Drawing and painting have been my greatest pleasure as long as I can remember. I began formal art instruction in the mid 60’s with Pennsylvania artist Andrew Palencar, but I really began painting in earnest after leaving the US Navy in 1975. At that time, I studied painting and illustration techniques under popular animal artists Robert C. Kray and George Schelling. I was selected to develop murals related to the Nation’s Bicentennial in Luzerne County, PA and they eventually became a permanent part of the Luzerne County Art archives.
I won Best In Show at the Plymouth, PA art competition in 1977. Two of my paintings were chosen as a part of a permanent memorial exhibit to honor the memory of Howard Purcel, a founder of the Luzerne County Community College commercial art school. In the 70’s, I received many commissions for portraits and other works for private estates including the estate of the actor Jack Palance.
After moving to Georgia in 1982, I began painting in egg tempera which I had started to learn in the 70’s. Georgia’s landscape, with its deteriorating farm houses, old plantations, colorful earth and plant life became my chief interest. Painting the vanishing old farmhouses, cotton mills and other representative structures which reflect the colors and textures of nature has moved me to represent natures way of reclaiming what man has put on the earth. In most of my personal work, I try to achieve a sense of proportion between nature and man made structures. I also work in India ink with a crow quill pen and occasionally in watercolor and other medium.
In 1989, my painting “Georgia Lace” was chosen for purchase by the Georgia Arts Acquisition Program and is now a permanent part of the art collection at Gainesville Community College in Gainesville, Georgia. A fine art print of this work is also hanging at the University of New Mexico as a part of their permanent collection. Since then I have had several co-op and one-man shows in Georgia, both in Madison and in other locations such as Millidgeville, Cartersville, Athens, and Atlanta.
In 1997, I received an honorable mention in the Georgia Watercolor Society’s annual juried show in Gainesville, Georgia. In 1998, my painting “In The Roundhouse” was juried into the top 100 touring exhibit by the National Foundation for the Arts for the Parks in Jackson, Wyoming. The painting along with the other 99 depicting our Nation’s Parks traveled to several locations across the United States and sold to a private collector in New Orleans while on tour.
In 1999 I started a fine art print company, Vanishing Rural Georgia Art, using the Giclée process to produce quality prints for both painters and photographers on Archival papers, board, and canvas.
I continue to explore the relationships between man and his environment through old buildings that are being reclaimed by wildlife for habitat, and the plant life that supports it.
My work appears in public and private collections in the United States, Japan, South Korea, Belguim, Canada, and Mexico.
Window on Georgia
Sign I painted from 1st Madison Georgia Show in 1984
I paint nature scenes, often related to old abandoned farm buildings, in the medium of egg tempera. I have always had a deep feeling about the natural world and am saddened by the elimination of much of the animal habitat and plant life that makes up America's woodlands. I try to reflect that in my work by demonstrating the beauty in the texture and color of natural things. This often includes the wood and metal that we have abandoned along the way.
When I work with egg tempera I am reminded that the natural world permeates everything that nurtures our existence. Egg tempera lends itself to detail as well as the layered color seen in nature. When I work in oils I am moved by the beauty and fluidity of nature. This gives rise to a softer image than my egg tempera works. In either case, I begin a piece by roughing out a composition in aqueous pencil on paper or panel. Then I revise it and tighten the details as necessary to achieve the feeling that I wish to impart with the image. If I am trying to evoke a relationship with the textures and smaller details found in the composition, I will work in tempera. If, on the other hand, the images are related to a broader beauty of nature, I will most often paint in oils.
In our modern world, expansion and development marks our society's feelings of success. I wish to show, through my paintings, that the natural world should not be ignored. God has made us stewards of our earth and man can destroy or enhance the property that He has loaned us. I hope that, in some small way, my paintings will help foster the understanding that the natural world permeates everything that nurtures our existence.
Click HERE for a link to Peter Muzyka's biography in PDF format.
My paintings can be purchased through galleries in the Madison Georgia area and on-line. I am also available for special commissions. To contact me about my art, click HERE.
All Artwork and Text Copyright 1974-2007 Peter Muzyka and Vanishing Rural Georgia Art
Peter Muzyka has been drawing and painting since childhood. While overseas in the US Navy, he painted in other countries and has left art in many parts of the world.
