My paintings are reflections of changing ideas about the societal relationships to the land, the American experience, and the American dream. The landscape is an arena in which many different dramas of the American dream are played out. Trailers, houses, and strip-malls evoke shared experiences. This common denominator gives my work a broad resonance that allows even fragmentary visions to evoke complex narratives. My watercolors and oils eschew the particulars— what makes a location unique—and focus on the iconic—what makes disparate subjects universal. Photography is essential to my creative process. I create images that mimic photography—and photography’s implied veracity—that is not a photograph. My photorealistic paintings are created by piecing together images to create buildings and landscapes that do not necessarily exist in objective reality. Resume Scott Nelson Foster received his first instruction in drawing and painting from his uncle, Roland Giampaoli, and from his grandfather, Will Nelson, while growing up in Boise, Idaho. From them he learned a variety of expressive and analytical watercolor techniques. Mr. Foster has worked in a variety of two-dimensional media, including wax, glue and egg temperas, watercolor, oil, and serigraphy. His paintings have been featured in solo and juried exhibitions on the east and west coasts. He has recently completed portraits commissioned by the St. Kateri Tekakwitha Parish and the Musician of Ma’alwyck. His interest in esoteric and unusual artistic practices has allowed him opportunities to work with iconographers, fresco painters, performance artists, and alchemists.Mr. Foster received a B.A. in Fine Art from Northwest Nazarene University, and an M.F.A. in Painting and Drawing from Utah State University. After teaching in Utah for a period, Scott relocated to upstate New York, where he paints and teaches at Siena College. EDUCATION2008 Master of Fine Arts, Utah State University, Painting & Drawing, Logan, UT2005 Bachelor of Arts, Summa Cum Laude, Fine Art: Painting, Drawing, & Printmaking, Northwest Nazarene University, Nampa, ID2002 British Visual and Literary Culture, University of London & Northwest Nazarene University, London, England (Summer 2002) SELECTED EXHIBITION RECORD RECENT SOLO EXHIBITIONS2024 Illumination: Sketches and Studies for the Communion of the Saints, Siena College, Yates Gallery, Loudonville, NY SLECTED LARGE GROUP EXHIBITIONS2023 BUILT2023: Albany’s Architecture Through Artists’ Eyes, Historic Albany Foundation, Albany, NY2022 BUILT2022: Albany’s Architecture Through Artists’ Eyes, Historic Albany Foundation, Albany, NY2021 BUILT2021: Albany’s Architecture Through Artists’ Eyes, Historic Albany Foundation, Albany, NY2021 Artists of the Mohawk Hudson Region, Albany International Airport Art & Culture Program, Albany, NY (Juried by Tommy Gregory, Public Art Program Sr. Manager and Curator, Port of Seattle) (Catalog) 2021 Grey Area, Treat Gallery, New York, NY (Juried by gallery director). 2021 Car Culture, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Anna CA (Juried by Bryan Barcena, Assistant Curator, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles). 2020 BUILT2020: Albany’s Architecture Through Artists’ Eyes, Historic Albany Foundation, Albany, NY (Juried by Ken Ragsdale M.F.A, Senior Lecturer, RPI; Jenny Kemp M.F.A.; Gary Shankman, Professor of Art, Sage College of Albany).2020 Realism: Encountering the Real, Site:Brooklyn Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (Juried by Sara Roffino, Executive Editor, Cultured magazine)2020 Black and White, Northville Art House, Northville MI (Juried by Donn Angel Perez, Senior Designer, ONIRIC Architectural Art Studio)2019 BUILT2019: Albany’s Architecture Through Artists’ Eyes, Historic Albany Foundation, Albany, NY (Juried by Tony Iadicicco, Director of Albany Center Gallery; Gail Hinchen, Judie Gilmore, Director of Opalka Gallery, Sage Colleges).2019 Works on Paper, Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences, Loveladies, NJ (Juried by Dr. Louis Marchesano, Senior Curator of Drawings, Prints & Photography, Philadelphia Museum of Art)2019 Artist Statement #4, CICA Museum, Gimpo-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea (Catalog)2018 House & Home, Wilbur Mansion, CANOneonta, Oneonta, NY (With Brian Barlow, Ryan Chase Clow, Sean Corcoran, Ray Felix, Kathy Greenwood, Connie Frisbee Houde, Madison LaVallee, Frank Rapant, Jason Kates van Staveren, and Jaymee Harvey Williams), (Curated by Jason Kates van Staveren)2018 Home, Collar Works, Troy, NY (Juried by Cara Manes, Associate Curator of Painting and Sculpture, Museum of Modern Art)2018 Black and White, Site:Brooklyn Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (Juried by Rosario Güiraldes, Assistant Curator at The Drawing Center, New York City)2017-18 Contemporary Landscape, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Novato, CA (Juried by Chester Arnold, Instructor, College of Marin) RECENT COMMISSIONS 2024 – 25 St. Anthony the Teacher, Oil on Canvas (54”x82”), Siena College Office of Mission, Loudonville NY2022 – 23 The Communion of Saints, Oil on four Steel Panels (45”x72” each), St. Bernadine of Siena Friary, Loudonville, NY COLLECTIONSBoise Visual Chronicle, Department of Art & History, City of Boise, Boise, IDCICA Museum, Gimpo-si, Gyeonggi-do, KoreaDrs. Patricia Trutty-Coohill and Thomas Coohill, Loudonville, NYJulie and Collin Nesich, Albany, NYSt. Kateri Tekakwitha Parish, Niskayuna, NY RECENT BIBLIOGRAPHYJustin Baker, host, “Art Town with Scott Nelson Foster,” Art Town, November 23, 2024 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/art-town/id1667558068 (Exhibition Catalog) Artists of the Mohawk Hudson Region 2021 Albany International Art and Culture Program, Albany, NY, 2021 Vera Castaneda, “Piecing together a picture of ‘Car Culture’ at the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art,” Los Angeles Times. February 18, 2021 RECENT AWARDS, HONORS, AND GRANTS2022 Trustco Bank Award (for Scholarship and Service in Support of Siena’s mission), Siena College, Loudonville, NY (For development of the Visual Art & Design Major)2019 Best in Show in BUILT2019: Albany’s Architecture Through Artists’ Eyes, Historic Albany Foundation, Albany, NY2018 Honorable Mention in Contemporary Landscape, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Novato, CA (Juried by Chester Arnold, Instructor, College of Marin)