|
Rick Shopfner - A Brief BIO
Rick Shopfner received his BFA in painting and printmaking from the University of Kansas in Lawrence in 1973. For several years after graduation, he worked in mental health facilities in Alabama utilizing art-related therapeutic activities. In 1977 he began study for a MSW in clinical social work at Tulane University. After completing his MSW degree and working with Indochinese refugee re-settlement efforts in New Orleans for several years, he returned to his art full-time in 1980. As a member of the artist’s cooperative, Optima Studio, he participated in the co-op’s group shows and had two solo exhibitions there: Magic Music (1983) and Imaging the Energies of LIfe (1984). Recruited to the French Quarter Posselt-Baker gallery in 1984, he had a solo show there in 1985. Leaving New Orleans for Austin in 1985 to return to grad school, he earned his MFA in painting and printmaking at the University of Texas at Austin (1988). As a grad student, two noted faculty - painter, Richard Thompson and video-installation artist, Bill Lundberg - were strong influences in his work. Rick also taught basic design, perspective drawing, and other interior design related courses at UT Austin, working closely with photographer and colleague, Nan Blake. After a move to Cleveland, Ohio, for his husband's job in the early 1990’s, Rick began work in the Graphics and Medical Illustrations department at the Cleveland Clinic. The opportunity to learn the then very new “computer graphics” i.e. to draw and create tables, charts, graphs, proved (unexpectedly) fascinating. Creating what we now call “info-graphics” became his primary work focus, and he attended community college classes and professional training to learn the technical side of graphic programs. Upon returning to Austin in 1998, Rick went to work for the Texas House of Representatives and later, several other state agencies, where he worked as a graphic/web designer and editorial writer. Though the demands of a full time job don’t leave much time for creative work, Rick turned to digital photography in the late 1990’s as a way to remain creative while building on the more routine types of work he did daily. After leaving Austin in 2012, Rick knew it was time to return to the art world. After living in both Tuscaloosa and Tallahassee since then, and now, New Orleans (since late 2022), Rick is looking forward to expanding and continuing his work. |
Exhibitions
"The Journey" 4 archival prints July 31 - Sept 26, 2021 Contemporary Art Center New Orleans 5 archival prints (selected by Arthur Roger) are on permanent display at Crescent Care Gallery, 1631 Elysian Fields, New Orleans, LA “Civil Rights: Then and Now” February 2021 - Tallahassee, FL Juried Exhibition - 4 works included Le Moyne Arts Center “A New Year's Hope: Members Show” January 2021 - Tallahassee, FL Juried Exhibition - 3 works included Le Moyne Arts Center “Justice Through Art” September 2020 - Tallahassee, FL Juried Exhibition - 3 works included (see "Cultural Flux" slideshow) Le Moyne Arts Center Creative Tallahassee - 2020 - Tallahassee, FL Juried Fine Art Exhibition Council on Culture & Arts (COCA) Online Council on Culture & Arts (COCA) Invitational Show - 2019 "When did you know...?" City Council Conference Room - Tallahassee, FL Creative Tallahassee - 2019 - Tallahassee, FL Juried Fine Art Exhibition Council on Culture & Arts (COCA) Double Exposure - 2017 - Tuscaloosa, AL Juried Photography Show Tuscaloosa Arts Council Double Exposure - 2016 - Tuscaloosa, AL Juried Photography Show Tuscaloosa Arts Council Awarded: Tuscaloosa Arts Council Award of Excellence West Alabama Juried Show - 2016 - Tuscaloosa, AL Tuscaloosa Arts Council Double Exposure - 2015 - Tuscaloosa, AL Juried Photography Show Tuscaloosa Arts Council West Alabama Juried Show - 2015 - Tuscaloosa, AL Tuscaloosa Arts Council West Alabama Juried Show - 2014 - Tuscaloosa, AL Tuscaloosa Arts Council Double Exposure - 2014 - Tuscaloosa, AL Juried Photography Show Tuscaloosa Arts Council West Alabama Juried Show - 2013 - Tuscaloosa, AL Tuscaloosa Arts Council 1990s
Juried Group Show Spaces Gallery Cleveland, 1992 Faculty Show Austin Community College, Mexic-Arte, Austin, 1990 Light Experiments Austin Media Arts Group Show, Austin, 1990 1980s
Department of Art MFA Thesis Show Huntington Gallery, UT Austin, 1988 Department of Art Student Show, Huntington Gallery, UT Austin, 1987 Small Works, Posselt-Baker Gallery, New Orleans, 1987 Recent Work Solo show Posselt-Baker Gallery,New Orleans, 1985 Imaging the Energies of Life, Solo show, Optima Studio, New Orleans, 1984 Inaugural Exhibition- Show of Gallery Artists Posselt-Baker Gallery, New Orleans, 1984 Magic Music, Solo show, Optima Studio, New Orleans,1983 Contemporary New Orleans Art - A New Quarter - Juried Show Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Laurel, MS. 1983 Optima Studio Juried Show Thomas Gruenebaum, Juror, Optima Studio, New Orleans, 1982 |
Images and content: © Rick Shopfner - All Rights Reserved