Jeff Ferst

I am a colourist and storyteller. My muse is my lovely colonial city and surrounding high desert, my garden and nature in general. My work draws on the essence of traditional landscape painting, an encounter with nature, and combines it with my emotional reactions. The result is a form of storytelling through abstraction that reflects physical reality and feelings intertwined.
My working process is a direct one, usually with no preliminary drawing. A canvas will develop as a spontaneous, free-flowing conversation between me and the painting, with the completed work the result of a very organic process. 
The paintings are stories of my life. A canvas may reflect my interactions with nature and my garden and the beauty I see in that as well as my memories of locations I have visited and recorded and my emotions on the day that it is painted. There is a strong subconscious element to this work, with an image taking on a life of its own. These paintings are personal, expressive and musical, with their tactile use of oil paint applied with a brush, palette knife, and other tools utilizing a vibrant palette. They are textural and tactile.
Viewers are encouraged to make their own connection to the work, and to interpret it for themselves based on their own experiences and emotions. They are invited to resonate with the paintings' positive energy and to see something recognizable to themselves there.

Education:

BF NYU

Awards & Distinctions:

Bronze Medal - Art Students league, NY
Founders Day Award, NYU
Featured articles and press - see https://jeffferst.com/press

Exhibitions:

Exhibition Schedule
2020
Galeria Izamal
Group Show & Member

2018
Tucson International Airport, Group Show
Feast Gallery, Tucson, solo show 
Artful Living Gallery, Tucson, solo show
Art House Centro, Tucson, group show

2017
Artful Living Gallery, solo show
Tucson International Airport, solo show

2016
Artful Living Gallery, Tucson, AZ solo & group
US Embassy, Namibia
2015 
Tohono Chul Group Show, Tucson
Rain Crow Gallery, Group Show, Tucson
Artful Living Gallery & Studio, solo, Tucson

2014
Art House Centro, Tucson, solo show
Tohono Chul, Tucson, group juried show
Liss Gallery, group show
Artists of the Southwest, Tucson, group juried show
US State Department, Windhoek, Namibia
Tucson Open Studio Tour

2013
Gallery Catalyst/Liss Gallery, Toronto, ON group show
Wilde Meyer Gallery, Scottsdale, Group Show
Old Town Artisans, Tucson, AZ solo show
Content Interiors, Tucson, AZ group show
University Colorado at Mesa, group show
Gallery M, Cambridge, ON group show (2)
Tucson Open Studio Tour

2012
Accelerator Centre, Waterloo, ON Solo show
Gallery M, Cambridge, ON 
US State Department, Dushanbe Embassy

2011
Art Expo NY, NYC
Double T Gallery, Solo Show, Waterloo, Ontario
Art Allies Group Show, Waterloo, Ontario
Society Canadian Artists, Juried Group Show, Leighton Art Centre, Calgary, AB
Scope Hampton, New York
Studio Tour, Cambridge, Ontario
Red Dot Miami

2010
National Juried Art Exhibition 2010, Visual Art Center, Punta Gorda, Florida
Toronto Art Expo, Toronto, ON
Artists Haven Gallery, Ft. Lauderdale, July
Artists Haven Gallery, December
Colour & Form Society, Juried Group Show, Toronto, Ontario
Cambridge Centre for the Arts, Cambridge, Ontario, Juried Group Show
Glenhyrst Gallery Juried Show, Brantford, Ontario

2009
Art Mode Gallery, Ottawa ON
IIDEX/Neocon, Toronto
International Juried Show, Federation Canadian Artists. Vancouver
Saint John Art Center, Saint John NB 
Chancery Art Gallery, Bracebridge ON

2008 
Art Mode Gallery, Calgary AB

2007 
Art Mode Gallery, Ottawa ON
Gallery Double T, Waterloo ON

2006 
Cambridge Centre for the Arts, Cambridge, ON

2002 
The Grand View Juried Exhibition, Waterloo ON
The Eldon Gallery, Waterloo ON

2001 
The Cambridge Centre for the Arts, Cambridge ON

2000 
Pride Juried Show, Forest Gallery, London, Group Show
The Grand Theatre, London ON
London Arts Council Gallery, London ON

1999 
Women's Art Assoc., Toronto ON
Thames Art Gallery, Chatham ON
Galleria Mall, London ON

1998 
Gallery 54, London ON
Artistic Influences:

Kandinsky, Klee, Klimt