Curriculum Vitae
Jason Keiser
Born 1978 in East Chicago, Indiana, USA
Lives and works in Goshen, Indiana, USA
Education
1997-2002 Bachelors Degree in Painting and Drawing
Grace College, Winona Lake, Indiana
Faculty Mentor Professor Timothy W. Young
2016-2017 Transition to Teaching-Secondary Visual Arts
Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana
Faculty Mentor Doctor Suzanne Ehst
Selected Exhibitions
2024 Solo Exhibition, Village Art Gallery, Valparaiso, IN
2024 Juried Exhibition, 46th Annual Elkhart Regional Juried Show, Midwest Museum of American Art, Elkhart, IN
2024 Art Show, Art’s on the Millrace, Goshen, IN
2024 Juried Exhibition, Michiana Annual Arts Competition, Box Factory for the Arts, Saint Joseph, MI
2024 Group Exhibition, “Around the Bend”, South Bend Museum of Art, South Bend, IN
2024 Group Exhibition, Cass County Regional Gallery Exhibit, Cassopolis, MI
2023 Juried Exhibition, 45th Annual Elkhart Regional Juried Show, Midwest Museum of American Art, Elkhart, IN
2022 Juried Exhibition, 44th Annual Elkhart Regional Juried Show, Midwest Museum of American Art, Elkhart, IN
2022 Art Show, Art’s on the Millrace, Goshen, IN
2021 Group Exhibition, Cass County Regional Gallery Exhibit, Cassopolis, MI
Awards
2022
Winner: Scott & Kristin Mereness Purchase Award for Welcome to Warren Dunes. Midwest Museum of American Arts, 44th Annual Elkhart Regional Juried Show, Elkhart, IN
2022
September Featured Artist: Pan-O-Ply; Story & Art of Michiana Magazine
2022
Winner: People’s Choice Award. Arts on the Millrace. Goshen, IN
2017
Winner: Mayor’s Art Council Scholarship Winner, Goshen, IN
Artist Statement
My work with landscape painting first began during the spring of 2020. While at home during the COVID lockdown, I became inspired with landscape painting. The landscape was something that I had not worked with before this time. I used the extra sparetime of the shutdown to explore some of the history, artists and techniques used by landscape painting. As the outside world was gripped with fear and uncertainty I was inspired to use Art to capture the beauty of the natural world. I wanted my work to serve as a reminder to others and myself as to how truly beautiful this world is.
The goal of my art is not to capture a natural scene as a Photorealist. Although I would consider myself a Realist in the manner of my depictions, my focus is more on the experience and sensations that compelled me to capture that moment in time. Nearly all of my artworks are taken from a personal experience within nature. Within each of those moments there was something that had inspired me to pause and document the experience. Many of these moments were initially captured by the use of photographic references. Within the last year I have made efforts to also capture them by ‘en plein air’, or ‘in the open air’.
I want my work to be accessible to all people. You may or may not understand the craft of oil painting or even Art History, but my hope is that you are still inspired by scenes depicted before you. Historically, Art was most often created as a benefit to the greater community. From the ritualistic cave paintings designed to bring fortune of a good hunt or the biblical narrative of European cathedrals, art was designed for everyone to enjoy and understand. As humans, we are often struck by the beauty of a sunset, the majesty of a mountain range or the rhythmic crashing of ocean waves. These moments are when our spirits have a brush with the sublime and the Divine is revealed in part to us. As an artist, I want to capture this experience not only through the grandness of a mountain within a national park, but also through the commonplace of everyday scenes that wait for the eye and hand of an artist to reveal.