Barry Kooser
Painting, for me, has always been something of a mystery: difficult, enjoyable, confusing, exhilarating, maddening, demanding, but endlessly intriguing.
Growing up in Arvada, Colorado, I always had strong artistic influences from my family, friends and the beautiful surrounding landscape. After graduating in May, 1991 with a degree in Fine Arts from the Kansas City Art Institute, I began working full time as a Background Artist at Walt Disney Feature Animation Studios in Orlando, Florida. My work there with such dedicated and talented artists has given me an understanding of craftsmanship and helped me develop a passion for creating environments. At Walt Disney Feature Animation, I was able to grow and learn as an artist by painting backgrounds for some of the best loved, critically acclaimed animated films of our time: The Lion King, Pocahontas, Mulan, Lilo& Stitch and Brother Bear. This experience provided me the realization and knowledge that technical understanding is a must—drawing, composition, value and color.
With these basic foundations in place, it then becomes a search for what I think is most important, creating a mood or evoking an emotion in my paintings. And as a full time painter now, I must interpret the landscape in a way that is filtered through my own aesthetic. The paintings may be colorful or subdued, complex or simple, high key or low key-it all depends on my emotional connection to the subject matter at the time of creation. Art is after all, an emotional experience.
I currently live in Littleton, Colorado with my wife, Brenda.