PAINTING

Artist Gregg Rochester began his art career through the mediums of silversmithing, pottery, and music over thirty years ago. His first efforts at painting came in 1989,  when he began creating hand painted clothing designs. His wearable art was featured in several specialty boutiques in various parts of the country and internationally  in the Coldwater Creek catalog. 

Rochester attended Dakota Wesleyan University, receiving a B.A. in English and psychology.  He received graduate degrees in clinical psychology from  Indiana  University. Rochester received fine art training at the graduate level at the University of Kansas, the Instituto Allende,  the Belles Artes (San Miguel de Allende, Mexico), and Indiana University.  His most recent painting studies were with renowned Utah tonalist painter, Michael Workman at the Scottsdale Artist's School, USA. 

Gregg Rochester’s mother Jacqueline Rochester, a career painter, encouraged him to pursue oil painting in 1991.  Inspired by the American MIdwestern and Southwestern countryside, he began producing landscapes and animal studies. He enjoys working in larger formats, producing some works in the 72”X 72” range.

His paintings can be found in institutional, private, and corporate collections throughout the United States and Canada, Europe , and Asia.  Rochester's painting, "Are We There Yet?" was chosen for public display in the Senator George McGovern Library and Center for Leadership.  He was named "Wisconsin Artist of the Year" by TOSCA (Theater, Opera, Shakespeare, Culture, and Arts), a Minneapolis publication in 2012. Most recently, he was commissioned by the Minneapolis Institute of Art, a major art museum in the U.S. to paint a bicycle for the "Italian Fashion from 1945 to Present" show. 

Rochester’s contemplative work seeks to stir the natural spirituality and grace of the land and the animals closest to it. He seeks to express the comfort many feel as they gaze upon the countryside. One observer pointed out, “Rochester’s work eases the eye, calms the chaos, and leads one to return to what they know is right with themselves and the land.”