J P Anderson

J P Anderson is an artist, musician, and educator. He has lived most of his life on the West Coast of North America, and is inspired by the temperate rainforests of the Pacific Northwest and the arid wilderness of the Southwest; especially the plants and animals that thrive both in the cities and the wildlands.

His art has been exhibited in Seattle and San Diego; and he has taught art, music, and languages in Seattle, Tacoma, and Tecate, BC, Mexico.

He studied art at Shoreline Community College and Pratt Fine Arts Center. After transferring to the University of Washington for undergrad, he completed a Master’s in Spanish at the University of Salamanca, where he wrote his thesis on El arte español como forma de protesta (Spanish art as a form of protest).

Self-awareness and material-awareness are important aspects of his work. He uses wood, steel, plastic, and concrete not only for their utilitarian and textural qualities, but for what they represent in our local, national, and global society.

One of his primary art mediums is mural painting, which he teaches with Urban ArtWorks in Seattle. Some of the murals he has designed and painted are at Shoreline Community College, Holy Family Bilingual Catholic School, Lowell Elementary School, and Alki Elementary School.

He has been playing the drums since 1999, and has played in various bands and open jams in the Seattle area. He has taught in public and private schools, and currently teaches with West Side Music Academy, School of Rock, Miller Community Center, and Mode Music and Performing Arts. One of his most memorable musical experiences was hosting community jam sessions in Tecate, BC, Mexico in 2016.

Forest Fire Series:
This Land is Your Land, Firewood, Dead Tree, N/A
Self-awareness or material-awareness is an important aspect of this series: the burning of the wood panel of a painting of a forest fire, so that the piece itself is both a burnt tree and a painting burning trees. It is, unfortunately, a landscape that we are confronted with more and more every year.

Rooms:
This project explores different ideas for painting the interior of a house.
Green Room: A one-color gradient from light green to dark green, a leaf-cutter ant cuts a hole in the door.
Corridor: A high-contrast (greyscale) gradient from black to white.
Grass Room: Tall blades of grass and a dandelion bud.
The Attic: Black walls, ceiling and floor boards; white holes and cracks emphasizing the knot holes and cracks and breaks in the wood; black and white symbols and shapes on the walls.