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Michael Drury
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Michael Drury is a native Santa Barbaran. He received his education in the local school system, a B.A. in Art Studio at the College of Creative Studies, UCSB, and an M.F.A. in Art Studio, UCSB.
His commitment to plein-air painting began when he met Ray Strong in 1970, and virtually all of his work is generated out-of-doors. He has painted extensively in the high deserts of the Great Basin, the wild coast of California, his home grounds of western Santa Barbara County, and the west coast of Ireland. He is a life-long surfer and a founding member of the OAK GROUP, an association of environmentally active landscape painters in Santa Barbara.
paintings by
The paintings were made on Autumn trips to the Western Great Basin, the Gaviota Coast and Point Reyes in Northern California. Some reflect a growing interest in volcanic formations, and a search for the arhythmic poetry of lava flows in particular. The painter finds a correlation between the exposed ocean terraces and uplifts of Pt Conception and the equally abrupt and expansive sagebrush sea of the Great Basin. He sees the occasional man-made forms such as barns as reminders of how small our human endeavors really are. "There is a comfort in that somehow"
"I want to paint the
other side of the mountain"
-Michael Drury
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