After spending several years in England, artist Grant Wood has returned to his native Chattanooga and will be exhibiting a recent body of work at Townsend Atelier.
The show will feature landscape and figurative works painted in England and in America recording the coastal towns and local people of both countries. Works include oils, watercolor and gouache and will be available for purchase.
The public is invited to an opening reception Friday, Oct. 5, 5:30-9 p.m. The show will be on view through Nov. 3, Monday to Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. or by appointment.
Wood, best known for his sprawling landscapes painted in a loose and seemingly effortless style, is a classically trained oil painter. His love for painting grew with his first apprenticeship under the wing of his uncle, the illustrator and artist, John Wood.
After graduating from The Baylor School, Wood attended the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he continued to thrive under the tutelage of the world-renowned Russian artist Daud Akhriev, learning the Russian academic tradition.
In 2011, Wood won a full scholarship, granted by the Benwood Foundation, to attend the Florence Academy of Art, where he spent a year engulfed in the uber-traditional techniques of the continental European academy. Upon his return to Chattanooga, the artist graduated in 2013 with a BFA in painting and drawing from UTC.
Since UTC, Wood has spent much of his time traveling and living abroad, namely through England. While in England, he established a name as a landscape artist by appearing twice on the Sky Arts channel show Landscape Artist of the Year, which aired in October 2015 and 2016. He exhibited at the juried 2016 Royal Art Exhibition put on by Queen Elizabeth in London.
Wood currently lives full time in Chattanooga where he has continued to be pursued for commissions and exhibitions. Her skill should be shared, she received her certification to teach art from Lincoln Memorial University in 2011. In addition to teaching at Townsend Atelier, she works in grant-funded art programs throughout the city and teaches independently.