want the viewer to walk up to my work and discover  elements of interest that may not be apparent from a distance. Whether on canvas or illustration board, the results do not vary.

My paintings include elements of nature-trees, sky, and parts of structures combined with non-objective elements of  design.  I  achieve this  by applying layers of wet transparent washes combined with opaque applications to the art surface or canvas. I  apply different size canvas pieces, gold leaf, Prismacolor pencil, and pencil drawings on the painted surface.  This process creates contrasting light and dark areas that result in a visual  break up of space within the paintings. When painting on gallery-wrap canvases, the painting continues on all four edges, and  can be displayed without framing. My paintings can be classified in the category of Painting, or 2dimensional mixed media. To me this is not the important aspect of my work. The important aspect is to make a visual statement  that is highly creative and passes my standards.

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Visual Arts Resume

PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS

1. •Professional artist for more than 40 years
   

2. •Exhibited in over 100 professional art festivals throughout the US
   

3. •Won over 150 art awards in local, regional, and national art exhibitions and competitions.
   

4. •Extensive knowledge in creating visual arts that includes painting, mixed media, drawing printmaking,  children’s book illustrations,  digital and graphic art design
   

5. •Included in the Mississippi Art Commission’s Artist and Teaching Artist Rosters
   

6. •Proficiency with Mac systems graphic arts software to include  Illustrator, Photoshop, and audio/visual editing/posting software
   

7. •Was presented the firs Arts and Letters Honor  from Delta State University
   

8. •Recently featured as a Mississippi artist on Walt Grayson’t Look Around Mississippi
   

PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

Bachelor of Arts Education, 1970

Master of Arts Education, 1976

Delta State University,  Cleveland, MS

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Art Educator for 25 years in Mississippi

Responsibilities: 

1. •1970-1975 Full time art teacher at Coleman Junior High,  Greenville, MS
   

2. •1975-1986 Full time art teacher at South Natchez High School
   

3. •1977-1985 Adjunct art instructor at Copiah-Lincoln Junior College, Natchez, MS
   

4. •                  Taught art appreciation and art history
   

5. •1977-1985 Adjunct art instructor at the University of Southern, MS, Natchez, MS
   

6. •                  Taught Art for Elementary Teacher  Public Schools, Jackson, MS
   

7. •1985-1996 Full time art teacher at numerous junior high and elementary schools
   

8. •                   Jackson, MS Public School System
   

9. • 2002 Adjunct art instructor at Mississippi College - Instructor - graduate level painting       course
   

OTHER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Responsibilities:

1. •Art instructor of numerous professional painting workshops to both professional and non-professional artist
   

2. •Full time professional artist for over 40 years
   

3. •Art instructor at numerous Teacher Professional Development Workshops throughout the US
   

4. •Graphic artist for numerous companies as an independent contractor
   

5. •2003-2011 Illustrated nine children’s books for Sleeping Bear Press, Chelsea, Michigan;    Pelican Publishing, Gretna, Louisiana; and Mockingbird Books, Clinton, Mississippi and Clarksville, Tennessee
   

                                           

SOLO AND SHARED EXHIBITIONS

Solo Exhibitions: a partial listing

Numerous Solo Art Exhibitions, Gulf South Art Gallery, McComb, MS, Greenville, MS

Solo Exhibition - Mississippi Library Commission, Jackson, MS

Solo Exhibition - William Alexander Percy Memorial Library, Greenville, MS

Solo Exhibition - The Municipal Art Gallery, Jackson, MS

Solo Exhibition - Meridian Museum of Art

Solo Exhibition - Natchez Public Library, Natchez, MS

Solo Exhibition - Natchez Art Association, Natchez, MS

Shared Exhibitions: a partial listing

MS Watercolor Society, Jackson, MS

Kentucky Watercolor Society, Paducha, KY

Louisiana International Watercolor Society, Baton Rouge, LA

Rutger’s National Drawing and Craft Show, Camden, NJ

Rocky Mountain National Watermedia Society, Golden, CO

Arkansas Print, Drawing, and Craft Show, Little Rock, AR

Tennessee Watercolor Society, Memphis, TN

The Gordon Gallery, Clarksdale, MS

Bryant Gallery, Jackson, MS

Gulf South Art Gallery, McComb, MS; Greenville, MS

Brown’s Art Gallery, Jackson, MS

Rain Tree Gallery, Monroe, LA

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Biography

Rick Anderson is a nationally acclaimed artist whose career has spanned more than 40 years. A native of Clarksdale in the Mississippi Delta, he nurtured a passion for art from an early age. In imitation of his older brother, he could be found drawing most everywhere he went. He fondly remembers his Mom once telling him not to draw during church.

When he was about seven years old, he and his parents met with a nationally known artist who lived nearby, hoping to receive encouragement for his talent. To their disappoint, this man looked at several drawings and informed Rick that he had no artistic ability and should never consider art as a career. Rick refused to allow his dreams of becoming a well-known, successful artist to be dampened, and persisted in his pursuit of excellence in art. In an interesting end to this tale, years later this same artist judged an art show at the university that Rick was attending, and awarded Rick first place on one of his paintings.

Rick began preparing for his career at a state junior college and then continued his education at Delta State University in Cleveland, MS, where he earned an undergraduate art degree and a Master of Arts Education degree. He began his twenty-five year teaching career in 1970, while simultaneously working as a professional artist. Over the course of his career in the Mississippi public educational system, Rick has taught art at every level from elementary school through university classes. Rick was also an adjunct art instructor at Mississippi College.

Rick received his first art award at the Gum Tree Festival in Tupelo, MS in 1975. Since then, he has received over 150 awards in local, regional, and national art competitions. Today his work can be found in both private and corporate collections.

In recent years, Rick’s artistic talent has found a new outlet in the illustration of children's books. The first of nine books was published in 2003 by Sleeping Bear Press. He is currently working on his tenth children’s book which he is both writing and illustrating.

Rick’s motivation to create his art is self-induced, and his passion to paint is endless. Instilling a love of art in Mississippi’s school children continues to be a passion for Rick. He visits multiple schools not only in Mississippi, but throughout the US connecting children with art.

A retrospective exhibit of Ricks work of forty years would reveal a wide range techniques, from photographic pencil drawings to large contemporary two dimensional mixed media work on both canvas and illustration board.

The photographic pencil drawings are accomplished with painstaking technique, and can require more than a hundred hours to complete. To produce these drawing Rick employs F, 6H, 3H, H, and Ebony pencils in a layering process that begins with the hard leads to produce light lines and progresses to the softer, darker leads. This technique produces a visual depth to the work that can only be achieved in this manner.

His paintings usually include landscape elements juxtaposed with non-objective designs. He uses a layering process similar to the one he uses in his pencil drawings, but employing wet transparent washes combined with thick opaque applications on the canvas. Some paintings may include elements such as pieces of canvas applied to the surface, gold leaf, Prismacolor pencil, and pencil drawings.

These layering techniques, his characteristic mixture of media, as well as his use of contrasting light and dark areas to break up the space within his paintings, and his characteristic use of lines have created a signature style which many people have come to recognize on sight as his.

Rick plans to continue to paint and exhibit his work wherever the opportunities arise, whether it be art galleries, indoor, and outdoor art festivals, or in private showings at his home. He recently opened an art show in a gallery in his home town, and has several art festivals lined up for this coming spring.