Chaparral Fine Art - Featured Artists

Scott Switzer

Scott Switzer was born in Billings, Montana in 1960 and has devoted himself full time to painting since 1981. He received his formal art education from Otis Parsons School of Design in Los Angeles, but it has been 20 years of study and fellowship with the vibrant community of artists in the Rocky Mountain West that has had the greatest impact on his work.

In the early years of his career, Scott took pleasure in living and painting the majestic beauty found close to his birthplace, enriching himself and his work through travels to distant places including the Canadian Rockies, Mexico, Western and Far Eastern Russian, China, and Italy. In January of 2000 Scott and his wife, Shelley, with their four of their children in tow, set out on prolonged sojourn. They moved to the remote Russian village of Nikolaevsk, Alaska, where Scott spent the next several years capturing folkloric scenes of day-to-day village life in expressive and adventurous canvasses. Joined by their eldest son and a newly adopted baby, the Switzers next moved to Homer, a celebrated destination on the Kenai Peninsula known for its abundant wildlife and thrilling scenery.

Today, the Switzer family makes their home in Costa Rica. While Scott draws inspiration for his painting from his experiences in Alaska, he remains a committed traveler, and continues to roam the globe in search for inspiration and insight. "Relationships are paramount," says Switzer. "Just as people cannot survive without other people, colors can't survive without engaging other colors, and shapes must have fellowship with other shapes. A color becomes vulnerable and bears it soul while another stands quiet and listens. A shape may have to confront her mate, creating a poem, or even a storm. Light and dark, joy and pain, all are engaged in an ongoing drama."

Polar Approach
oil, 30 x 24 $ 3,200