John Van Dreal

I am a third generation Van Dreal artist who benefited from considerable encouragement and support from my parents. I was fortunate enough to have lived in two households that exemplified a commitment to education, craft, and work. While such commitment was instrumental in the development of my sense of purpose, the truth is that my parents also indulged me with plenty of recreation and play. In fact, when I reflect on moments that were most inspirational to my art, I think of times with family and friends in campgrounds, by rivers, or around swimming holes. Most of those moments involved my brother Stan who, together with me, worshiped (we still do) at the altar of stream fishing while smoking the now classic Swisher Sweet cigar as a sort of sacrament in the church of the fresh water trout.

Stan and I also maintained a passion for the oddities and eccentricities of other human beings and frequently found ourselves being scowled at by adults because of our light hearted (and sometimes light-minded) tendency to laugh at anything remotely funny. On one occasion, our church youth pastor condescendingly told us that such joviality was unappealing as a character trait and would eventually lead to our moral demise. So we displayed our respect for his opinion by borrowing his camera without his knowing and snapping a few shots. We were careful to photograph each other only from angles that would not betray our identity but made sure that the photographs contained a sort of vertical smile! Once the photos had been developed and viewed by the youth pastor (and just after the initial shock had worn off and he had regained consciousness), he assumed that we were the rogue photojournalists and asked us to leave the group. We did. (These days, I only go to church if I know that the service will be heavy on trumpet music and light on preaching.)

Throughout my youth, I made hundreds of paintings and drawings while spending hours in my father’s studio. My father, George VanDreal is an accomplished watercolor artist and teacher. As a young man I found my passion for the arts becoming an increasingly dominant portion of my interests and set out to establish a career as a painter. I took a slight deviation from that course when I was abducted in the early 80’s by aliens wearing white jump suits and matching terry-cloth slippers. Actually, I joined them with free-will and whole heart, leaping with enthusiasm into their mothership. The abduction made for a very interesting journey, with friendships and experiences that impact my life today. In fact, I ended up in South Africa on a ministerial mission having one of the greatest adventures and experiences of my life. Upon returning, I completed my formal art education from Brigham Young University, receiving a BFA under the instruction of Greenwich Workshop artist James C. Christensen, oil painter Bruce Smith and printmaker Jenni Christenson. Following my BFA, I completed my graduate work in Educational Psychology so I could earn money and feed my family by working as a school psychologist, a position I still hold within the Salem-Keizer School District. Of course, I continued to paint and build my career as an artist.

As an artist, I’ve won awards and received some recognition through many solo and group exhibitions including Les Bijoux Fine Arts in Nashville Tennessee, Lawrence Gallery, Antoinette Hatfield Gallery, University of Oregon Museum of Art, Bakersfield California Museum of Art, Hallie Ford Museum of Art, and Coos Museum of Art. Some of my works are included in the collections of Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Oregon Governor’s Mansion - Mahonia Hall, Bakersfield Museum of Art and the print collections of BYU and Illinois University. The list of private collectors is too long to note here, but can also be seen on my resume. I am currently a signature member of the National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society.

At this point, I’m fortunate to have two happy and very gifted children who only make me a little crazy, a beautiful wife who is also my dearest friend, a mother who loves me, lots of family who try not to laugh at me when I’m around, and many friends who tell me they like me (although that may be just because I have a hot tub). I also have great natural light in my studio, excellent coffee, a healthy stock of Irish whiskey, a stable relationship with my Maker, and some pretty cool shirts. All of which inspire my work every time I lift a brush!

My artistic style and method, as well as my philosophy about art, is founded on my admiration for the Dutch, Flemish and Spanish Masters. I frequently employ their established composition formulas to determine the dimension and design of my work. I then build surface and texture through layered oil painting combined with layers of translucent glazing to build the surface, texture and tone. I use this method in painting still life, landscape, figure or portraiture and have found that such an approach allows me to capture light and spirit as well as render form that has a sort of intrinsic identity. This is especially important when working with the figure or in portraiture because character and spirit are necessary features that the work must offer the viewer.

I also find some intrigue with symbolism and iconography, which I try to combine with the aesthetic principles noted above and time-proven techniques in an effort to create contemporary images that are evocative, intellectual and spiritual.

In other words, I like to make pretty pictures!

(I was just kidding about that “abduction” thing … sort of.)

Thanks for reading this.