John has recently retired, after a thirty-five year career, from teaching art at Aurora High School in Aurora, Ohio. He is presently enjoying his life as a full-time artist and continues to be recognized for his unique colored pencil style. John has exhibited his art throughout the United States and has work in the permanent collection of the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio, the Sargent-Laessig Museum of Fine Arts in Hinckley, Ohio, and the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio.
A Colored Pencil Society of America Signature Member, John has been juried into six CPSA International Exhibitions. He has received the Metro Washington DC District Chapter 109 MONA Award for Exceptional Merit in 2008, the Detroit, MI District Chapter 104 Award for Excellence in 2006, the Canson Fine Artists Materials Award for Outstanding Recognition in 2005, and the Tulsa, OK District Chapter 211 Award for Excellence in 2004. John was the Grand Prize winner in the American Artist 70th Anniversary Art Competition in 2007 and was featured in their magazine. He continues to be a popular judge and instructor and offers colored pencil workshops nationally.
If you would like to see more of John's work, go to http://www.smolkoart.com. Some of the works are from earlier in his career and you can see the metamorphosis from realism to his current style of scribbling. |
