Richard Kooyman

Lives and works in Arcadia, Michigan Artist Website

Below is a lovely statement by Richard on why he makes paintings:

“Fleeting visual phenomena along the Lake Michigan shoreline and deep within its forests fuels ideas for my paintings. How the sun sparkles at the edge of a wood, or the sun or moon reflects light on the water, are occurrences I find compelling. They point to something in nature that is bigger than me.

I like simple and direct brushstrokes in my work. I’m striving for temperate colors and brushwork that have an emotional connection to a place and time. My process is both visceral and somewhat intuitive. I like to think of my paintings as things that can hold energy and from which you can go and receive that energy back.

I make paintings because I believe it is still one of the most important personal, social, and political acts a person can do.”

Richard received his MFA from Ohio State University. He has been awarded numerous prestigious grants including a National Endowment for the Arts Artist Grant, and has been artist-in-residence at the Vermont Studio Center, The Heliker- LaHotan Foundation, The Antico Borgo Finocchieto in Tuscany, and a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome.