~ About the Artist ~

~ About the Artist ~

Introduction:

My name, as you may have gathered from elsewhere on this site, is David Goodrich. I live in Vermont with my wife and two daughters, and I work on my art in the brief windows of time between working full-time and raising a family. When people ask me where I learned how to draw, I have to say that I am primarily self-taught., although I did minor in Art (which included studio and art history courses) while majoring in Geology at Hamilton College in Clinton, NY.

The first 40 some years of life:

I grew up in Tonawanda, NY (outside of Buffalo), starting out as an infant. After that, I went to Hamilton College, and then to the Peace Corps, where I spent 3 years in Togo, West Africa (1985-88). Then back to the States, California, Burlington, VT…..within a year or two, I fell into teaching French at a boys boarding school in New Hampshire(1989-1992) . After that, I entered the Master’s Program in French at Middlebury College, with an academic year in Paris, France. Following a brief return to part-time teaching, I moved back up to Burlington,VT with wife to be(1994?). I had a large circle of musician friends there who shared my interest in traditional music(celtic, American folk, bluegrass..) and I wanted to get back to that. My wife indulged me and we’ve been in the Burlington, VT area since. For several years now, I have been working at a company that does bookbinding and conservation. And now I am contentedly sliding toward old age.

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Looking back:

Here are what I feel to be some key formative experiences.

Very early on, I happened to have had a knack in school for drawing and art in general. It seemed I was always encouraged by teachers, friends, and my parents. Don’t underestimate the power of placing someone’s art on a wall at school, or on the refrigerator….

A Summer Art Program. Back around the eighth grade ~ 1977, our community (Kenmore School Dist.) hadn't yet gotten hostile toward supporting public education. If there ever was a paradise.... The school district offered a summer art program, run by Art teacher Fred Kick. We spent one day a week field sketching, via school bus to various locations. From these sketches, we worked during the rest of the week, making oil paintings We learned to cut our own frames, stretch our own canvas on the frames, and work with oils. It was a pivotal experience and my parents supported me afterwards by buying supplies so that I could continue on my own - my studio was a corner in the basement. I was into representational art and into depicting scenes and characters from The Lord of the Rings.

During high school and college years, I focused on oil painting. In college, I took a few studio and Art History classes, but majored in Geology - email any questions you have regarding plate tectonics. Then I went to Africa.

African Drawings. I worked on "practicing" art while a Peace Corps volunteer in Togo, West Africa (1985-88). There, however, my medium was primarily pen & ink, and my focus was on capturing accurately the sights and people around me. A year or two back in the States, I received the greatest compliment from a fellow returned Peace Corps Volunteer, who said my pictures captured the place better than any photos he had taken or seen. And so, in my consistent desire to capture what I see in front of me with accuracy, I have come to see my work as akin to photojournalism with blank paper and a pen instead of camera. And Vermont has an endless supply of subjects to inspire me.

Beyond just a hobby. Several years after the Peace Corps experience, after traveling around the States and teaching French in a private school, I married and settled with my wife Lisa in and around Burlington, VT. My life-long "art hobby" became more focused and disciplined following an important commission. Lisa, my soon-to-be-wife, encouraged me to design our wedding invitation, with an original Vermont theme drawing.

This small project inspired me to take up the work of capturing landmarks and scenes of Vermont in the same "photojournalistic" approach of my African sketches, attempting to document accurately the character of place that gives Vermont its appeal.

Christopher Morse, artist, art teacher, and former colleague from my French teaching days, became my mentor, encouraging and teaching me how to create silkscreen limited-edition prints and motivating me to want to be more than just a hobbyist. And he continues to be a great source of advice and encouragement (to be continued…). Here is a link to his website: oculuspress.com

Together, Lisa and David formed GOODRICH INK and began developing a line of products from fine art prints to cards, tee-shirts, mugs incorporating the artwork.