Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeremiah Patterson

Hi Jeremiah, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.

The journey that has taken me to this point in my artistic life began when I was quite little. I began forming a love of art through my father, who is a printmaker/painter and professor emeritus from UMASS, Amherst, and my mother, who herself grew up in a family of architects, designers and is a very creative person. Surrounded by this creativity at a very early age, seeing my father’s daily studio pursuits and my mother’s creative projects first hand as I grew up, and the many supportive people in my life, all of these things helped shape the beginnings of my pathway to becoming an artist.

However, it wasn’t until I was in the fall of 1984, when I was in 8th grade and my family moved to France for three months while my father was on sabbatical, that I truly felt determined to become an artist. It was there we saw the great works of art in the Louvre Museum, visited Monet’s house at Giverny, and took a road trip to Amsterdam and Belgium to see the masterpieces of Flemish and Dutch art. I homeschooled for the three-months abroad, and spent as much time drawing and painting as I did spending time finishing my english and math work with which my teachers sent me abroad.

When we returned, I spent as much time in the middle and high-school art rooms as I could, and knew I wanted to go to college to study art. It was at this time that my father and his very close friend Fred Wessel began a summer study abroad program to bring their students to France. I was blessed to travel with them every summer in middle and high school, where I was able to work with visiting artists on the programs such as William Beckman, Gregory Gillespie and Scott Prior.

I attended UMASS, Amherst, which offered me a tuition waiver due to my father being employed there, and was able to study with great artist/professors at UMASS such as my father, William Patterson (painting, drawing and printmaking), Jack Coughlin (printmaking and drawing) and Richard Yarde (a watercolor painter), to name a few. While in college, I attended a summer study abroad program, and the visiting artists there were Jack Beal and Sondra Freckelton. They took to me and I took to them almost instantly, and, before I knew it, they offered me to come up to their home in Oneonta New York later that summer to study more intensely with them. Next to my father and Fred Wessel, Jack Beal and Sondra Freckelton were two of my most important mentors. Jack’s lessons on pictorial composition and Sondra’s lessons on watercolor techniques still resonate very strongly with me and help guide me to make the work I make today.

I began showing my watercolors during the last year of college, having my first one-person gallery show as my senior show at the Hart Gallery in Northampton, MA, which was under the gallery direction of William Baczek. William Baczek later opened his own gallery now called Wm. Baczek Fine Arts, also in Northampton. A year after I graduated, Sherry French brought my work into her gallery on 57th street in New York City. I showed as an artist under an exclusive contract with the Sherry French Gallery from 1995 until the gallery closed its doors in 2009, having six one-person shows there and having my work included in countless group and traveling exhibitions.

In 1995, I also got married to my lovely wife, Julianne. We’ve been together more than 30 years, married almost as long, and have two beautiful daughters, Melanie and Anna. Julie has been a rock of support and understanding in everything involved in making my work, helping me through all of the ups and the downs from the very start of the time I began making and showing my work most regularly.

In 1996, I began pursuit of my MFA degree, which started at UMASS and then transferred to the Hartford Art School. In Hartford, I was able to study more with Fred Wessel and also studied painting with Stephen Brown. Graduate school, for me, was a balance of making work assigned by my faculty, teaching courses at the school as an adjunct faculty member, and also making work for my galleries to exhibit. I finished my MFA in 2000, and was hired by the Hartford Art School full-time into the position I hold today, Professor of Foundation. Foundation, for those that may not know, is the first-year of professional art school. My specialty in teaching is in drawing, painting and color theory.

In 2000, Fred Wessel and I teamed up as the two co-directors of our “Summer Workshops in Italy”, a small business that enabled us to bring groups of artists and art-lovers overseas for 10-day to 2-week trips over the summer. We ran the workshops almost every summer from 2000 until our last workshop in June/July 2022. These workshops helped us meet some incredible people, life-long artist and art-lover friends. We feel very blessed to have been able to offer and run these workshops for such a long time.

I have continued making and exhibiting my work since the Sherry French Gallery closed in 2009, albeit as a free-agent without contracted gallery representation. This has enabled me to pursue a variety of diverse projects, including commissioned portrait work and, most recently, commissioned work to renovate, design and create artworks for churches. My most recent three major projects have included the creation of artworks and consultation in the redesign of the altar sanctuary at Holy Family Roman Catholic Church in South Deerfield, MA in 2018, the creation of artworks and consultation in the interior design of Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Chapel at the Newman Center at UMASS, Amherst, and four large-scale paintings for the sanctuary of Saint Rose de Lima Roman Catholic Church in Chicopee, MA. Visits to these churches will allow any reader to see these artworks.

I also continue to teach as a Professor of Foundation at the Hartford Art School – University of Hartford, and am looking forward to what might come next.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?

Well, an artist’s life is never perfectly smooth, but I truly am blessed to have received some incredible breaks over my career and for the most part feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude to have been gifted the life I have. I prefer to focus myself optimistically and on the positive, but yes, there are always some struggles. Most importantly though, we move ahead…..sempre avanti as the Italians say. I’ll just mention a couple.

I was showing at the Sherry French Gallery when the terrorist attacks of 9/11 occurred. Before those attacks, I was averaging 3-4 sold paintings per month, and the income from those helped our young family tremendously. I did not sell a single artwork for over 18 months after those attacks. Of course, there were many many more people who suffered far greater tragedy from those events than we did….and we count our blessings every day for the sacrifices made by so many to keep us safe since, but the loss of income at that time, just as my wife and I were welcoming our first daughter into the world, was hard.

COVID also was a difficult time. As mentioned, Fred Wessel and I ran our Summer Workshops in Italy almost every summer from 2000 until 2022…..the exceptions were 2020 and 2021, which COVID-19 took from us.

Again, I prefer to stay positive. struggles are important for growth. I truly feel that getting through the struggles of life is what shapes us and makes us stronger.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?

I am a painter. My specialty is watercolor. I am most proud to have been able to continue in this artistic/creative career for over 30 years.

Many people remark, when they see my watercolors, that they don’t “look like watercolor”. I like to achieve a high level of realism in my work, which is quite possible in watercolor, but perhaps not what is expected in the medium. Perhaps this is what sets my work apart. In ways, I also hope that my paintings make people want to look at them and perhaps, when they walk away, come back for a second look.

What makes you happy?

God.

My family.

Art.

Why? When you have the first one, it is actually easy to be happy. With the first and second one, it is virtually impossible not to be happy. Add the third one in, and what more could anyone ever wish for?

Pricing:

• Prints: $150 – $1000
• Drawings: $150 – $5000
• Watercolors: $1000 – $30,000
• Egg Temperas: $1500 – $45,000
• Commissioned work: by appointment

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.jeremiahpatterson.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeremiahpatterson/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jeremiah.patterson.10
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jeremiahpatterson3881

Image Credits

Jeremiah Patterson Studio