OILS &  WATERCOLORS

John Nellermoe's creative spirit is influenced by images recalled from a childhood wonderment on his parents' North Dakota farm. The recollection of rhubarb, raspberries, and crabapple blossoms embracing his mother's garden. Baseball games taking place in the pasture, creeks meandering through the coulees, dark evenings observing the Aurora Borealis, and those dramatic constellations populating the northern sky. Clouds, tornadoes and ever-changing skies were all part of the North Dakota rural landscape. These memories play a large part in forming Nellermoe's work since returning to the Upper Midwest.  

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Other themes draw from sailing adventures in the Norwegian fjords, perennial summer studies in the high desert of New Mexico, raging storms on the Gulf Coast, and droughts that shape Texas. The courage of immigrants, the impact of development on First Americans in defense of Mother Earth, and the soothing beauty of Minnesota lake country in its changing seasons all bear witness to Nellermoe's search for meaning in the landscape of life. 

 

John Nellermoe graduated from Kindred High School in 1961, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota in 1965, and a Master of Arts degree from Wisconsin State University - Superior in 1970. Internationally recognized masters with whom he has studied include Sam Scott, Judith Pfaff, Wayne Thiebaud, Millard Sheets, Paul Soldner, and Marguerite Wildenhain. Professor Nellermoe dedicated 45 years to teaching art in Oregon, Minnesota and Iowa with the final three decades of his career at Texas Lutheran University.  He now resides in Medina, Minnesota, painting full time from his studio on Holy Name Lake.