Glenn W Davis
Glenn W Davis is a graduate of the New England School of Art & Design at Suffolk University. He is the recipient of a 1995 Massachusetts Cultural Council grant. He has been making art of one kind or another for over twenty-five years. He has dabbled in oils, acrylics, pen & ink, pastels, and graphite. Glenn focuses on watercolor & pastels for much of his recent work. Also, He has taught watercolor painting, pastels, and drawing in various adult education centers and museums in and around the Cambridge and Boston vicinities.
Q&A
Hercules, Watercolor
What are your earliest memories of being artistic? In the fourth grade, we were asked to use crayons and make wax resist pieces. The first instruction was to just scribble lines all over the paper. Then we were asked to see if we could see anything in that mess of lines and then color it in with watercolor. I created a clown’s face.
When did art become a pursuit? In high school, our art teacher, Mr. Palmer, had the juniors & seniors create a portfolio to help us gain entry into an art school or college. It was while building that portfolio that I saw art could be a type of living.
Are you self-taught or formally educated in visual art? I’m both formally educated having graduated from the New England School of Art & Design in Suffolk University and a self-taught fine watercolor artist.
How did you first become involved with CAA? In networking to find representation in galleries I happen to find CAA.
In what other ways are you involved in the local art community? I’m part of the Painting Affinity Group out of CAA. I teach art workshops at the Arlington Center for the Arts in Arlington MA and have taught at the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln MA and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Studio Apartment, Watercolor
What role do you think the artist plays in society? Art is a matter of interpreting memory, your emotional state, and your environment through a medium. It’s self-expression and a willingness to share a point of view or a state of mind. It’s also a device to question that point of view or state of mind. Art doesn’t answer any questions. It raises them. It presents another interpretation. It’s a silent two-way dialog.
What medium do you currently work in and how did you choose this medium? I work in watercolor paints. I choose this medium because I could not afford oil paints and all the stuff that goes with them. I also had a child to rear so some of the toxic stuff for oils was out of the question. At the time, I didn’t have a studio.
What is your creative process? Where are you finding ideas for your art these days? The three pieces in this post are the most recent. They’re all from this area. I live by the Mystic River so when I take walks by the river, I will come across an image such as “Sun Mother” or just outside my kitchen window as in “Studio Apartment”.
How do you choose your subject matter? Is there a reoccurring theme that carries throughout your work? It’s largely Nature. Years ago, I create several portraits of endangered species based on what I found at the Franklin Park Zoo and different sources of images in the media. The three pieces that accompany this blog are emblematic of what is available in my neck of the woods.
In your opinion, what’s your best/favorite piece you’ve made? It’s not a matter of “the best or a favorite piece”. It’s whether a piece holds up over time. The aforementioned endangered species collection has some individual works that still maintain the original character or intention of the time.
What is one of your artistic goals? It’s very simple. It’s to be able to create. That can take several forms either in watercolor or oil or graphite or pastel. Currently, I’m working in watercolor.
What’s your favorite place to see art, and why? That would be museums. You can get to see a great deal of many types of art in a single museum. Besides the Museum of Fine Art, Boston, I’ve been to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, the Tate in London, & others.
What living artists are you inspired by? No, all the artists I admire are dead. I did meet Wolf Kahn back in ’95. He had come to give advice and support to the artists at the Vermont Studio Center. However, I had nothing to show the fellow.
Do you own any art by other artists? If so, what artists? No. Only the artwork my daughter created when she was a kid.
Do you have any shows coming up? I have a portrait piece at Gallery 263 in Cambridge MA.
See more from Glenn
Facebook: Glenn W Davis