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Talking With Paint

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Michael Peery, a painting instructor at RISD Continuing Education in Westerly, has translated an MFA from the New York Academy of Art into a career as a successful painter with a stint in France, a professor at the Rhode Island School of Design and Rhode Island College, and a fine-arts instructor in New England and New York City.

“Becoming a college professor was a life goal for me, along with becoming an artist,” says Michael. “When I was in college at Utah State University, I had tremendous respect for my professors and was strongly influenced by them. I have always loved school, from the time I was a child.”

A portrait artist who works primarily with oil paint on linen and canvas, Michael comes from a family rich in talent, including a mother who had her own ballet studio and taught dance for many years. “It stands to reason that I, too, would share that which I have come to understand,” says Michael. “I guess it stems from my natural instincts for wanting to help people.”

There’s a benefit for the artist, too: “In the classroom, as the instructor, you really have to know your subject, which has continued to feed my knowledge and practice of drawing and painting. I have learned more from teaching than I ever did as a student.”

“Art,” says Michael, “is the greatest form of communication; universal, transcending all barriers. So, to surround myself with like-minded individuals pursuing a greater knowledge of this language, and having developed a deep understanding of it for myself, I find myself wanting to share that. Sometimes at the sacrifice of my own work. That is the challenge, and the thrill.”

Bob Curley, So Rhode Island, South County, Kara McKamey, Ceramics, Jamestown Arts Center, JAC, pottery, sculpture, Michael Peery, Painting, RISD Continuing Education, Westerly, RISD CE, Taleen Batalian, abstraction, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, South County Art Association, Providence CityArts for Youth, Encaustic painting, hot wax painting, Jen Nauck, Eben Horton, Glass Instructors, The Glass Station, Wakefield, glassblowing studio, gallery, encaustic, hot wax, School of American Crafts, Penland School of Crafts, Corning Museum of Glass

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