Jerry Michalak is an educator and artist residing in the Hudson River Valley. He attended the State University of New York at New Paltz, studying with Modernist Alexander Minewski and Abstract Expressionist painter, Joop Sanders. He earned his post-graduate degree in painting and photography.

Over the past several years, Jerry worked on a series of winter landscapes, specifically wooded areas. These paintings were very abstract with minimal color. They reflect one of his favorite quotes: "There's not enough nothing in it" by John Cage. New York Times reviewer, Benjamin Genocchio commenting on his work, wrote: …"Beginning with depictions of landscapes, he gradually covers them with layers of white paint until they disappear, imitating the effects of a snowstorm. To use an adjective that may sound old school (or new age), they are incandescent”. ("Weather Channel" an invitational group exhibit, Islip Art Museum) These paintings were predominantly white, others done later in this series emphasized a greater use of color.

Jerry has not only been working with snow and winter as a major theme, but he has used many of his images, sketches and photographs, old and new, created from his favorite surroundings. These works are not necessarily a depiction of any one season or event, but are a fusion of textures, colors and imagery that have been observed over a span of time. This can be seen in many of his mixed media sketches on paper.

Many of his newest paintings represent "snowscapes" that are caught up in the throes of winter. He is using a more minimalist approach by using abstract shapes, textures and colors and incorporating them within recognizable elements. Some of his most recent works will suggest woodland trails and locations that are found throughout the Hudson Valley, including expressive "Fantasy Waterfalls" painted in a complex environment. Concurrently, he is painting within a theme of "The Vanishing Wilderness" working in faded colors and textures.

Selected Exhibits:

2025 - Woodstock Artists Association, Active Members Exhibit

2024 - Arts on the Lake, Lake Carmel NY, Fine Arts Exhibit

- Putnam Arts Council, Juried exhibit

2023 - Putnam Arts council, Mahopac NY, Juried Exhibit

- Arts on the Lake, Lake Carmel NY, Fine Arts Exhibit

2022 - Arts on the Lake, Lake Carmel NY, Fine Art Exhibit

2021 - Putnam Arts Council, Mahopac NY, Online Juried Exhibit

2020 - Wired Gallery, High Falls, NY, " (Re) Wired " Invitational Exhibit

- WAAM, "FOCUS ONLINE, A Different Kind of Now" juried exhibit

2019 - Beacon Arts, Beacon NY., Members Exhibit

- Woodstock Artists Association and Museum, "Focus-A Better World" juried exhibit

2018 - Woodstock Artists Association and Museum, "Focus-the Abstract Heart " received JUROR'S AWARD

2017 - Gallery 66 NY, Cold Spring, NY., Juried Exhibit

2016 - WAAM Woodstock Artists Association and Museum, Woodstock NY Solo Show - April 2016

- Gallery 66 NY - Cold Spring, NY - "Survey of Regional Artists" Invitational Exhibit

2015 - Kent Art Association, Kent Ct - Juried Fine Arts Exhibit

- WAAM Woodstock Artists Association and Museum, Woodstock NY - "Noteworthy" Invitational Exhibit

- Gallery at The Falcon, Marlboro NY - Solo Exhibit (18 paintings from 2013-2014)

2014 - Arts on the Lake, Lake Carmel NY - Fine Art Exhibit

2013 - Art in the Loft, Millbrook NY - Juried Exhibit

- Pour House Gallery, Poughkeepsie NY - Solo Exhibit

- Putnam Arts Council, Mahopac NY – Juried Fine Arts Exhibit

2012 - Warner gallery, Millbrook NY – “Snow Bound” Solo Exhibit

- Arts Mid-Hudson, Poughkeepsie NY - Fine Arts Exhibit

2009 - Islip Art Museum, Islip NY – Invitational Exhibit

Other exhibits include:

Arts on the Lake, Lake Carmel NY - Several Annual Fine Arts Exhibits

Merwinsville Hotel Restoration, Gaylordsville CT – Invitational Fine Arts Exhibits

Putnam Arts Council, Mahopac NY - Juried Fine Art Exhibits, “Best in Show” and Merit Award

Marymount College, Tarrytown, NY - Invitational Group Exhibit

Neuberger Museum, Purchase NY - Juried Educators Exhibition

SUNY New Paltz, N.Y. - Invitational Educators Exhibit

White Pond Art Center, Stormville NY - Group Exhibit, Merit Award

ARTIST’S STATEMENT:

Throughout my career, I have always enjoyed working with the details of the ever changing appearance of wooded areas and wetlands. I have a traditional background in black and white photography and have spent several years photographing images of ice, water, snow and the brush and bramble that make up these surroundings. In time, my work in photography began to influence the direction of my painting. As a result, I began working with winter images in mixed media on paper and abstracting snow covered woodlands on canvas.

In some of my earlier works, I started with a realistic drawing, adding colors, strokes and lines to my compositions. I would layer several shades of white until the colors would blur, fragment and almost disappear. The combination of layering, re-drawing and fragmenting shapes became the mechanism that completed my paintings. It has been said that the layering of white until the images and colors seem to disappear “imitated the effects of a snow storm.”

Over the past several years I have painted compositions that are a mixture of seasonal colors, shapes and textures of neighboring woodlands. They are usually a comment on nature’s pushing and pulling and the disarray that is brought about by the ravages of time. These broken, trampled, frozen and distorted images are the elements that became the foundation for many of my paintings.

I have been working on a number of paintings from images of waterfalls in the Lower Hudson Valley and surrounding areas. Some are narratives, either obvious or obscure while others are abstractions of what this area has to visually offer. Most recently I have been incorporating a more minimalist approach into many themes (The Vanishing Wilderness), while exploring darker images of "Fantasy Waterfalls".

One of my favorite artists is the American Modernist, John Marin.

“I did something I rather like, a disorderly orderly sort of thing…painting disorder under a big order.” ( disorder being the chaos of the visible world) John Marin

Jerry's studio is located in the town of Holmes, Dutchess County, New York, where he resides with his wife, Victoria.

Inquiries welcome.

Email for availability; prices upon request.

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