
Lon Clark is a San Francisco artist who has been working in painting,
drawing and photography for over four decades. As co-founder and Dean
of the
San Francisco Studio School located at
Fort Mason he is responsible for the design of the school’s curricula.
Lon Clark, Jr.
Green Lanscape - circa 1960
Clark has taught at colleges in the
SF Bay Area for many years and was
Director of Graduate Photography at the
Academy of Art University in
San Francisco,
California. Originally from
New York City, Clark attended the
Silvermine School of Art in
Connecticut, the
Pratt Institute,
Brooklyn,
New York, and the
Art Students League in
Manhattan,
New York City, where he studied
painting with
Edwin Dickinson,
Mercedes Matter,
Charles Cajori and
Philip Pearlstein. During that period he approached
Mercedes Matter
about founding an art school representing the ideals of depth of study
over the fragmented curricula at degree-granting art schools.
Subsequently he worked closely with Matter on the creation of the
New York Studio School.
To further immerse himself in painting Clark moved to
Woodstock,
New York,
where he exhibited at the Polari Gallery, was selected for the new
talent show at the Woodstock Artists Association, received attention
from
Philip Guston, who had taken an interest in his work, won awards at
the Albany Institute as well as a purchase prize at the
Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute,
Utica, New York. Clark moved to
Los Angeles where he
completed a series of large paintings under the auspices of the actor
Lee Marvin. He then settled in
San Francisco,
California, where his paintings were
represented by the ADI Gallery.
In his pursuit of photography as a visual medium, Clark worked
closely with the modernist photographer
Ruth Bernhard, helping her
publish the first portfolio of her work. Clark was a founding member of
SF Camerawork and served on its board of directors. He also founded
North Beach Press, which was noted for the quality of its publications
and their dedication to fine art. His own photography publication,
"Itinerary" won top awards across the country.
His current emphasis is his own studio practice, teaching, and his
ongoing work with the formation of Drawing Itself, a group of San
Francisco painters devoted to drawing as a major medium of expression on
the same level as painting. His latest work explores the relationship
of abstraction to figuration as a significant preoccupation in visual
art.
Clark published a book on the photography of Michelle Vignes (
link below) and is the son of
New York City actor,
stage and
radio star,
Lon Clark, Sr. (
link below).
San Francisco Studio School
P.O. Box 475016
San Francisco, CA 94147
info@sfstudioschool.org
415-398-4300
Classes held at:
Fort Mason Center
2 Marina Blvd.
Silvermine School of Art
1037 Silvermine Road
New Canaan, CT 06840
P: 203.966.9700
F: 203.966.2763
Styrous® ~ Monday, July 24, 2017