(b. 1948) Born in Fort Worth, Texas, John Berry grew up with a passion for horses in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He resided in southern California for thirteen years before moving to Taos, New Mexico in 1987. Prior to pursuing a full-time art career, Berry trained and showed horses professionally. Following training with Olympic standard riders and instructors, like Gabor Foltenyi and Carol Grant Oldford, Berry began a 16-year career as a professional trainer and show rider. Initially working with hunters and jumpers, he eventually embraced dressage, a discipline he continues to participate in. Berry’s passion for horses matches his passion for painting. After mastering the portrait and human figure, Berry began to focus on equine art. His riding career and his intimate knowledge of the anatomy, movement and spirit of the horse continue to inform and inspire his work. He finds that the years of riding have provided the necessary discipline and persistence that serve him well in his artistic endeavors. Berry’s art background includes human figure and portrait study in California with Jack Ragland (listed in Who’s Who in American Art) and Edward Moore in the 1980s, and in Taos with David Borenstein and Valori Fussell in the 1990s. When Berry began to make the transition into painting horses in 1996, he found encouragement and support in his friend and mentor, Lanford Monroe, an internationally known landscape and wildlife painter. Since then he has developed himself entirely to equine painting: portraits as well as the horse in the dramatic light and landscape of northern New Mexico. ARTIST’S STATEMENT I have always been deeply moved and inspired by the masterful British Sporting Artists, such as Munnings, Marshall, Stubbs and Edwards and try to follow in that same classical tradition. Each time I step in front of the canvas, I take time to remind myself that I am here to paint with the greatest degree of awareness and sincerity possible and to be passionate in my desire to create something of excellence and beauty. My intention is to have each painting be the best that I can possibly produce at that time. When I begin a new piece, I try to determine what the emotional essence of this painting will be. Is it a noble horse standing at attention in a landscape or a racing scene where each of the combatants are pushing themselves to their limits? When I make that determination, that becomes the “theme” of the painting and that is what I hold in my mind as I paint. For me, a painting has to trigger an emotional response in the viewer or it has missed its mark. No matter how superbly one’s technique may be, if there is no emotional content, it isn’t art. I wish to continue to grow and stretch as an artist until I can no longer pick up a brush and paint. Awards: • Steppin Out (bronze), recipient of “Best of Show” and “Patrons’ Award” at the 15th Annual Santa Fe Trail International Art Show, June 7- July 6, 2002, A.R. Mitchell Museum, Trinidad, CO. • Hudson Valley Art Association, Inc. 70th Annual Exhibition, Newington-Cropsey Foundation Gallery, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, May 6-23, 2001. Study of Bird II recipient of the Frank Spradling Award. • Santa Fe Trail Art Show, A.R. Mitchell Museum of Western Art, Trinidad, CO, June 9- July 8, 2000. Winter Sky recipient of Patrons’ Award. • Hudson Valley Art Association’s 69th Annual Juried Exhibition at the Salmagundi Club, New York, NY, May 24- June 9, 2000. Still Life with Griffin recipient of the Ridgewood Art Institute Award. • Painting, Blue Horse, winner of 1998 Equitana USA Art Contest, and featured on official Equitana USA program and poster. June, 1998. • American Academy of Equine Art Fall Showcase, Museum of the Horse, Lexington, KY, Sept-Oct., 1998. Recipient of the AAEA Sporting Art Award for painting, The Black and the Gray. • “Art at the Classic,” Grass Valley, CA, Aug., 1998. Friends awarded first place in oil painting division. SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS JURIED EXHIBITIONS • Steppin Out- bronze, juried into Hudson Valley Art Association, Inc. 72nd Annual Exhibition, Newington-Cropsey Foundation Gallery, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, May 4-21, 2003. • Patty and Lucy, juried into Taos Society of Portrait Artists’ Regional Annual Juried Portrait Exhibition, Millicent Rogers Museum, Taos, NM, May 3- June 1, 2003. • Harness Horse, Study of a Bay, Pegasus and Racing Study, presented at invitational exhibition, Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame, Aiken, SC, April 1- June 1, 2003. • Laura, Chasing the Gray, Summer’s Eve and Pegasus, presented at “Taos Invites Taos,” invitational exhibition, Taos, NM, Sept. 20-Oct. 7, 2003. • Patty and Lucy, juried into the City of Farmington Office of Cultural Affairs and the Northwest New Mexico Art Council Regional Juried Art Show 2003, Farmington Museum at Gateway Park, Farmington, NM, Sept. 27- Nov. 15, 2003. PAST EXHIBITIONS • American Bred, Steeplechase and Sparrow exhibited at “Taos Invites Taos,” Taos, NM, Sept. 20- Oct. 7, 2002. • Steppin Out (bronze), juried in the 15th Annual Santa Fe Trail International Art Show, A.R. Mitchell Museum, Trinidad, CO, June 7- July 6, 2002. • Study of Bird, juried into Academic Artists Associations’ 52nd Annual National Exhibition, Springfield, MA, April 14- May 3, 2002. • Steppin Out (bronze sculpture), juried into American Academy of Equine Art Fall Showcase, Museum of the Horse, Lexington, KY, Sept. 15- Oct. 28, 2001. • Dare and Go, Springtime, presented at the 2001 “Taos Invites Taos” Art Exhibition, Taos, NM, Sept. 21- Oct. 8, 2001. • Study of Bird II, juried into Hudson Valley Art Association, Inc., 70th Annual Exhibition, Newington-Cropsey Foundation Gallery, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, May 6-23, 2001. • English Thoroughbred, Study of Jockey-Longchamp, Dare and Go, Interior, Blood Horse and Dawn, juried into International Equine Racing Exhibition, Lone Star Park, Grand Prairie, TX, April- July 2001. • Two Friends and Study of Bird, juried into Santa Fe Trail International Art Show, A.R. Mitchell Museum, Trinidad, CO, June 8- July 29, 2001. • Springtime, juried into Art of the Animal Kingdom VI Exhibition, Bennington Center for the Arts, Bennington, VT, June 16-July 29, 2001. • Steppin Out (bronze sculpture), Friends, and Hunter, juried into “Taos Invites Taos,” Taos, NM, Sept. 22, 2000. • High Mesa Winter, Beauty, juried into Art at the Classic, Grass Valley, CA, Sept. 15-17, 2000. • In the Thick of It, Study of Jockey-Longchamp, juried into American Academy of Equine Arts Fall Showcase, International Museum of the Horse, Lexington, KY, Sept. 22- Nov. 5, 2000. • Still Life with Griffin, juried into Hudson Valley Art Association’s 69th Annual Juried Exhibition at the Salmagundi Club, New York, NY, May 24- June 9, 2000. • Rembrandt Borbet, juried into Western States Horse Expo, Coloma, CA, June 1-4, 2000. • Winter Sky, Grandma’s Mare, juried into the Santa Fe Trail Art Show, A.R. Mitchell Museum of Western Art, Trinidad, CO, June 9- July 8, 2000. • Turned Out For the Winter, juried into The Equestrians Perspective Show, Atlanta, GA, April 1-29, 2000. • Study of Dead Bird, juried into ‘Trading Places- Tubac, Taos, Sedona,’ Taos, NM, April 7- May 7, 2000. • Gray Thoroughbred, In the Thick of It, Saint Ballado, juried into International Art Exhibition, Lone Star Park, Dallas, TX, April 1- July 31, 2000. • Summer Afternoon, Rembrandt, accepted into the Taos Open Exhibition, Sept. 14- Oct. 4, 1999. • Still Life, juried into Salmagundi Club Non-Members Exhibition, New York, NY, June 1-18, 1999. • Winter Sky, juried into “American Plains Artists’ Invitational,” Midland, TX, June 1999. • “Members’ Award Show,” Taos Art Association. (Berry’s The Exhibition featured on show announcement The Taos News.); “Environment, Elements and Ecology,” Taos Art Association (Berry’s work reviewed in Tempo, The Taos News.); “The Form and Figure,” Taos Art Association; “Taos Open,” Taos Fall Arts Festival; “The Fall Showcase of Equine Art,” Museum of the Horse, Lexington, KY (sponsored and juried by the American Academy of Equine Art.); Berry’s St. Mark’s Horse featured in show catalog and reviewed in the Kentucky Horse Park News (Spring, 1997 edition).