About Artist Harold Gregor

About
the
Artist

Harold Gregor in his studio in
Bloomington, Illinois

Illinois Flatscape #78
60" x 82"	2002	Acrylic on canvas

Biographical Statement

Academic

Grants and awards

Selected bibliography

Education

Juried Shows

Workshops/Artist in Residence

Biographical Statement

Harold Gregor gained national prominence in the early 1970's within the Photo-realism movement, turning to farm structures and the sweeping horizon of the rural Midwest for inspiration. Along with the realist landscape depictions, this Bloomington, Illinois, artist is also known for his unusual Flatscape paintings which combine an aerial perspective with unique color choices to suggest an essential Midwestern landscape.

In 1995, upon retirement, Gregor began exploring a third aspect called "trail" paintings -- colorful abstract paintings derived from scenes of a local walking trail. He continues to paint and show all four modes: realist panoramas, colorful aerial Flatscapes, energetic abstract "trail" paintings, and his latest effort Vibrascapes.

Gregor, a native of Detroit, Michigan, received his BS from Wayne State University, his MS from Michigan State University, and his doctorate from Ohio State University.

Among many distinctions, he is the recipient of a 1993-1994 National Endowment of the Arts grant and a NEA Midwest Fellowship. In 1993 he was awarded the Illinois Academy of Fine Arts Lifetime Achievement Award. Gregor's work is represented in important public and private collections throughout the United States and Europe. Gregor is a Distinguished Professor, Emeritus at Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois.

He is represented by Richard Gray Gallery in Chicago, Illinois; Gerald Peters Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico and Dallas, Texas; Katharina Rich Perlow Gallery in New York City, and Tory Folliard Gallery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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Teaching Experience

Illinois State University. Normal, Illinois
Distinguished Professor of Art. 1970-1995.
Emeritus and Adjunct. 1995-current.

Chapman College. Orange, California
Head of Department
Associate Professor of Art. 1966-1970.

Purdue University. West Lafayette, Indiana
Assistant Professor of Art. 1963-1966.

San Diego State University. San Diego, California.
Assistant Professor of Art. 1960-1963.

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Grants and Rewards

1993-94	National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
1993	Recipient: Illinois Academy of Fine Arts. Lifetime Achievement Award
1990	Board Member. Watercolor Honor Society
1989	Burlington-Northern Award for Outstanding College Teaching
1988	Distinguished Professor. Illinois State University. Normal, Illinois
	Illinois State University Researcher Grant
	Outstanding University Researcher Award. ISU. Normal, Illinois
1986	National Endowment for the Arts. Arts Midwest Regional Visual Arts Fellowship
	Creative Researcher Recognition Award. ISU
1985	Watercolor Honor Society. Charter Member
	Distinguished Teacher Award. College of Fine Arts. ISU. Normal, Illinois
1973	National Endowment for the Arts Short-Term Activities Fellowship Grant

Recognition

Who's Who International

Who's Who in American Art

Who's Who in Midwest America

2000 Outstanding Artists and Designers of the 20th Century


View from a Train (#193)
49" x 67"	2006	Acrylic on canvas

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Selected Bibliography

Articles By The Artist

Gregor, Harold with Katherine Gregor. "Discovering a Lost Technique." The Artist's Magazine. July 1987: 40-45.

---. "The Techniques of Flatscape." The Artist's Magazine. Dec. 1986: 34-43 (illus.).

Gregor, Harold. "Colorfields from the Heartland." Watercolor Magic Magazine. 7:1 (Winter 1999): 38-43 (illus).

---. "Requirements for a New Vision: Reflections by an Artist Teacher." Mills and Irving, eds. Visual Arts in the Ninth Decade. National Council of Art Administrators. 1980.

---. Catalog essay for "State of the Art." Parkland College Biennial National Watercolor Show. Champaign, IL: Parkland College, 1991.

---. "Speculating on the Role of Watercolor in the 1990s." Watercolor USA Honor Society Newsletter. Summer 1990: 3-4.

Dissertation: "Clarification of an Artistic Position with Reference to Gestalt Perceptual Principles." 1960.

Retrospective Exhibition Catalogues

Arthur, John. Midwestern Romanticism: Exhibition of Contemporary Landscape Paintings. Peoria, IL:Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences, 1996.

Cotter, Holland. "Harold Gregor and the American Landscape." introductory essay in Harold Gregor: A New View/Painter in the American Landscape Tradition. Peoria, IL: Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences, 1987: 8-10.

Nordland, Gerald. Harold Gregor. Rockford, IL: Rockford Art Museum, 1993.

Sharp, Kevin. Harold Gregor's Illinois. Mt. Vernon, IL, Mitchell Museum 2005.

Selected Articles About The Artist

Arthur, John. Green Woods and Crystal Water: the American Landscape Tradition. Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Okla. Seattle: U of Washington Press, 1999: 82, 88 (illus), 129, 165.

Arthur, John. Spirit of Place: Contemporary Landscape Painting and the American Tradition. Boston: Little, Brown, 1989: 93-99, 134-35 (illus).

Battock, Gregory. Super Realism. New York: Dutton, 1975: 265.s

Cross, Robert. "Prairie Panache." Chicago Tribune. 8 May 1986: 1,3.

Driscoll, John and Arnold Skolnick. The Artist and the American Landscape. Cobb, CAs: First Glance Book, O.G. Publishing, 1993: 102-03 (illus.).

Goldman, Betsy Schein. "Harold Gregor." American Artist. Nov. 1986: 74-79.

Goodyear, Frank, Jr. Contemporary American Realism Since 1980. Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1981: 140-41 (illus).

Gussow, Alan. Rediscovering the Landscape of the Americas. Santa Fe, NM: Gerald Peters Gallery Publication, 1996: 54 (illus), 99 -100.

Hanson, Henry. "Painterly Poet of the Prairie State." Chicago Magazine. Sept. 1982: 126.

Iris, Bonnie. "Recent Images, Recent Concerns: Harold Gregor, Shifting Colorscapes of the Midwest." Watercolor Magazine. Fall 1997: 36-39 (illus.).

Kinsey, Joni L. Plain Pictures: Images of the American Prairie. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press: 186, 188-191 (illus), 201.

Koplos, Janet. "Harold Gregor at Katharina Rich Perlow", review, Art in America, March 2003: 123.

Lucie-Smith, Edward. American Art Now. New York: William Morrow, 1985: 92-93.

Roberts, Nancy. "Harold Gregor." U.S. Art. Dec. 1989: 47-51.

Sullivan, Terry. The Best of Sketching and Drawing: A Collection of Still Lifes, Portraits, and Landscapes. Gloucester, MA: Rockport Publishers, 1999: 37 (illus).

Thompson, Walter. "I-55 at I-74." Art and Artists. April-May 1989: 9.

Weil, Rex. "Three Visions: Landscape in 2005", K. R. Perlow Gallery, NYC, review, Art News, April 2005: 130. (illus).

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Education

Ph.D., Ohio State University. 1960.

M.S., Michigan State University, 1953.

B.S., Wayne State University, 1951.


Trailscape (#182)
60" x 82"	2003	Acrylic on canvas

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Selected Shows Juried

1998	National Watercolor Society. Los Angeles, California
1994	Fourth Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary Art. Red Clay Survey. Huntsville, Alabama
1992	"Watercolor: USA 1992." Springfield, Missouri
1991	Eleventh Annual National Small Painting Exhibition. Wichita Center for the Arts. Wichita, Kansas
1990	North Shore Art League Exhibition of Illinois Artists. Evanston, Illinois
1988	Milwaukee Annual Art Festival. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1988	San Diego Art Institute Annual Exhibition. San Diego, California
1984	Winter Park Sidewalk Arts Festival. Winter Park, Florida
2001	El Dorado,Kansas, Annual Art Competition
2003	Rocky Mountain National Watercolor Show, Golden, CO

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Workshops/Artist-in-Residence

2004	Loveland Art Museum. Loveland, Colorado.
1999	Ohio Watercolor Society. Akron, Ohio
	Utah State University. Logan, Utah
	Oklahoma Arts Institute. Quartz Mountain, Oklahoma
1998	Watercolor Honor Society Conference. co-chair
1997	Art Museum of South Texas. Corpus Christi, Texas
1995	Tweed Museum. Duluth, Minnesota
	Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences. Peoria, Illinois
1994	Midwestern State University. Wichita Falls, Texas
1992	Vermont Studio Center. Johnson, Vermont
1989	Art Institute of Southern California. Laguna Beach, California
2007	Springmaid Watermedia Conference, Myrtle Beach, SC
2008	Springmaid Watermedia Conference, Myrtle Beach, SC
	Ringling School of Art, Sarasota, FL

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Harold Gregor Art Studio
P.O. Box 3246
Bloomington, Illinois 61702
flatscaper@aol.com

flatscaper@aol.com

2/2/2008