About suffolk school of art
established by john parker
BA(Hons) Fine Art - Painting
DTLLS (Diploma Teaching in Lifelong Learning sector)
John Parker
Husband, Father, Grandfather, Artist
Profile
Born in London 1957, now living in Suffolk.
Married to Joanne, father of four, grandfather of six.
Passionate about Art, creating art and teaching art.
I have been painting professionally since 1990, having sold many paintings across the UK and overseas. I studied at the Norwich University of Art from 2002 – 2006 and later, gained a postgraduate diploma in Teaching in 2009.
Identifying a need to provide a Fine Art course for developing artists, I have created three comprehensive modules designed to further artists’ skills and progression.
THE professional artist
Turning to painting as a hobby shortly after leaving school, I joined a local art group and enjoyed the camaraderie of the others. As time went by I would exhibit with the group and found that my work often sold. Gradually art became a profitable hobby, then a semi profession, and finally, some ten years later, I turned professional.
Formative years in the creative arts led me along a traditional art route. Attempting to emulate the ‘old masters’, I strove to paint landscape, still life and wildlife subjects in a representational manner.
Achieving success satisfied my creative streak until the early 2000s, when I felt drawn towards a more contemporary style of painting. Realising that to make this transition would require time and concentration, in an environment conducive with creativity, I enrolled at NUA and spent four fruitful years there.
This led to a transformation in my creative processes, adding a personal dimension to my Art.
To this day I love to experiment with new techniques and materials, I believe exploration is the key to discovery.
My Work
My artwork has been inspired by personal experiences – childhood, relationships, fatherhood, and my journey as an artist. Some of these experiences have been difficult, some joyous. My lovely wife, Jo, has given me hope and stability in my mid-life. She has also given me the desire to succeed as a man, as a husband, as a father, as a grandfather and, as an artist.
My paintings are about that desire, about repair, restoration, revitalisation and rejuvenation. They represent having something broken, destroyed, damaged or fractured, and then re-using those damaged fragments, and rebuilding or recreating something more beautiful than that which existed before the disruption.
When I apply the Gesso to the canvas I do so with great care. Adjusting the consistency, thickness and texture, in order to achieve the desired surface. Once this has dried thoroughly, I set about destroying this painting ground; it is disrupted, broken, fractured, cracked and damaged until the surface has no resemblance to the original, until it appears unsalvageable and ruined.
I then begin to paint, aiming to produce a work that I find more beautiful and more attractive, and more tactile than anything that I could have produced on the original surface. Ultimately, the paintings are victorious; one senses that the work has become stronger than the aggressor, they have withstood all the abuse, they have taken all the punishment, and they have endured the pain and suffering that they have been subjected to.
In defiance, they now stand strong, resonating an inner strength and beauty.
John M Parker
