“My paintings are specific expressions of places I’ve been to that I love, that I’m connected to, or that I’m pushed to some expression by. I’m not necessarily looking for a thing so much as I’m looking for a feeling — something that might tell a greater truth but in a very simple way.”
John L. Cleaveland Jr. received his BFA from the University of Georgia and held a Graduate Assistantship in the UGA Studies Abroad Program in Cortona, Italy. He has exhibited his work at: the Huntsville Museum of Art, the Albany Museum of Art, Blue Spiral 1 Gallery, University of Georgia, Madison Morgan Cultural Center, Lyndon House Art Center, and the Missouri State Botanical Gardens. His paintings are in the permanent collections of the Asheville Art Museum, the UGA State Botanical Garden of Georgia, the Combat Art Collection at the U.S. Marine Corps Museum, the Morris Museum of Art, 3-M Company, Bessemer Trust, and the Alabama Power Company.
“Before Italy, I was an abstract painter,” John says. “It was in Italy that I realized landscapes were the best way to convey emotion.”