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Jerry Ross

Artist Jerry Ross began painting at age seven in Buffalo, when his art teacher got him into classes at the Albright Art School. "I was the only little kid," he says. "All the others were teenagers." When the school closed five years later, Ross took a few private lessons. "After that I've had no formal training," he says. "I've self-studied pretty much continuously." Ross got into teaching through the Teacher Corps and spent a year teaching science (and pursuing his painting) in Naco, Arizona, before he moved to Eugene in 1974. "I fell in with UO art students," he says. "My first show was at Max's Tavern." He studied computer science at the UO in the 80s, and has taught computer science at LCC for 13 years. A long-time member of the New Zone Art Collective, Ross was a primary founder of the annual Salon des Refusés and of the Downtown Initiative for the Visual Arts. 2000 was a breakthrough year for recognition of his art, with a solo exhibit in Loiano, Italy, and a top award in the Mayor's Art Show. Ross will give a gallery talk on Post-Impressionism and European art at the UO's Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at 2pm on Saturday, January 28.

 

happening people

photograph and story by Paul Neevel

Eugene Weekly / 26 January 2006

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