HELLO FROM SCENIC
WISH YOU WERE HERE

ABOUT

Ian is originally from the southeastern United States. He spent his early days drawing and exploring the pine forests that surrounded his home. He studied art in Atlanta GA and Oakland CA, crossing the country many times by bus, train, and car. He has lived in Asheville, NC, Edinburgh, Scotland, the Montana Rockies, the Washington Cascades, and on the California Coast. He also spent a brief period living in the 1930s.

Ian is currently pursuing an MFA at the University of Washington, in Seattle.

See his latest work on Instagram and Facebook, and check out dribbble for illustrations.

BUZZ

"Ian Brownlee employs landscape as a device to capitalize on our basic impulse to weave images into narrative. In his paintings, the use of perspective to create an unexpectedly dramatic spatial illusion permits us entry into what appears to be an independently existent and self-sufficient "world" located neither in the past or the present, but always slightly out of reach and continually open to interpretation."

- Trevor Richardson, Director, Herter Art Gallery, University of Massachussetts, Amherst. Quoted in New American Paintings

RESUMÉ

Exhibitions

  • “Faculty Show” Arrowmont School Of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN, 2022, 2021, 2018
  • "Forged Replica" Spiers Gallery, Brevard College, Brevard, NC, 2022
  • "All Good Things Under the Sun” 311 Gallery, Raleigh NC, 2022
  • "Go Figure" Blue Spiral One, Asheville, NC, 2019
  • "New Times Three" Blue Spiral One, Asheville, NC, 2017
  • "National Juried Exhibition of Works on Paper", Brand Library and Art Center, Glendale, CA, 2015, curated by Kent Twitchell
  • "Monster Drawing Rally" Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA, 2015
  • “Solo Show” Penelope's Den, Woodside, CA, 2013
  • “Play” Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, NC, 2013, curated by Cole Hendrix
  • "Waking Up With Van Gogh" Hickory Museum of Art, Hickory, NC, 2012.
  • “Local Histories” 523 East Franklin St, Chapel Hill, NC. 2011. Curated by Elin O'Hara Slavick and Carol Magee
  • "Curly Q" Jack The Pelican Presents Gallery, New York, NY 2009
  • "18th National Juried Show" Art Center of Northern New Jersey, New Milford, NJ. 2009. Juror: Clare Bell, Guggenheim Museum, NYC.
  • "On The Verge" juried show, Front Gallery, Asheville, NC 2009
  • "The Bold and the Beautiful" Hendersonville Arts Council, NC 2008
  • "Seasons" Gallery Minerva, Asheville, NC 2006
  • "Juried Show" Bascom Louise Gallery, Highlands, NC 2005
  • "Art as if the Earth Mattered" Front Gallery, Asheville, NC 2005

Publications

  • Studio Visit Magazine 2010. Juror: Steven Zevitas
  • On The Verge, WNC magazine, 2009. Juror: Rob Pulleyn, Fibrearts Magazine and Asheville Art Museum.
  • New American Paintings, #64, 2006. Juror: Trevor Richardson, Director, Herter Art Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Murals

  • You Build Our Community, CMI project, Morganton, NC, 2023
  • Common Desk, Wilmington, NC, 2021
  • Thank You, Health Care Workers, Asheville, NC, 2020
  • Penguin Parking, Mission Cancer Center, Asheville, NC 2018
  • Wildbout, King Commons, Johnson City, TN, 2017
  • Mission Hospital Pediatric ICU, Asheville, NC, 2016
  • Modern Recess, Children's Fitness Center, San Ramon, CA, 2014
  • Mission Hospital Reuters' Children's Clinic, Asheville, NC, 2012
  • Mermaid Inn, Menlo Park, CA, 2011
  • Asheville Pediatrics, NC, 2007
  • Mission Hospital Reuters' Children's Clinic, 2006-7
  • Rosetta's Kitchen (restaurant), Asheville, NC, 2005
  • Colonel Wright Elementary School, The Dalles, OR, 2001

Education

  • Current MFA candidate at the University of Washington, Seattle, 2025
  • BFA from Atlanta College of Art, Atlanta GA, 1999
  • Attended California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA, Fall 1998.

Teaching

  • upcoming: Penland School of Craft, NC, 2024.
  • John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC 2023
  • Arrowmont School of Art and Craft, Gatlinburg, TN, 2022, 2021, 2018
  • Creativity Workshops, MN, CA, TN, NC, 2015-2018
  • Math N Art / Swan Education Center, Asheville, NC, 2001-2003