Lawrence Sexton
Painting

Essentially, I am a landscape painter. I often start a piece on location, and finish it in the studio from drawings and color studies supported by photographs and memory.   In exploring a landscape subject I am thoughtful about the arrangement of shapes, colors, values, spaces and the juxtaposition of objects around me. I am especially aware of the effects of light on interior and exterior objects and settings due to changes in time of day, weather, and seasonal influences. Of particular interest is water in its many forms: creeks, rivers, ponds, puddles, lakes, fog, snow, etc.  I am fascinated with the ability of water to be opaque, translucent, transparent and reflective, and the role these qualities play in our perceptions and emotional responses.

My earliest experiences in seriously attempting to make art through drawing, oil painting, and watercolor were under the guidance of my mother, a local artist where I grew up in Central New York.  Those early works included still-life subjects and interiors, but my greatest interest and pleasure was in landscape art, most especially the pastoral views of fields, streams, hills, woods, and buildings from around our small village and township, and the Adirondack Mountains where our family once had property and would go on summer outings.  I took art classes in high school and decided then that I wanted to become an art teacher.  I received an A.A. in Humanities-Fine Arts from Herkimer County Community College, a B.S. in Art Education from the State University College at Buffalo, NY in 1978, and an MFA in Studio Art from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1986.  My primary areas of studio expertise include drawing, painting, and printmaking.  I have taught studio art in public and private schools in New York and North Carolina, and was Assistant Professor of Art at Earlham College from1987 to 1990. I have also worked in the museum, theater and library fields and recently completed my M.L.S. degree at Indiana University.  This summer I attended a weeklong plein air workshop on Monhegan Island, Maine, thanks to funding from an Indiana Arts Commission grant.