ARTIST STATEMENT

"I feel a sense of history when I'm painting. The painters I admire and study, the history of the land itself and my own familiar connection to it. … There is a constant conflict in working, nature or imagination. Nature should be transformed by feeling, not meticulously reproduced. When I paint, I find this challenge invigorating. I draw upon the memory of place, of experience. In the studio, it's create, wipe out, paint over … and then it happens! That's painting!"   JD Wissler 2004

RESUME

EDUCATION
1989
Master of Fine Arts, Parsons School of Design, New York, NY
Studied with Leland Bell, John Heliker, Paul Resika, and Larry Rivers
1985
Bachelors of Fine Arts, Kutztown University, Kutztown, PA
Studied with George Sorrels
Travel and painted in France, Italy, Russia, Switzerland, Germany, Outer Banks, North Carolina, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2004
Penn National Insurance Company, Harrisburg, PA: The Paintings of John David Wissler
2003
Lancaster Galleries, Lancaster, PA: Gathering Light, The Landscapes of John David Wissler
2000
Lancaster Galleries, Lancaster, PA: Landscapes in Oil by John David Wissler
1999
Art Association of Harrisburg, Harrisburg, PA: The Art of Landscape: John David Wissler
1998
Temple University, Harrisburg Center, Harrisburg, PA

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2004
Susquehanna en Plein Aire; Celebrated Painters, Celebrated Study, Lynden Gallery, Elizabethtown
Reservoir Park Mansion Gallery, Harrisburg, PA: Plein-air Landscapes
Mechanicsburg Art Association and School, PA: The Seven Lively Artists Exhibit
Reading Public Museum, Reading, PA: Berks Art Alliance Juried Exhibit
Lancaster Galleries, Lancaster, PA: Outer Banks Paintings exhibited with Lynn Yancha
Baltimore, MD: Seven Lively Artists Exhibit
Harrisburg Hilton, Harrisburg, PA: John David Wissler and Carrie Nicholas Wissler Thomas
2003-04
Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts, Harrisburg, PA: Views of the Susquehanna
2003
Art Association of Harrisburg, Harrisburg, PA: The Landscape Exhibitions, 5 Artist Invitational
Lancaster Galleries, Lancaster, PA: Hopeland Farms en Plein-air
2002-03
Whitaker Center for Sciences and the Arts, Harrisburg, PA: As we see ourselves, Portrait Show
2002
Art Association of Harrisburg: As we see ourselves, Portrait Show traveled to Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts, Harrisburg, PA
Masterpiece Galleries, New Hope, PA: Land and Sea Vistas, landscapes and Seascapes of Frank Lind and John David Wissler
Reservoir Park Gallery, Reservoir Park Mansion Faculty Show, Art Association of Harrisburg, Harrisburg, PA (also exhibited in 2004)
Lancaster Galleries, Lancaster, PA: Townscapes/Cityscape
2001-02
Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA: Art Matters
2001
Suzanne H. Arnold Art Gallery, Lebanon Valley College, Annville, PA: Trains of Thought: The Railroad in Contemporary Art
Martin Art Gallery, Muhlenburg College, Allentown, PA: Selections Local Color: Selections by Area Artists
Furlong Art Gallery, University of Wisconsin: From Realism to Non-objectivity: Contemporary Art from New York and Philadelphia
Lancaster Galleries West, Elizabethtown, PA: Susquehanna Review, Paintings by the River
Lancaster Galleries, Lancaster, PA: Fine Art by Lancaster Regionalists from the 1800's Through Contemporary
Suzanne H. Arnold Art Gallery, Lebanon Valley College, Annville, PA: 30th Annual Spring Juried Art Exhibit, cash prize for untitled landscape (also exhibited in 2000, 1999)
Rose Lehrman Art Center Gallery, Harrisburg, PA
2000
Pennsylvania School of Art and Design, Lancaster, PA
Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts, Harrisburg, PA: Earth. Air, Fire, and Water, invitational
Art Association of Harrisburg, Harrisburg, PA: International juried show, 3rd prize oil (also exhibited in 1999, first prize oil, 1998,1997, 1996, 1995
Masterpiece Galleries, New Hope, PA
1999
Lancaster Galleries, Lancaster, PA
Lyet Gallery, Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, PA: Annual juried show (also exhibited in 1997)
Reservoir Park Gallery, Reservoir Park Mansion, Harrisburg, PA
1998
Multiple Sclerosis Society Invitational Show, Lancaster, PA
Art Association of Harrisburg, Harrisburg, PA: 4 Artist Invitational
1995
Lebanon Valley Council on the Arts, Lebanon, PA: Ode to the Landscape, invitational, Curator: George Sorrels
1990
Grahm Fine Art Gallery, Pigna, Corsica: Pigna/Corsica & France, John David Wissler and Jane Reagh
Parsons School of Design, New York, NY

COLLECTIONS
Hershey Chocolate Corporation
The Pennsylvania Governor's Residence
The Public Schools of Korea
Lutheran Brotherhood Insurance Company
Kutztown University
Habitat for Humanity
Trout Ebersole and Groff
Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission
Martin Art Gallery of Muhlenburg College
Parsons School of Design
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Pennsylvania School of Art and Design, Lancaster, PA (Figure Drawing)
Art Association of Harrisburg, Harrisburg, PA (Plein-air Painting)
Harrisburg Area Community College, Harrisburg, PA (Drawing)
Lectures on the Art of Silverpoint
Visiting Artist, Kutztown University, Kutztown, PA

PRESS RELEASES  click on entry to read

Susquehanna en Plein Aire; Celebrated Painters, Celebrated Study - Lynden Gallery, September 2004