A.S. McGuffin uses oil paint and techniques handed down by generations of master painters to tell visual parables. Using pure pigments and archival practices, McGuffin’s sensitive approach to realism focuses on the expressive use of form and light to communicate the subject’s ineffable qualities. To achieve that, the mostly self taught artist prefers to work from life in natural lighting. Though contemporary in subject matter and composition, McGuffin’s paintings share a goal beyond that of technique with Renaissance artists–that of drawing viewers into contemplation of the Divine. 

ARTIST STATEMENT

 “A storyteller who uses oil paint instead of words, my visual parables, biographies, poems, and devotions are meant to awaken a recognition of the divine in the mundane. Using techniques based in the classic academic painting tradition, I give voice to the quiet, common, fleeting, and the easily overlooked. Inspiration is abundant in the world around me: birds rising into the sky; glittering snow swept fields; the barista who choses love; milkweed stalks illuminated by sunlight; echoing laughter; a worn pair of work gloves; a faithful old dog; farms and farmers; things passing away; things made by hand; things handed down; the woodrush’s song; a bowl in the sink, a child standing with arms outstretched in the rain; the curve of a mountain ridge; the wind‘s ripples on the water; a snail making its way across a rock. Everything speaks. The challenge of coaxing tuffs of hair attached to a stick to transform globs of oil and pigment into something recognizable and a sustained wonder at the beauty of creation, provide me ongoing motivation to tangibly articulate the transcendent beauty in the familiar. I invite the viewer to share my awe.”

EXHIBITIONS
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2023

• Gems 2023, Bryan Memorial Gallery, Jeffersonville, VT
• Small Works, Artistree Gallery, South Pomfret, VT

2022

• Land and Light and Water and Air, Bryan Memorial Gallery, Jeffersonville, VT
• UNBOUND vol.X, Artistree Gallery, South Pomfret, VT s https://artistreevt.org/unbound-vol-x

2021

• Made in Vermont, Bryan Memorial Gallery, Jeffersonville, VT
• Flower Festival Exhibit, Artistree Gallery, South Pomfret, VT

2020

• 2020 Salmagundi Figuratively Speaking Exhibition, The Salmagundi Club, New York City, NY
• 70th Annual National Exhibition of Traditional Realism, Academic Artists Association, CT
• Land and Light and Water and Air 2020, Bryan Memorial Gallery, Jeffersonville, VT
• Local Color 2020, Artistree Gallery, South Pomfret, VT
• Rutland Ramble, Castleton University Bank Gallery, Rutland, VT
• Gems & Giants 2020, Bryan Memorial Gallery, Jeffersonville, VT
• Holiday Small Works 2020, Artistree Gallery, South Pomfretk, VT
• 2020 Rockport Art Association & Museum National Exhibit, Rockport, MA

2019

• A.S. McGuffin Solo Show, Christine Price Gallery, Castleton University, Castleton, VT
• 2019 Annual Regional Juried Exhibition, The Guild of Boston Artists, Boston, MA
• Allied Artist of America 106th Juried Exhibition, The Salmagundi Club, New York City, NY
• Unbound Vol.IX, Artistree Gallery, South Pomfret, VT
• Winter Juried Exhibition, T.W. Wood Gallery & Museum, Montpelier, VT

2018

• Small Pieces Show, Wethersfield Academy for the Arts, Watson Gallery, Wethersfield, CT
• 10th Annual National Figurative Drawing & Painting Competition & Exhibition, The Lore Degenstein Gallery, Selinsgrove, PA
• 2018 Annual Regional Juried Exhibition, The Guild of Boston Artists, Boston, MA
• Naturally New England Juried Exhibition, NH Center for the Arts, Sunapee, NH
• Summer Juried Exhibition, T.W. Wood Gallery & Museum, Montpelier, VT
• 2018 Art's Alive Festival of Fine Art Juried Exhibition, Burlington VT
• Best in Show, ‘Nourishment’ Juried Exhibition, T.W. Wood Gallery & Museum, Montpelier, VT

2017

• 2017 Annual Regional Juried Exhibition, The Guild of Boston Artists, Boston, MA
• 2017 Laumeister Fine Art Competition, The Bennington Center for Fine Art, Bennington, VT