John Wood (b. 1945, Utah) is a Bay Area artist who currently resides in Emeryville, CA. He received his BFA in painting from the University of Utah in 1971, and an MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1974. Wood’s abstract imagery is the culmination of his lifetime of work in art. His current work uses the human form as a starting point to build up layers of line, form and color in graphite, crayon, oil pastel and enamel. He strives to be as open and engaged as possible with the developing image, trusting that the art will lead him in the right direction. In the end, the work alludes to the human body symbolically, but Woods is much more interested in the emotional and sensual qualities that emerge rather than recognizable forms.
In addition to producing his own art, Woods has inspired many through independent mural projects with children of all ages in Utah, New York, and California. He has taught at Cranbrook Academy Museum, through the NEA Artist-in-Education Program, as a private instructor for children’s art in New York and Salt Lake City, as a drawing and painting instructor at Farmington Community Center, and as head of the fine arts department at Judge Memorial Catholic High School in Salt Lake City. Woods has exhibited his work in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States including Utah, New York, California, Colorado; and museums such as the Morris Graves Museum of Art, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Utah Museum of Fine Art, Springville Museum of Art, and the Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum. His work can be found in public and private collections across the country such as American Express Company, Salt Lake City, UT, Amoco Production Company, Denver, CO, Bank of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, Digital Equipment Corporation, Salt Lake City, UT, Judge Memorial High School, Salt Lake City, UT, McKay-Dee Hospital, Ogden, UT, Ray, Quinney & Nebeker, Salt Lake City, UT, Rich Passage Winery, Bainbridge Island, WA, St. Olaf’s Parish Church, Bountiful, UT, Saint Paul’s School, Clearwater, FL, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, Valley Home Medical, Layton, UT, E M Warburg Pincus, New York, NY and Los Angeles, CA, and many more.
Artist Statement
John Wood’s beautiful abstract imagery is the culmination of a lifetime of work in art. His current work uses the human form as a starting point to build up layers of line, form and color in graphite, crayon, oil pastel and enamel. He strives to be as open and engaged as possible with the developing image, trusting that the art will lead him in the right direction. In the end, the work alludes to the human body symbolically, but John is much more interested in the emotional and sensual qualities that emerge rather than any recognizable forms.
Mr. Wood began his education in Utah and earned an MFA degree in painting from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. He has lived and worked in New York City as well as Florida and Utah before making the Bay Area his home.
Select Exhibitions
Morris Graves Museum of Art, Eureka, CA
555 California Street, Concourse, San Francisco, CA
SFMOMA Café Museo, San Francisco, CA
Space Gallery, Denver, CO
Phillips Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT
Hyde Street Gallery, San Francisco, CA
University of Delaware, Newark, DE
University of Utah, Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT
Select Juried And Invitational Exhibitions
Shattered!, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Novato, CA Juror: Kenneth Baker, San Francisco Chronicle
Art of the Line, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, CA Juror: Elizabeth Sher, California College of the Arts
Live Out Loud, Benefit Auction, Knoll Inc, San Francisco, CA
2010 the Gift of Art, Cecile Moochnek Gallery, Berkeley, CA
2007-08 Big Pagoda, San Francisco, CA
Paper/Clay, the Guild, Berkeley, CA
2005 Three-Person Exhibition, Sfmoma Artist Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2003 Eugene O’Neill’s Tao House, Danville Fine Arts Gallery, Danville, CA
1997 Monoprint-One Press, Finch Lane Gallery, SL Arts Council
1994 Utah “94: Painting, Sculpture And Mixed Media, (Tep Award),
70th Utah Spring Salon Museum of Art, Springville, UT Jurors: Whitney H Ganz, Lila Duncan Larsen
Davis County 1994, Bountiful/Davis Art Center, Bountiful, UT Juror: Dan Burke
1981 Utah ’81, Salt Lake Art Center, Salt Lake City, UT Jurors: Ronald Hickman, Dianne Vanderlip, Richard West
1979 UWS Juried Exhibition, Utah Museum of Fa, Salt Lake City, UT Juror: Bud Shackelford
1976
Utah Painting...