Boston Charles River Gondola

John Lanza

Professor Lanza has been with the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University since 1978.

Faculty John Lanza John Lanza
Professional Title:  Professor, Foundation and Illustration
Areas of Academic Focus and Expertise:  
Fine Arts: Drawing, Painting, Sculpture
Area of Work and Concentration at Lesley:  
Foundation, Illustration
Representative List of Recent Courses Taught:  
Anatomy and Figure Drawing; Figures in Environment; Drawing Intensive; Figure Drawing; Drawing Fundamentals; Perspective: Real and Imagined
Education:  MFA, Painting, Boston University (1975); BFA, Studio Art, Amherst College (1971)
Representative List of Recent Publications / Exhibitions:  

Exhibitions:
  • Working from Observation, South Shore Art Center (2011)
  • The Hingham Scene, SSAC @ The Shipyard Invitational (2010)
  • Pause, Paul Pratt Memorial Library (2009)
  • Men Who Paint, South Shore Art Center (2007)
  • Parallel Paradigms, Dillon Gallery (2006)
 

Fun Facts:  
I try to compose music and sing in a choir; I no longer try to figure skate; I try not to forget more French and Italian than I can help; and I try to pick up brain cells that fall out of my head before they roll too far.

Theater, music, and the visual arts deal with the same notions: investigating relationships and how they are ordered to convey some intent or need. The pieces fit together, just like lovely, intricate, wooden jigsaw puzzles. In a painting surface, all shapes combine into an abstract yin/yang or kaleidoscopic puzzle of shape and color. Furthermore, one can look at a painting and see shapes dancing. One can look at a painting and hear colors singing. The creative process awakens an inner dialogue, which generates an ever-evolving body of concepts not unlike the exploratory process of science. Painting is an open-ended experiment. The rule is in the vision, not the product—vision rules and informs the process and the product, but does not define or restrict it. Observation is a truth, and a truly emotive artist is logical and analytical. This inquiring process helps freshen an awareness of “roads not taken” and hints at worlds worth exploring. As creative artists—professionals, students, and teachers alike—we think and explore. We pause.