(Above: Along the Canal (Venice) is one of the paintings by James Kroner now on display at the Karin Clarke Gallery in downtown Eugene.)

By Randi Bjornstad

It’s hard to believe that it’s been exactly four years since James Kroner had his first solo show at the Karin Clarke Gallery in downtown Eugene, at least until you recall that half that time was simply lost to the world as the coronavirus pandemic raged around the globe.

Now, work by the Washington State-based artist is up again on the walls of the gallery, to Clarke’s delight, both at the canvases themselves as well as the sigh of relief that maybe things after all may yet be coming back to normal.

She first met Kroner in 2017 when she traveled to Italy to participate in a plein air workshop he led there. Her mother, artist Margaret Coe, had attended two of his workshops in Italy already, and she told Clarke that she really should host a show of his paintings, even though the emphasis of the Karin Clarke Gallery is on Oregon regional artists.

But she did the spring workshop in Italy and then another later in the year in Carmel, Calif., and she knew she wanted to show his work, which she did early in 2018.

Survey North, a streetscape of San Francisco, is part of a show of recent work by artist James Kroner at the Karin Clarke Gallery.

Now he’s back with more of his paintings, which Clarke characterizes as “strong on composition, mood, light, and atmosphere,” all of which have propelled him to national, as well as regional, attention.

Kroner, now in his early 40s, grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, in the peninsula city of San Mateo. Although always interested in art, he began his college studies at the College of San Mateo in philosophy, but his art classes there inspired him to switch his major and his career choice.

In the early 2000s, he began studying painting at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, where his work quickly gained him recognition, including the institution’s top prize for landscape painting and a bachelor’s degree in fine arts in 2010 and a scholarship to study abroad during the summer of 2011, in Italy. He finished his master’s degree in fine arts in drawing and painting in 2013.

Kroner’s wife, Janelle Kroner, who grew up in Washington State, also is an artist. The couple met at the Academy of Art University.

James Kroner: New Paintings

When: Through Feb. 26, 2022

Where: 760 Willamette St., Eugene

Hours: Noon to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday

Information: 541-684-7963 or karinclarkegallery.com

 

Landscapes by James Kroner at the Karin Clarke Gallery

 

 

 

 

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