- Image of the Day -

 

"On Black's Creek Road, Idaho"

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By permission of the artist, The Cyber Art Show is pleased to feature the first of two 12-piece exhibitions of works by contemporary American landscape painter John Killmaster (born 1934 in Allegan, Michigan). 

 

John Killlmaster is an iconic artist and master of diverse media. For 27 years he influenced numerous students as a revered art professor at Boise State University. After retiring as a Professor of Art Emeritus in 1997, Killmaster settled in Middleton, Idaho. He has long been inspired by Idaho's spectacular scenery, which is often the subject of his paintings. In recent years, Killmaster has concentrated in large-scale enameled pieces-a medium in which he is an internationally recognized pioneer and innovator.

 

Killmaster's work has been included in juried and invitational exhibits abroad in far-flung places such as Australia, Russia, Japan, Greece, Israel and Canada, and nationally in 11 states reaching from New York to Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Kansas, Idaho, Califomia and Hawaii. His work is also represented in numerous corporate, private, and public collections including those of former Vice President Walter Mondale, West One Bancorp, Boise Cascade, Boise Art Museum, and FMC Corporation in Chicago, Illinois.

 

Killmaster says, "My interest as an artist is to be witness to the gifts of life and vision; to capture not only that which my eye confronts, but to record my interaction both visually and emotionally, with the world around me."

 

Prior to earning his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Fine Arts degrees in Michigan (Hope College and Cranbrook Academy of Art, respectively), Killmaster worked as a commercial artist: a designer and illustrator for LaDriere Studios, Inc., in Detroit, MI, Chaite Studies, Inc., in New York, and for the General Motors Corporation. Killmaster began teaching at Boise State University in 1970.

 

Killmaster is the recipient of numerous honors and awards in the arts, including: "The Big Wall" Commission at the Boise Gallery of Art (1974); Idaho's Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts (1978); Jack A. Schaefle Award for Excellence in the Arts (visual) by the Boise City Arts Commission (1990); Boise State University Foundation Scholar Award for Research/Creative Activity (1995); and the International Enamelist Society Lifetime Achievement Award (2001). He is one of two living Americans represented in The History of Enameling text published in England, and he is currently listed rn Who's Who in American Art and Who's Who in the West. He teaches private classes in all water based media, oil and enameling in his studio in Middleton.

 

Since 2004 Killmaster has donated 600 pieces of his artwork to the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls, where it will be preserved.

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Selected Juried and Group Exhibitions

 

2015

• “Close to Home, Our Own Spectacular Parks”  Jan-May 2016, St. George Art Museum, Utah.

• “Alchemy 3” International Enamel Exhibitions, Beverly, Massachusetts

2014

• Western Federation Watercolor Societies 39th exhibition, Scottsdale, Arizona.

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2013

• Western Federation Watercolor Societies 38th exhibition, Dallas, Texas.

• “Alchemy 2” International Enamel Exhibition, Cincinnati, Ohio.

2011

• “Era Messages” Museum of Contemporary Craft, Portland, Oregon.

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2010

• “Sustain + Expand” 2010 Idaho Triennial, Boise Art Museum, Boise, Idaho.

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2009

• “Surfacing” juried international enamel exhibition, The Oakland Art Gallery, Oakland, Calif.

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2007

• “The Killmaster Collection – A 60 Year Perspective” The Herrett Center for Arts and Science, Twin Falls, Idaho.

• “Hightech / Lowtech” Exhibition at The Minneart Center for the Arts, Olympia, WA.

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2006

• “Drawing Power” Exhibition at the The National Automotive History Collection – Detroit, MI.

• “Paint America Top 100” South Wind Gallery, Topeka, Kansas.

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2003

• International Juried Enamel exhibition – Evergreen State College Gallery, Olympia, Washington.

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2002

• “International Enamel Exhibition” Richmond Art Center, Richmond, California.

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2000

• “American Enamels” invitational exhibition, Random Modern Gallery, Tacoma, Washington.

• “5th International Juried Enamel Exhibition” Velvet da Vinci Gallery, San Francisco, Calif