Artist Spotlight: Ned Gannon

“Art can be political and draw attention to injustices, or it can call our attention to the miracles of light, color, and being alive. ”

Painter, illustrator, and writer, Ned Gannon attended the Kansas City Art Institute and the School of Visual Arts in New York where he received his M.F.A. Today, he serves as a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. As noted on his website, his work has appeared in New York galleries, the Society of Illustrators of New York and Los Angeles and in Communication Arts. His clients include American Airlines, Boyds Mills Press, Cobblestone, Cricket, and Odyssey Magazines, Woodbine Publishing, and St. Vladimir’s Press. His work is in private collections in Australia and the United States, including the Staten Island Museum. For more click here, and follow him on Instagram. Also, check out some new images on art, nature, literature, and the ecology of wolves by clicking here.

1.)   Tell us a bit about your “art origin story”?  When did you first fall in love with your art?

I began drawing at the age of 3. I don't think I "chose" art so much as art "chose" me. I continued to draw after many kids stopped even when people did not praise my work. To demystify that statement a bit, I did make a conscious recognition to choose art as a path when I abandoned my creative writing major at a small Liberal Arts College and chose to attend the Kansas City Art Institute. Shaun Tan, one of my favorite illustrators, has a great line in an interview where the interviewer asks him, "When did you start drawing?" Tan replies, "When did you stop? Because we all draw, the question is when and why do we stop?" My early love of art included illustrated classics like N.C. Wyeth's illustrations for Treasure Island, illustrated pulp books like Interplanetary Spy books, X-Men and Spider-Man, and books on classic art that my dad kept in the house, such as books on Goya or Winslow Homer. I also drew a lot to depict aspects of my many roleplaying adventures.

2.)   What role have teachers played in your development as an artist?  Anyone stand out?

So many teachers have helped me along my path to where I now find myself. My high school art teacher, Ms. Liljegren was a great teacher and very encouraging. She was the first person that I found who got excited when I talked about N.C. Wyeth. My college teacher Bill Forst helped me prepare my portfolio application for the Kansas City Art Institute. My college instructors, Jack Lew, John Ferry, Mark Bischel, and Brent Watkinson guided me, gave me essential critical feedback, checked my ego, and helped me get into graduate school. I am still friends with all of them. Gregory Crane was a very influential painting teacher in graduate school. Crane was great with color relationships and he liked rich color. I remember one painting class where he came along side of my painting, picked up a brush, dipped it in pure alizarin crimson and swiped the color into my shadow. The shadow radiated. I objected that the part in the light now looked dull compared to the shadow. He told me to adjust the rest of the painting then. My mentor, Peter Drake, also had a strong influence on my development. But I have learned a great deal from my peers too. Finally, other artists, writers and poets also influence the work I produce. Irish poet Seamus Heaney has had a profound influence on how I view the world. 

3.)   What advice would you give to young folks thinking about pursuing an education or career in the arts?

A lot of people get focused on one aspect of visual art and forget others, but it takes a full package to succeed: business acumen to promote and sell work, talent or proclivity so that you don't get restless with what you are doing and it comes naturally, persistence and dedication with a strong work ethic to gain skill and technique, intelligence and creativity to surprise viewers with what you make, and knowledge of what is out there so you are not reinventing the wheel. Other than those things, put down the phone and pick up the pencil or stylus. 

4.)   Describe how you use art and creativity in your craft as well as your everyday life.

Because I am a teacher as well as an artist, I try to bring new ways of looking at class projects and ways of getting students to think about topics. I use writers that surprise me in my classes in hopes that they will surprise students as well. I share what I learn as I study my own craft and concepts. I also try to apply creativity when my department is trying to solve a challenge, my kids need help with a school project, or even when I am trying to settle a dispute among them. I would say empathy is an essential part of the creative process in all these endeavors. The ability to understand what someone else might be feeling or thinking is a great gift. 

5.)   How can art make the world a better place?  Can you share a personal example?

In today's world, we are overwhelmed with information, and we get lazy about investigating it ourselves. We look for someone in our tribe or group to provide us with a shortcut to what to think about things and situations. Art develops an active, contemplative mind that enjoys thinking for itself. When you encounter a work of art in a gallery or museum, often the artist is not there to explain it. You are left to wrestle with what it means yourself. 

I also think art allows us to make ourselves vulnerable and be honest about our feelings, to express ourselves and sound our barbaric yawp over the rooftops of the world. The popular speaker Brene Brown insists that making yourself vulnerable to being called out is essential for personal growth but you have to do it with the right people, and the art community often provides those people. 

There are studies that show art develops focus, patience, and creative problem-solving. And even though competition and jealousy are not absent from creative fields, they are less pronounced than in other fields and often a sense of support or community is prevalent amidst a community of creatives. 

Art can be political and draw attention to injustices, or it can call our attention to the miracles of light, color, and being alive. 

To get a bit more personal, art that I have made about environmental or ecological concerns has connected me with like-minded individuals who share my value systems.  Art can do so many more things, and I encourage you to find and define what some of those are for yourself!