Today we’d like to introduce you to Jack Ragland.
Jack began drawing and painting as a preschooler. From grade school throughout his career, Jack has won numerous awards. His advanced degrees and postgraduate studies in art and art history at UCLA where he taught on a graduate fellowship, prepared him to be a college art professor.
He headed the art department as an associate professor at Simpson College, Indianola, Iowa for twelve years. He had a sabbatical and studied in Vienna, Austria, ending his year with a successful one-man gallery show. Three of his graphic works were accepted into the permanent collection of Vienna’s prestigious Albertina Museum. He has traveled extensively in the United States, Mexico, Europe, Russia, China, and South America.
These travel experiences have provided subjects for many of his paintings. His achievements are listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World, International Who’s Who, and several other biographical directories.
He has worked in private collections around the world and in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum, The Phoenix Museum, The Harry Wood Museum, Arizona State University, The Kunst Museum – Basel, Switzerland, the Bibliotheque National – Paris, France, and more. “As long as I can remember, I wanted to be an artist because I love drawing and painting.
The question that always came up was how to make a living at it. (Particularly from my parents). It wasn’t till I was about 10 years old that I met my first professional artist in Crater Lake, Oregon. He advised me to go to a good art school and to learn to paint the nude body from life. He said, ‘If you can paint the nude, you can paint anything.’ That sounded very intriguing and exciting to me.
Another word of his advise was, ‘Never be a cheap bastard. No one will respect you.’ The summer after my junior year in high school, I met an artist in the Grand Canyon, who had studied at the Royal Academy in Munich, Germany under such well-known artists as Lovis Corinth. He said that he had had a perpetual vacation all his life since he left Germany. All this sounded very good to me.
After high school, my parents moved from California to Arizona. I had to wait 6 months to avoid having to pay out-of-state tuition. In that time, I worked as a busboy, a sign painter, and a commercial artist long enough to know that I wouldn’t be happy doing any of them as a life-long career. The head of the art department at Arizona State University advised me to get a B.A. in Art and a Ph.D. in Art History.
Then I could teach just about anywhere at a college or university and do my artwork in my free time. I got my B.A. and M.A. at ASU and completed the coursework for a Ph.D. in Art History from UCLA, but was advised not to do the dissertation unless I only wanted to teach Art History. I was hired as an assistant professor and chairman of the Art department at Simpson Liberal College in Iowa.
Since it was difficult to create a large number of paintings, I decided that if I could make serigraphs or original silkscreen prints, I could sell them at the art fairs that were becoming popular in the midwest and perhaps all over the United States. There were some very good ones, where they would have annual or biannual shows (Chicago, Omaha, Tulsa, and Kansas City).
For a while, this worked great, even though it was a lot of work schlepping the display equipment around, but it was worth it because there were a lot of sales.”
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Since I resigned from my college position in 1976 and moved back to California, many aspects of making a living as a fine artist and marketing my work have evolved with the times.
Art fairs have run their course and still exist in many communities. Galleries have become very specialized and cater to their specific markets and clientele. Interior designers influence the art many people use to decorate their homes. The internet companies that specialize in selling prints, reproductions and some original art are plentiful.
Many individual artists conduct the business of showing and selling their art through their websites along with entering local, national and international contests and shows. I must say I have been and still am a party to all of these approaches to selling and exhibiting my artwork. Also, I teach art classes and workshops, judge art exhibits, give demonstrations at art leagues and show my work to interested clients at my studio.
One venue open to all artists in the San Diego County Fair held in June through the 4th of July. I have entered this institution for the last 40 years and usually receive some special recognition each year. Also, I often sell a work or two. The good thing about this venue is a large number of people who visit the exhibit. It is equal to or greater than the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
What else should we know about your artwork?
I create impressionistic, romantic paintings of landscapes, people, still life, animals, and abstractions. While I paint from nature, I am always editing and designing things to make a more interesting and dynamic composition.
Everything I’ve painted is autobiographical — I have idealized most places and events to be a memory of the experience I had. I am proud that my paintings reflect my values: appreciation of Nature and preservation of the environment.
My goal is to uplift and inspire people to a fuller & richer way of life, a world as it could be instead of merely reflecting what it is.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Probably the success I have achieved can be mostly attributed to my consistent involvement in creating new artworks and in refining and improving older works in my inventory. Hardly a day goes by when I am not sketching, drawing, analyzing a composition or painting.
Also, I am constantly involved in meeting people who may have an interest in my works and refer them to my website or any current exhibit I have on display. Since I am an independent contractor, I am in a mode of self-promotion most of the time.
Pricing:
- very large paintings such as 4’x6′ are usually $10,000. – $12,000.
- medium size paintings such as 12″x16″ to 30″x40″ are $1000. – $4000.
- small paintings can run between $100. to $900. depending on the size and complexity
- signed laser prints 11″x14″ unmatted are $50.
Contact Info:
- Address: Studio and Home:5555 8th Street
Fallbrook, CA 92028 - Website: Ragland Fine Arts Atelier
- Phone: 760-728-9503
- Email: jwragland38@gmail.com
- Instagram: Jack Ragland Atelier
- Facebook: Jack Ragland Atelier
- Twitter: Jack Ragland Atelier
- Yelp: Jack Ragland Atelier
- Other: Jack Ragland Atelier
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