Statement~
“In this uncertain time, I have found great solace in getting outdoors and painting what is constant- the beauty of the natural world that surrounds us and the "sense of place" I get from it. I am interested in interpreting not only the ephemeral beauty of the grand vistas around me, but also in finding the grace in small everyday scenes and objects.
Family, community, the environment... In the face of the change that is inevitably occurring around me, I acknowledge that we certainly are living in a remarkable moment in time, in a remarkable place...One in which change is certain, so it is my privilege to document these moments as I see them now”
Biography~
As a native of Colorado, Dancy Gould St. John has been interested in the natural world for as long as she can remember. Plein air painting, along with fly fishing, hiking and skiing, has proved to be the perfect expression for her affinity to the outdoors. She and her husband and two young boys live in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
After receiving a degree from the University of Colorado in 1986, Dancy studied faux finishing and mural painting at the Day Studio in San Francisco. She went on to work for architects, designers, interior decorators and numerous private clients until the late 90’s. All the while she was taking as many plein air workshops, private classes and seminars as she could fit in. She attended seminars taught by John Encinias, Kim Mackey, Steve Elliot, Jean Perry, Quang Ho and Kang Cho, to name a few, and she attended the annual seminars by the prestigious Plein Air Painters of America. She has been influenced most notably by Jean Perry, Stan Sampson, and Kevin McPherson from that group. She also attended the Art Students League of Denver where she studied briefly with Doug Dawson. Her background in faux finishing has translated to her smaller paintings, as she employs the layering of color and glazing in her paintings. While she is still as interested in painting grand vistas as she was when she was a mural painter, the challenge is for that grandness to translate in a smaller scale in her fine art. She is equally inspired by the venture of a small plein air study as she is by the undertaking of larger paintings from her studio.
Her work is currently showing at the Artists’ Gallery of Steamboat where she has been a part of numerous shows and has been exhibited and sold at a number of private shows in Denver, the Pirate Gallery, the Art Depot in Steamboat Springs and at various art fairs. Her work has been published in the Rocky Mountain News, the Steamboat Pilot and Today, Colorado Expressions Magazine and Steamboat Home Magazine. Five years ago she became a founding member and co-owner of the Artists’ Gallery of Steamboat, along with 25 other talented local artists. The gallery won “Best Business” in 2007 and “Best of the Boat” Gallery in 2011. Dancy was the Exhibit Director and curator of the gallery for its first 4 1/2. years.
Dancy considers her two young sons to be her first masterpieces and her family the greatest reason to keep learning and striving as a painter.
