J. Thomas R. Higgins

Artist Statement

“The function of painting for me is that it is a way to participate in uncluttered natural spaces. In contemplating and interpreting the landscape through the components of color, gesture, mark-making, texture and meshing patterns, the ultimate result becomes an animated and painterly response to a subject that is often untamed and in flux. My goal is to execute the painting in one go, wet into wet, responding through direct sensory experience. At times the process requires letting go of conscious, deliberate control, while slipping into a subconscious zone that allows me to feel one with both the physical space and the process of pushing paint around. Rather than pinning down a single instant of time and light, the eventual outcome often ends up as a composite (or layering) of multiple moments observed. There is a constant interplay between perceived configurations and the physicality of paint. Although the paintings evolve perceptually (not from memory), they are not solely recordings of objective information, but are emotional performances influenced by accumulated memories and past experiences. Having said all that, I simply enjoy being outdoors, whether it be hiking, painting, watering my wife’s gardens, etc.”

Higgins grew up in New Hope (Bucks County), Pennsylvania. He received his BA cum laude from Maryville College in Tennessee and his MS and MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has taught at Marietta College, Colby College, the University of Maine, the University of Southern Maine, and the University of Maine at Farmington, having retired from UMF as Professor Emeritus.

He has exhibited throughout the United States as well as internationally (most notably through the Department of State Art-in-Embassies Program) at the following U. S. embassies: Athens, Greece; Paris, France; Banjul, Gambia; Reykjavik, Iceland; Budapest, Hungary; Ottawa, Canada.

Books that have featured paintings by Higgins include the following: The Art of Maine in Winter; On Wilderness: Voices from Maine; Paintings of Maine; Art of Katahdin; Ripple Effect: Water Stories.

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