Conard Holton
Artist Statement
I paint the landscapes that surround me. These paintings are of specific places, each with its own ecology and geology, human history, and weather. In all of my paintings I hope to create a sense of familiarity and stability that combine with a sense of strangeness—the world is more than we know or can know.
I love the Adirondacks and upstate New York. My vision of this varied, sometimes mountainous landscape has been inspired in part by the Chinese poetic and landscape painting tradition known as Rivers-and-Mountains. I am also indebted to Indigenous traditions that can give us all an awareness of our connection to this land. Creating these oil paintings has drawn on both my plein air and studio experiences, which inform each other in ways that I don’t always understand but am grateful to explore.
Artist Bio
I grew up outside of Philadelphia, in a rural landscape that encouraged my attachment to the outdoors. Since putting down roots in upstate New York, the Adirondacks have been the primary subject of my work—particularly Lake George. My oil paintings have been in several solo shows and numerous juried exhibitions in the region, and I’m represented by several regional art galleries. I work from studios in both Brunswick and Bolton Landing, New York.
Solo Shows:
2023 – Adirondack Feeling, Martinez Gallery, Troy, NY
2023 – Waters and Mountains, North Country Arts at the Shirt Factory, Glens Falls, NY
Juried shows:
2024 – Expressions: Annual Juried Show, North Country Arts, Shirt Factory, Glens Falls, NY
2023 – Historic Albany Foundation BUILT Show, Argus Hotel, Albany, NY
2023 – For Reasons Unknown: LARAC Annual Juried Show, Lapham Gallery, Glens Falls, NY
2023 – Art of New York: Annual Juried Art Show, Arkell Museum, Canajoharie, NY
2022 – Lost in Time and Space, LARAC Annual Juried Show, Lapham Gallery, Glens Falls, NY
2022 – Historic Albany Foundation BUILT Show, Argus Hotel, Albany, NY
2022 – Landscapes for Landsake Exhibition and Sale, Agricultural Stewardship Association, Maple Ridge Gallery, Coila, NY
2022 – NorthWind Fine Arts , 2022 Annual Spring Juried Show, Saranac Lake, NY
Representation:
Birds of a Feather Studio Gallery, Chestertown, NY
Eden Compton Studio & Gallery, Saratoga Springs, NY
Martinez Gallery, Troy, NY
Educational Background:
2016-23 – Studio and plein air workshops, Deborah Bayly, Troy, NY
2016-21 – Plein air workshops, John MacDonald, Saranac Lake and MASS MoCA
2014-16 – Plein air workshops, Olive Ayhens, Elizabeth O’Reilly, MassArt, Bennington, VT
2013-14 – Plein air workshops, John Parks, NY School of the Visual Arts, New Lebanon, NY
2005-13 – Painters of Studio 76 Group, Plein air and studio workshop, Ed Ticson, Latham, NY
Aegean School of the Fine Arts, Paros, Greece
B.A., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA