Glen Wielgus, from Deerfield, Illinois, attended Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he studied stage design and art history. A traditionally based plein-air landscape artist, Wielgus’ paintings offer the freshness and immediacy of works pro- duced insitu. His richly colorful paintings focus on gardens, forests and floral still-lifes – subjects he approaches within a cropped and shuttered frame- work while capturing the effects of fleeting light and changing atmosphere. He began painting in his early 20’s. He gratefully acknowledges the influence of the Canadian Group of 7, painting in the earlier 1900’s, as a significant source of inspiration.
“I am, simply put, a traditional landscape painter. However, I strive to approach this conventional subject matter with a fresh eye and a distinctive style. My works are generally not created in a traditional studio, but are most often painted plien-air and directly from life. For the past ten years or more, I have been returning to paint the places that I have come to know well and love, be it the beaches and forests of Fire Island, various friends’ gardens or on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. Working in these familiar environs, I have been able to concentrate on developing a keen and acute vision of the ever-changing interplay of light and color as it affects the landscape around me. It is these endlessly fascinating, evolving and inspiring landscapes that I attempt to portray on canvas through the use of rich colors and a dramatic quality of light.
Glen Wielgus’ work has been seen in shows and galleries around the United States, Puerto Rico and Great Britain.
Glen lives in Manhattan, Fire Island, NY and Vieques.