Mixed Media
Studio 1C Gallery Floor

Cleveland-born and Sarasota-raised professional guitarist and, for twenty-five years, custom framer John Nelson moved to Asheville in 2007, trading hot days in the Florida sun and late nights with the band in smoky bars for cool, creative nights in his mountain home studio. Frame design enabled a living for his family, and art provided an outlet for John’s right-brain tendencies: his fascination with texture, color relations, and the use of positive and negative space as catalysts for emotional response.

“My paintings employ design to generate tension, and I use color for release of that tension enjoy watching the art create itself layer after layer using newly discovered techniques while eliminating subject matter. Having no formal training, I can create in a manner that knows no bounds.”

John resides near downtown Asheville. He works at BlackBird Frame & Art and holds the Certified Picture Framer (CPF) designation from the Professional Picture Framers Association. In the evening he can often be found making art or music or both on his front porch.