Poet with a Paint Brush
Posted March 6, 2014
I met Terry McCullough near the beginning of his creative journey when our paths crossed at the Bloom Agency in Dallas. I was a young copywriter. He was a layout artist. Decades later, I buy and sell art. Terry makes art. But then, he always has.
Early on, Terry’s dad, a hand-set printer, and his mom, who did custom gift-wrapping, nurtured his creativity. “Mom had an awesome story book called Yama Yama Land that really inspired me,” Terry says.
A story book belonging to his mom helped inspire his love of art.
That was just the beginning of a life-long creative journey.
Terry, age seven.
While working at Bloom, Terry began exploring black and white photography.
In 1977 – before the era of personal computing and digital software – he was producing multi-negative prints. Not only did that portfolio win him a coveted place at the Visual Studies Workshop in New York, it led to his first one-man show.
From still photography, Terry made the leap to film. And within that exciting arena, the poet in him began playing, not only with imagery, but also with language, motion, lighting and sound. Film allowed him to put his creative stamp on an entire process and project.
In this example Terry used four different negatives to create the image.
In his thirty years of filmmaking, travelling from one global locations to another, Terry took his “kids” – his prized collection of Nikons along with him — amassing a vast library of black and white infrared negatives, many of which he printed using the classic silver gelatin process.
On location in East Java Indonesia directing a corporate film, 1994.
While producing realistic images for the screen, Terry started to explore the world of abstract art. Ever curious and always inventive, Terry discovered encaustic — an ancient painting technique using molten bee’s wax mixed with oil, pigment or resin. He loved the result– a textural complexity that couldn’t be achieved with paint alone.
A 2012 commissioned painting for a client’s office. Mixed-media– oil on canvas, encaustic, painted slate. 30″ X 30″.
Today, Terry’s abstract expressionist paintings are as richly layered as his own experience in the visual arts. Not only are his canvases and mixed media pieces featured in solo and group shows, they have captured the attention of individual and corporate collectors. We’re pleased to welcome this poet with a paintbrush to J Compton Gallery.
Texas native and contemporary abstract artist Terry McCullough (b. 1951-) lives and works in Reilly Springs, Texas.
See Terry’s art for sale here.
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