About the Artist

Andrew Orr - Biography

Andrew Orr

b. 1969 

 

Andrew Orr combines impressionism and touches of realism to create paintings that reflect his love of nature and beauty.  His paintings are direct and rich, with clear color, expressing his passion for light and life. 

 

Andrew began painting at an early age.  His training includes courses at the University of New Mexico , private study with Joseph Mcgurl, impressionist Carol McIlroy and Gloucester artist, David P. Curtis.  His work has shown in galleries throughout the United States, has won awards with juried exhibitions and has been featured in one man shows from Washington, D.C. and  Albuquerque, NM to Cincinnati, OH .  In the Northeast his work has been featured with solo exhibition at the Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, VT and displayed with national exhibitions of the Oil Painters of America, the American Impressionists Society, the North East Watercolor Society and the Georgia Watercolor Society.  His prints and graphics are reproduced by White Creek Images (www.whitecreekimages.com.) 

 

Listed in Who's Who in America, full time artist, Andrew is a member of the Salmagundi Club, New York, the American Artists Professional League, Oil Painters of America, the Southern Vermont Arts Center and the Professional Porcelain Artist Association.  He is the winner of the Helen DeCozen Memorial Award for a Floral, from the American Artists Professional League 81st Grand National Exhibition, twice the winner of the Arthur T. Hill Memorial Award for a landscape by an artist under 45 years of age from the Salmagundi Club Annual Member's Exhibition as well as a recipient of the Barbara Carter Fine Gilded Frames Award of Excellence from the Oil Painters of America, National Exhibtion in 2008.  In addition to serving as both judge and juror, he is a recognized instructor giving frequent workshops, demonstrations and lectures on the art of painting on porcelain and in watercolor throughout the United States and abroad.  In October 2005, Orr participated as the guest artist/lecturer at the convention, show and sale of the Australasian International Porcelain Artist League, in Adelaide, South Australia .  This honor was repeated in 2008 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 

 

For me, painting is about expressing the joy and excitement I feel, through colors and brush strokes, after having come upon a scene that has sparked an internal, emotional response; that  response that causes one to internally say, “I have to paint this.”  Once I have found a subject I will often make sketches in pencil, making notes about colors, atmosphere, light, anything really, that will help me convey what I want to say about a subject as I am painting. I want to become as familiar with my subject as I can before heading back into the studio.   In addition to notes, I use a camera, taking many photos of a scene from different angles and view points.  On occasion I will do some plein air sketching but I find I can concentrate much better in the studio setting.  Once in the studio, I will take from my photographs those elements that I find important to the compositional whole, moving, adding or deleting items that will help to make what feels to me to be the best overall picture.  I often plan my color schemes in watercolor first and refer to a color wheel often throughout the painting process.  I begin loosely working the entire canvas building the layers of paint slowly.  Often I will scumble paint over dryer areas to create a feeling of distant trees or brush and glaze over dry areas if something needs to be set back into the picture a little further.  Although I am a studio painter I strive to create paintings that retain a sense of spontaneity and life often associated with outdoor painting.   

 

As I have painted since 1998, full-time it is often hard to define what might be some of my artistic goals.  I feel fortunate to have been able to develop a career over time, selling in galleries and teaching in many locations around the country.  I find that my goals as an artist would be above all, simply to paint better pictures.  I never want to be stuck in any one genre or compositional trap so I find that I am constantly challenging myself to design paintings that are a little more complicated or involved both compositionally and in the overall color scheme as well.     

 

Working as a full-time artist is a tremendous gift and one that I try never to take for granted.  One of the greatest artistic accomplishments I have enjoyed thus far is opening my own gallery and studio in my ancestral town of Poultney , Vermont.  It feels like I am doing something more than just painting, but I am bringing to a town, not known specifically for the arts, an aspect  of or my interpretation of the visual arts.  Many of my paintings are created from areas recognizable to members of the community. 

 

I create art as part of my desire to help bring something of aesthetic beauty to the world.  My paintings are about joy, about expressing the excitement I feel when I see light falling on an autumnal tree or the beauty of a newly opened flower.  They are about my curiosity and intrigue with objects, old and new; they are about those things that inspire me, that give me a reason to get out of bed to see what the world has in store for that day.  It is my hope that the viewer of my work will be inspired by what they see, that through one of my paintings their day might be somehow lifted, changed, enlightened or even considered “lighter.” 


Education

1993-1994       University of New Mexico

1987-1991       Oklahoma Christian University, BA,  

 

Teaching Experience

1998-Current   Workshops in oil, watercolor and overglaze on porcelain.  

 2005, 2007 Guest Artist 10th Annual Australasian Porcelain Art Teacher’s conference, Adelaide, SA and Melbourne, VIC 

2009  Guest Artists, New Zealand Porcelain Artist Association conference, Blenheim, New Zealand

 

Solo Exhibitions

2012    Middle Room, Bryan Memorial Gallery, Jeffersonville, VT

2010    Southern Vermont Arts Center

2009    South Street Gallery, Hingham, MA
2007    Southern Vermont Arts Center

2005    Southern Vermont Arts Center

2003    Design Consortium Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio

2001    Music and the Arts, National City Christian Church, Washington, D.C.

1998     Elinor Oldham Gallery, Albuquerque, NM 

 

Selected Shows

2012     Regional Painting Exhibition, Guild of Boston Artists, Boston, MA

2011     Annual Member's Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, New York, NY

2011     Southern Vermont Arts Center, National Exhibition

2011     Bryan Memorial Gallery, Jeffersonville, VT, Legacy Collection

2010    American Artists Professional League, New York, NY, 82nd Grand National Exhibition

2010    Annual Member's Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, New York, NY

2010    American Impressionists Society, National Exhibition, Nashville, TN

2010    Southern Vermont Arts Center, Solo Exhibition
2009    American Artists Professional League, New York, NY 81st Grand National Exhibition
2009    American Impressionists Society National Exhibition, Denver, CO
2009    Bennington Center for the Arts, Laumeister Fine Art Competition, Impressions of New England
2009    Southern Vermont Arts Center, National Exhibition
2009    Salon International, Green House Gallery of Art, San Antonio, TX
2008    125th Annual Member's Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, New York, NY
2008    Bennington Center for the Arts, "Impressions of New England"
2008    Southern Vermont Arts Center, National Exhibition
2008    Oil Painters of America, National Exhibition
2008    National Show, Salon International, Greenhouse Gallery of Art, San Antonio, Texas
2008     Annual Member's Combined Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, NY, NY
2008    Winter Member's Exhibition, Southern Vermont Arts Center
2007    Annual Summer Member's Show, Salmagundi Club, NY, NY

2007    National Show, Salon International, Greenhouse Gallery, San  Antonio, Texas
2007    National Show, Midland Art League, Museum of the Southwest,
            Midland, Texas
2006    National Show, Southern Vermont Arts Center

2006    National Show, Oil Painters of America

2006    Delaware Foundation for the Visual Arts, Art and Antique Weekend

2005    National Show, Southern Vermont Arts Center

2003    National Show, North East Watercolor Society

2002    Georgia Watercolor Society. Regional show

2001    National Show, Georgia Watercolor Society

2000    “The American Landscape” Torpedo Factory, Alexandria, VA

1998    Gallery Guild, St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral, Albuquerque, NM

1996    New Mexico State Fair, Fine Art Gallery

1995    New Mexico State Fair, Fine Art Gallery 

 

Memberships/Affiliations
Salmagundi Club

The American Artists Professional League 
Oil Painters of America

Southern Vermont Arts Center

American Impressionist Society

 

Awards

2012    Robert Douglas Hunter Award, Guild of Boston Artists, Regional Painting Exhibition

2012    Plein Air Vermont, 1st Place, awarding judge, M. Stephen Doherty, Plein Air Magazine

2011    Arthur T. Hill Memorial Award for a Landscape, Member's Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, NY, NY

2011    Land and Light, Bryan Memorial Gallery, Jeffersonville, VT, Honorable Mention

2010    North Bennington, VT, Plein Air Competition, 2nd Place

2010    Claude Parsons Award for a Landscape, American Artists Professional League, New York, NY

2010    Arthur T. Hill Memorial Award for a Landscape, Member's Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, NY, NY
2009    Helen DeCozen Memorial Award for a Floral, American Artists Professional League, New York, NY
2008    Arthur T. Hill Memorial Award, Annual Member's Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, NY, NY
2008    Award of Excellence, Oil Painters of America, National Exhibition
2006    Best in Show, Delaware Foundation for the Visual Arts, Art and Antique Weekend

2003    Honorable Mention, North East Watercolor Society, National Show

2002    Membership award, Georgia Watercolor Society, regional exhibition

1998    2nd place award, Gallery Guild Show, St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral, Albuquerque, NM 

 

Collections
Rutland Regional Medical Center, Rutland, VT 

Coastal Bend College, Beeville, TX

Miller, Ray, Houser and Stewart, LLP, Atlanta, GA

Welch- Spell, PC, Atlanta, GA 

 


Andrew Orr - Biography
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