We caught up with the brilliant and insightful John Gummere a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

John, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I think from the time I was a little kid, I imagined different careers and lives, but art was always the dominant one. My mother, Peggy Peplow Gummere, was well-known as a portrait painter around Trenton NJ, where I grew up. So art was woven into my daily life at home. I was the youngest of six kids and for whatever reason, I’m the one who most took on art as part of my identity.

Some early memories: I must have been four or five when I tried mixing all my watercolors, thinking I’d be clever and invent a color that nobody had ever used before. Of course I invented black! When I was a little older I remember drawing firemen or something, and the discovery that when we draw people’s heads, they weren’t just round, or even ovals — the outlines were more detailed and irregular. I remember riding in the car at night and being fascinated by the beauty of lights in the dark; my brother of course had to tease me about that. My interest in light continues to be a big thing in my paintings. My mother always remembered my illustrations of “Treasure Island” and saved them for years. I loved horses and all animals — when I read “Black Beauty” I did illustrations of that too. I think I was about eight then, and I wrote to Walt Disney, I might have sent him what amounted to story boards, with the suggestion that he make a movie of “Black Beauty,” “because you are the man to do it…”

As I got older, my mother encouraged me to consider a career in architecture as a practical art-related career. I graduated from Columbia’s undergrad program in architecture, but by senior year I reached the decision that my heart wasn’t in it and that art — either graphics, fine arts, or both — was the direction for me.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I’ve always been part of several worlds: painting, graphic design, and illustration. Now in my sixties, I am mainly focused on building my work and career as a painter but the whole picture would have to include graphics and illustration too, since over the years those have also been a focus. When I was just out of college, I saw graphic design and illustration as art careers where I could make a living. Although my first love is painting, I do like working in a setting where I’m engaged with people and organizations promoting a service, an idea, or a product. In that position, I look to find the balance of communicating clearly while conveying the right level of sophistication and making things fun to look at.

But about painting: It really comes down to the fact that I paint because I love to paint, as simplistic as that may sound. A favorite quote, from Milton Avery: “Why talk when you can paint?” I’m a representational painter, and much of my work revolves around cityscapes, interior scenes, and landscapes, any of which may involve human or animal figures. When I paint people, I like to show them in an environment. I’ve always lived in and around cities, and both my urban and non-urban landscapes are my most natural way of relating to the world around me. My focus in my fine-arts work is generally not to produce a rendering, except insofar as I want objects and space to make sense — so I’m pretty careful with perspective when that applies. People often think of Hopper when they see my paintings, and I won’t deny that he is one of my favorites; I don’t consciously imitate him but it just comes out that way! Another painter I like is Vermeer: the sense of depth, that we’re looking into a space and we see layers of what’s up front and what is in the distance; in my own work I like to think of different worlds — what’s up front and what is farther away. At the other extreme there’s Mark Rothko — I don’t know if this is what he intended but I like his sense of color glowing from inside a box; I often think of his work when I’m painting windows in a building. As I’ve gotten older I’ve thought more about the emotional and personal content of my paintings, in particular those with figures — and there it’s often about reflecting a mood or a moment in time. I like to develop strong compositions that engage the viewer with the use of space and color, and I get a kick out of happy accidents where shapes seem to “rhyme.”

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

As I have said, I embarked on an art career after college (in 1977). I drew and painted regularly while my various day jobs mostly revolved around graphics, with some time also given to teaching. Around 1990 I started re-examining my career path to decide the next step I needed to develop professionally. I was open to considering other careers, but everything came back to art. In 1992, with the incredible support and encouragement of my first wife, I returned to school as a painting major at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA). Most friends and family were supportive of my decision, although for some it was hard to comprehend a guy like me with a wife and small child returning to school at that stage — not for business, law, or something “practical,” but art school that would probably do little to help me make my first million dollars. When I started at PAFA, I remember one former co-worker asking me, “Is it FUN?” Yes, it was fun — I was doing what I loved, but I didn’t do it for “fun.” I had internalized “duty” way too much for that. I did it because I had to, in order to take what I did best, and do it even better. As artists we find our ways to pay the bills and deal with the fact that there is not a built-in demand for art. We make our art because we have a drive to do so, and on the whole, the world is richer because there is painting, sculpture, music, literature, and other art forms.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

I don’t want to be negative, and I’m probably old fashioned in some ways. But I have to admit I have a distaste for NFTs. I love the richness of being with a work of art — the sense that this piece of bronze or this canvas with paint on it was touched by the artist who poured their love and their experience into it. I’m fine with making prints of my work so more people can own a copy, and publicizing it through digital media. I could be wrong but it appears to me that the interest in NFTs puts an outsized emphasis on commercializing a piece of art and turns it into a financial transaction without a soul.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.be.net/JohnGummere
• Instagram: johndgummere
• Linkedin: John Gummere
• Other: Not showing my email here but best way to contact me on social media is through LinkedIn.