BIOGRAPHY
Art Weeks is a retired architect proficient in oil landscapes, pastel landscapes, acrylic landscapes, watercolor landscapes, pastel portraits, pastel abstract painting, watercolor abstracts, pen and ink drawings, pen and ink portraits, and photography. He has won awards in the four major artistic mediums of watercolor, oil, acrylic and pastel.
Mr. Weeks is primarily self taught having taken three brief classes with artists Marian Alstad, Minneapolis, MN (watercolor), Robert Hoffman, Merrillville, IN (pastel and oil) and Richard Abraham, St. Paul, MN (oil).
His mission in life has always been appreciating and creating beauty. His involvement with family and connection with nature and people of diverse cultures and background has fostered a continual desire to help others in need, initiate creativity through painting, drawing, photography and poetry while traveling the world and recording memories.
Mr. Weeks first gained inspiration from his uncle Leo Weeks, an artist proficient in oils and watercolor who for many years managed the illustration team at Popular Mechanics Magazine in Chicago and New York prior to the digital/computer age. Leo Weeks was also a signature member, award winning artist, and a past president of the Palette and Chisel Club in Chicago, IL.
Mr. Weeks continues to take inspiration from several watercolourists who made their mark in the UK such as Douglas Treasure, Trevor Chamberlain, Jack Merriott, Edward Seago, Andrew Pitt, and Edward Wesson. Peter Brown and Edward Seago as plein-air oil painters in the UK have also been a source of inspiration. Also Watercolorists David Taylor and Greg Allen from Australia have been a source of inspiration.
Mr. Weeks follows contemporary pastel artists such as Albert Handel, Lorenzo Chavez, Doug Dawson, Tony Allain, Maxwell Wilks, Nanci King Mertz, Tom Christopher and Fred Somers. Mr. Weeks also follows contemporary oil painters such as Clyde Aspevig, Steve Atkinson, Scott Lloyd Anderson, Joshua Cunningham, Marc Dalessio, Joe Paquet, Josh Elliott, Josh Clare, and the Old Lyme Colony painters consisting of master oil painters Childe Hassam, William Chadwick, Theodore Robinson, Willard Leroy Metcalf and Henry Ward Ranger.
His ability to learn from other 'painting' and 'drawing' mediums applied in various ways to other mediums principally oil, pastel and watercolor, has been a focal point in his pastel class at the Minnetonka Center for the Arts in Wayzata, Minnesota, where he teaches on a periodic basis. Mr. Weeks also teaches watercolor at the Minnetonka Center for the Arts and pastel at the Edina Art Center, Edina, Minnesota.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Mr. Weeks is a University of Illinois alumni with a Bachelor of Architecture degree. He is an award winning artist in drawing/pastel, oil/canvas, acrylic and watercolor mediums active in the following organizations:
Minnesota Watercolor Society
Northstar Watermedia Society, Signature Member
Lake Country Pastel Society
Transparent Watercolor Society of America
Minnesota Artists Association
Cass Gilbert Society, Inc., former Treasurer
Outdoor Painters of Minnesota (OPM), former Treasurer
Faculty: Minnetonka Center for the Arts, Wayzata, MN
Faculty: Edina Art Center, City of Edina, MN
Eden Prairie Board of Appeals and Adjustments, former Member
Eden Prairie Heritage Preservation Commission, former Commissioner
His artwork has been displayed at local galleries and museums, including the White Bear Center for the Arts Northern Lights Annual Regional Show, the Minnetonka Center for the Arts, and the American Swedish Institute, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Where shown, standard signature 'ART WEEKS' appears on watercolor artwork. Where shown, monogram signature A\ V with strike-through appears on pastel, acrylic, and oil artwork. Refer to his Linkedin website for other biographical information, other images, and a link to this website.
CREATING BEAUTY IN LIFE WITH ART, IMAGINATION, AND THE STUDY OF NATURE THROUGH EXPLORATION, TRAVEL, AND CHERISHED MEMORIES.