ANDREW RAESIDE BIOGRAPHY AND ARTIST STATEMENT
It hit me in an instant to become an artist at the age of 12. I remember the moment like yesterday. A sudden spiritual rebirth and everything had changed. I have been working on that project ever since.
I attended the University of Northern Iowa and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Painting in 1980. I worked with disabled adults for a time in Dubuque IA. Then I relocated to New England where I taught Art and Music in a residential grade school for children with emotional and behavioral disorders now called Spaulding Academy. While working there I attended Plymouth State University and received a Master of Arts in Teaching.
I worked at Spaulding Academy for 27 years until I retired and returned to Dubuque to focus again on painting and become a member of the artist community in Eastern IA. My main focus in the arts has been the Expressionist and Abstract Expressionist approaches.
My current objective is to use abstract art to celebrate what connects us all together. The New York School of Abstract expressionists is my primary influence. They spoke about a collective unconscious, a concept held by psychologist Carl Jung. But it is not necessary to believe in anything magical to understand that we are all connected because we all have shared experiences. And we all respond emotionally to our experiences. When we look at a painting, we respond emotionally to what we are seeing. Even if the painting is completely abstract and makes no reference to anything in the physical world. We may not be conscious of our reaction but if we are paying attention, it is there. My wish is to make paintings that celebrate these emotional interconnections between us.
