About
the Artist
Reed Clarke
Reed Clarke was born in Long Beach,
California in 1947 and grew up in the Los Angeles
area. He attended art classes as a teenager and after
graduating from college in Portland, attended the
University of Iowa where he earned a Master’s of Fine
Arts degree in 1972. While at Iowa he was influenced
by the work of Mauricio Lasanski. After graduate school
Reed spent a year living in Europe, with extended
periods of time in England, France, Holland and Scotland.
Upon returning to Portland in 1975, Reed continued
to study print making and painting for several years
with George Johanson and Jack Portland. After teaching
for a number of years at Oregon Episcopal School,
he returned to graduate school and obtained a Ph.D.
in counseling psychology from the University of Oregon.
At present, he divides his time between his work at
Providence Hospital and painting.
“My paintings select human being
as subjects – portraits in a sense, but not done to
please the sitter. An interest in psychology compliments
my focus on the representations of persons as the
focus of the work. When the subject of a painting
is a person, hopefully, another element is added to
the overall experience of the work – a relationship
to the one who is looking. And if the painting is
successful, by virtue of drawing together the dynamic
tension of the painting’s various elements, it may
make us want to look and look again. I hope to create
in the viewer a desire to continue to experience the
painting over time, as with someone whom he or she
feels they would like to know better.”
