John D. McClanahan served as Assistant Professor of Painting and Drawing at Stephen F. Austin State University (Nacogdoches, Texas) and Associate Professor of Painting and Drawing at Queens College (Charlotte, North Carolina) before joining the Baylor Art Department faculty in 1976. He served as Professor and Director of the Division of Visual Arts (1985 to 1989) and has served as Chair of the Department of Art since 1989. He became the first Director of the Allbritton Art Institute in 1998 and continues in that position.

Professor McClanahan is currently a member of eight professional organizations. His work has been exhibited in more than two hundred international, national, regional, invitational and group exhibitions, including twelve solo shows. He is represented in eight museum/gallery collections. He is the recipient of twenty-two awards and honors.

MFA, University of Iowa
BFA, Bethany College

Images in my most recent work are abstracted landscapes in the medium of collage. They are representations of a longstanding preoccupation and identification with the plains and skies of the Midwest where I spent my youth. The interactions of climate with the elegant simplicity of this country haunt my memory still.

I have, for brief periods, paused to work with the figure and with still life, only to return to that which at once strengthens and comforts me: the numberless relationships of sky and plain. Briefly too, I have employed the media of oils and enamels but have always, will always, prefer the spontaneity of watercolor, the richness and brilliance of acrylic and casein, and the texture and plasticity of collage.

My landscapes, in whatever medium, are never an attempt to imitate nature as with a camera. Instead, I seek out structure, movement, color, texture, and effects of light. My eye, as any human eye, views the scene as it appears momentarily and then interpretation begins. My task is to remove clutter, amplify or constrict distances or dimensions, utilize color and texture and define environment. This personal response is an ever-changing, never-ending search for my own visual language.

Here I have chosen the medium of old metal and leather collage, intrigued by the naturally occurring rust colors and the soft tones and textures of weathered leather. It was my intention that manipulation of these materials would result in the casting of subtle shadows, creating a greater illusion of the third dimension. Limitations of the materials provided challenges and new problems to be met. This deviation from my usual preferences for paint and paper offered the opportunity to express abstracted landscape within new and more rigid boundaries.

I always intend that my impressions of a large land will enable the viewer to discover places of tranquility and power and ever-changing personality.

To view professional work, click on the thumbnails below.

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