GREGORY HOOSE

DIGITAL SUMI ARTIST

Gregory Hoose, MFA

Transcendent Brush
April - June, 1999

Show Catalog

VRML Gallery Exhibit
(needs free vrml plug in browser)

Artist's Statement

     About the Brush. I have found the Chinese ink brush to be the superior
artists tool. With this single brush (size) one can achieve a OO point to a
swath the length of the brush, and seven distinct shades of gray or
tonalities of color, in one stroke! All my life I have been either seeking this
versatility or using it.


When I was just starting with ink in the 60's I happened upon a
calligraphy point that expanded as one pressed down. I happily drew the
branches of trees with that very expressive point not knowing that one
day I would be using a much superior point to draw much similar branches.
Ten years later I discovered the ink Brush. Its usage delved deep into my
soul as if I were remembering something from ages past. I could not get
over its expressive value. Twenty years later I was so wrapped up in the
computer that I dropped using any brush, but I remembered the ease of
that specially tapered Chinese tool and found its digital components in
a pressure sensitive tablet and Aldus Superpaint. I found that I could
emulate the fine point to swath and the gradation in one stroke!


The Brush was always in my mind, and still is. I have often contemplated
its dynamic in Chinese life; with writing and art being so close in one
instrument. It is odd to me that in my early ink drawings I can still
find verse mingled between the branches of the trees I drew with that
calligraphy point. Sometimes the spellings of the words and the shape of
the letters in English denote wider meaning and set the verse on a
cosmic course like the runic symbols or reputed elfish script.


This must have happened in China also, so very long ago. At least I see
the similarities in Zen Buddhism and the Haiga and Haiku. Often I stop
and thank the ancients for this fine instrument, so simple in its design
and so effective in satisfaction!


-- Greg Hoose

Artist's Biography

    An artist for all his life, Gregory has come from a family of artists. His mother was locally known as a self-taught watercolorist, his father a sculptor in wood. His sister attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro as an art student on a grant for her talent. His aunt taught art and has a school named after her. His uncle and cousin are well known musicians. Gregory began working in pottery and drawing at an early age and went on to obtain a BA in Art from UNC-Charlotte and an MA in Art from East Carolina University. He has attended many schools in North Carolina and Illinois and taught briefly at schools in North Carolina. Of recent he teaches Chinese painting privately. He has studied privately at the sculpture gardens in Brookgreen South Carolina, at the Vatican in Rome and Florence Italy (specifically the works of Michelangelo), the Norton Simon in Pasadena CA, the various exhibits in Chicago Illinois and the Chinese and Japanese exhibits at Kansas City. Talents include sculpture in Onyx and other stone, metal sculpture, pottery, watercolor, oil and acrylic painting, drawing, 3D computer imaging and 2D digital art. Gregory and his family also are involved in puppetry and show and sell puppets professionally. In 1977 Eleanor Hoose (mother) and Gregory began to study Sumi or Chinese art from the Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting. Eleanor, being a watercolorist, had an intuitive insight into the technique which Greg picked up, and eventually translated to pottery surfaces successfully, which was his aim. However the Sumi was so fascinating that Gregory continued down the years until 1990 when he became interested in digital art. Gregory gave up almost all other forms of plastic expression save for pottery and the occasional use of brush and ink, and dove into the cyber-digital world. Some of the first digital color works are the Sumi Animals that you see in this exhibit. Their execution occurred at a special time when Gregory and his young family resided at a school of meditation; spending many hours in deep contemplation and blissful union with inner peace. Today Gregory and his family live in their home in Fairfield Iowa, enjoying the snows of the midwestern United States and taking occasional trips to Germany and Italy to visit relatives and the beaches of Florida to surf in the waves.

GreyGoose Arts

Website http://members.xoom.com/ghoose
Fairys http://members.xoom.com/ghoose/fairy.html
Greg Hoose 507 S. 3rd. St. Fairfield IA 52556 515 472 6306 March 30, 1999

A html archival documentation of  exhibit
installed at the Pygoya Webmuseum of Cyberart

All works' copyrights are retained by the artist. Special permission has been granted by the artist to exhibit his works of art in this online museum. . Please visit Terry Carrolls FAQ, read section 2.3, copyrights.