David Sommers
Mediums: Painter
Studio: 255
Teacher of high school foreign language and art history. Recipient of multiple national, regional, and local awards in art and international studies. Resident Artist at the Banana Factory, Bethlehem, PA. Teacher of Spanish, Art History, and Comparative World Religions - Moravian Academy (1995 to present). Associate Pastor of Religious Education - Lititz Moravian Church (1987-1995) Art Instructor - Randolph Academy of Art (1994) Adjunct Faculty Member; Drawing and design - Millersville University (1994). Secondary Education Certificate in Spanish - Moravian College Advanced art study in classical design and painting - Barnstone Studios Master of Divinity - Moravian Theological Seminary. Master of Arts; Religious education - Presbyterian School of Christian Education. Undergraduate studies in painting and design - Temple University Tyler School of Art. Bachelors of Art; Art and religion with a minor in Spanish - Moravian College.
Artist Statement
Painting begins with my daily search for the subtle beauty that the world offers. And when I find that subtle beauty, my passion to paint kicks in. For where words fail, colors and brush strokes satisfy my desire to tell how I see the interplay of light and shadow in a fleeting moment. I like how Henry Ward Beecher sums it up: “Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.”
Some days painting allows my spirit to wander and explore my innermost being. Other days painting engages my rational side with careful planning and design based upon radiating lines and the Golden Section. I am inclined to simplify objective reality with straight lines and arcs. To reduce nature and urban scenes to more basic shapes and lines is to seek a subtle sophistication that I find in cubist art. Paul Cezanne sums it up so eloquently: I seek "to treat nature by the cylinder, the sphere, the cone.” For example, a tree trunk may be conceived of as a cylinder, an apple or orange a sphere. As a result, when I look at a cityscape I thrill at viewing everything through a geometric lens. When I look across a river at the green hillsides, I see gentle arcs that connect one set of trees to the next. Paradoxically, my vision is amplified as I simplify. Thus, I long to represent these fresh visions through drawing and painting. My challenge is to continue the artists’ conversation of what makes painting more than just painting; in sum, what distinctive contribution will I make to the world of art.
Artist Gallery
