I taught art classes at two universities in Utah, Utah Valley University, and Brigham Young University from 1983 to 1995. Classes included Basic and Advanced Drawing, Watercolor, Oil Painting, Art History, Humanities, and Ethics and Values. I wrote the curriculum for Figure Drawing, and taught the first classes at UVU. I designed, and cooperated with another instructor in sculpting the school mascot, a bronze 10 foot by 35 foot Wolverine and logo, which hangs in the main corridor of the Student Center at Utah Valley University. At Brigham Young University I was awarded membership in the National Phi Kappa Phi organization for teaching Excellence. Many advanced and graduate students returned and signed up for my fundamentals classes to "receive instruction" they had missed when they had taken the classes earlier.
I joined the Utah County Art Board and later served as its President. I also served as Assistant Director of the Utah County Fair, and Chairman of Art Exhibit at Utah County Fair. I met my wife Kathy, and soon after began traveling to art shows around the Western United States showing my work and doing portraits. At a show in Kansas, I received the Charles Sanderson Award, Salina, Kansas Best Art. And have since been awarded 22 Best of Show Awards at State and Regional shows, and among the lesser awards, I most recently was given an Award of Merit for my entry into the Spring Salon, Springville Art Museum, Springville, Utah from among over 1000 entries, and was featured in the Catalogue of the show. The Springville Museum has purchased 4 of my paintings, and has another 12 on loan. I have shown my work in galleries all over the western United States, had over twenty one-man shows, won that many “Best of Show” awards in contests and exhibitions, and have works in collections in Europe and South Africa as well as America. My style is called Neo-Regionalism because I tend to paint types rather than individuals. I recently returned to full time painting, and have tried to learn the process of creating and maintaining a blog to show my work on line.
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Larry Christensen
