Brian McCormick
In 2008, Brian McCormick retired from a career in architecture and returned to making art. In the 1970s, he had studied fine art at Western Illinois University and then earned an MFA in painting at the University of Notre Dame. While he was active exhibiting work during that time, he was unable to find supportive employment in the field and looked for another way to survive in an art-related occupation. This led him to turn toward a career in architecture, and he received a Master's degree in Architecture from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1984. He worked as a Preservation Architect in Madison, WI, for 25 years.
One by-product of that career was the restoration of an 1854 stone farmhouse as a weekend retreat. The house, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, sits just north of Galena, in the rolling hills of the Driftless Region. The rural location of woods, farm fields, prairie, country roads and the garden he maintains there are the inspiration for many of his paintings and woodblock prints.
While he has been working in watercolor for many years, his woodblock prints are a newer endeavor. He often combines the two media, adding watercolor to his prints. In addition to the Galena Center for the Arts, more of McCormick's work can be seen at Outside the Lines Art Gallery, here in Galena and at their other gallery in Dubuque. See his website, brianmccormick.artspan.com, for additional artwork and more details.
One by-product of that career was the restoration of an 1854 stone farmhouse as a weekend retreat. The house, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, sits just north of Galena, in the rolling hills of the Driftless Region. The rural location of woods, farm fields, prairie, country roads and the garden he maintains there are the inspiration for many of his paintings and woodblock prints.
While he has been working in watercolor for many years, his woodblock prints are a newer endeavor. He often combines the two media, adding watercolor to his prints. In addition to the Galena Center for the Arts, more of McCormick's work can be seen at Outside the Lines Art Gallery, here in Galena and at their other gallery in Dubuque. See his website, brianmccormick.artspan.com, for additional artwork and more details.
