JONATHAN GREGG
Painter (b. 1945 - )

"These narrative images come not from intellectual intention; but have emerged over time from the clouds of marks and paint, like ducks, dogs, or dragons emerge for a child in the clouds in the sky. The images get recognized, acknowledged, invited to stay for a while in the painting, until time after time, they are invariably scraped out and replaced by other arising images, in an ongoing, open-ended practice of non- attachment, self-trust, and commitment to the truth of impermanence. The daily evolution of composition, color, space, marks et al, continues until some sort of temporary stasis is reached, in each painting, which allows me to feel at home and in balance with my own agitation, anxiety, chaos, magic, mystery, and joy."

Jon Gregg, founder of the Vermont Studio Center in 1984, has spent the past 35 years in what he calls "a utopian adventure in creative world community building." Vermont Studio Center is now the largest International Artists and Writers Residency in the U.S. Jon has retired and is now painting, traveling and meditating full time!

Jonathan Gregg’s lush works evoke sound and silence, human suffering, love, loss, abundance, war, peace, and politics, all seemingly without trying; their ardent marks thrum with life. Amy Rahn, Art New England

Jon Gregg is a painter’s painter. His trust in the medium is absolute, manifested through patient discovery and revelation, elucidating soulfulness in his paintings. But watching Gregg work can be painful. He puts down a mark, a form appears, and then he scrapes the oil paint away over and over until, for the moment, he’s satisfied. He speaks of his resistance to being “too declarative” with his mark making , and a love of pentimento (where a part of a painting underneath is allowed to show through). What appears to the observer as struggle, for Gregg is play. “Painting is the most fun thing I know,” he professes. The result is like Chinese boxes – surprises within surprises, both subtle and illuminated – runes that are figures and objects embedded in landscapes that feel timeless, yet immediate.
Arlene Distler for Art New England *

* for a link to the entire article:
https://jongregg.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/1art-in-new-england.pdf

EDUCATION:

1967 Bachelor of Architecture - Honors, Univ of Pennsylvania - Philadelphia
1971 Master of Architecture - Honors, Univ of Pennsylvania ( w/ Louis Kahn )

PROFESSIONAL:

1971 - 1983: Architect / Builder -

Founder/ President Eden Design Associates, Eden,Vermont Butternut Construction Inc. Johnson, Vermont

1983 - 2015: Founder / President VERMONT STUDIO CENTER [ VSC ] Johnson, Vermont,USA < www.vermontstudiocenter.org >

VSC is the largest International Artists and Writers Residency in the U.S.

As an Architect / Builder /Artist Jon Gregg designed the VSC Residency Program and over a 30 year period designed and renovated 30 buildings in the village of Johnson, Vermont to create the VSC campus. To do so as VSC’s Principal Fundraiser he raised $20,000,000 from U.S. and International individual donors, private / public foundations, arts institutions / organizations and government arts commissions around the world.

2016 - to Present: Painter 2019 - to Present: Founder - WHY BOARDS MATTER < www.whyboardsmatter.org

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Lake Placid Arts Center , NY ’89 Vermont Governor’s Gallery ’90
Lyons – Weir Gallery, Chicago ’94 55
Mercer Gallery, New York, NY. ’94, ’96, ’98, ’00, ’02, ’04 VSC
Red Mill Gallery, Johnson, VT. Yearly 1984 – 2018
Scuola Internazionale di Grafica, Venice, Italy, ’03, ’05, 07,’10,’12, ’15, ’17 ’18 ’19
Taller Grafica Actuel, Oaxaca, Mexico ’09 ’14 ’18
Johnson State College, Johnson, VT ’10 ’14
The Flynn Center, Burlington, Vermont ’10
New York Studio School 2014
Mitchell Giddings Fine Art, Brattleboro, Vermont 2016, 2019

REVIEWS / ARTICLES
Art New England, July 2016
ArtTribune, January 2014
Seven Days, January 2010
Il Giornale Delle Arte, Milan, March 2008
Art in America, January 2005
The Brooklyn Rail, December 2004
ARCHITECTURE Magazine, Sept 1999
Stowe Reporter, April 1997
New Art Examiner, Chicago 1995
Burlington Free Press, June 1994
Lake Placid Arts, May 1989

AWARDS

The Artists Fellowship, New York 2006
Vermont Governor’s Award 2004
Vermont Arts Council 2004
Vermont Council on the Arts 1995
The Preservation Trust 1989

“If you look at the history of human kind, what we have perpetuated from generation to generation and century to century is in our museums. If you believe that that’s important, then it is necessary to plant the seeds of the next generations’ art.” Jon Gregg

Artwork

Stay in the Loop on New Arrivals

Related Exhibitions