Shawn Krueger (American, 1973- ) is a contemporary landscape painter whose work sits comfortably in both the American Tonalist and Arts & Crafts traditions. Shawn received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Calvin College in 1998, studying under Chris Stoffel Overvoorde. Upon graduation, he traveled frequently to the UK and painted in nearly every corner of Great Britain. While Krueger currently lives and keeps a home studio in Grand Rapids, MI, it has been the mountains of Western North Carolina, the Lake Huron shoreline, or the woods (anywhere) that have given him his most recent subject matter.
Over the course of his career, Krueger has shown his landscape paintings with a variety of galleries across the United States. Krueger first juried into the highly reputable Roycrofters At-Large Artisan Guild (RALA) based in East Aurora, NY in 2016 and was named a Master Artisan in 2021. In 2019, the artist was invited to be a signature member of the American Tonalist Society and to participate in the inaugural exhibition Shades of Gray at the Salmagundi Club in New York. Shawn’s work has garnered a number of awards over the years and his pieces are in dozens of private collections as well as in the permanent collections of the Michigan House of Representatives, Grand Rapids Art Museum, Gilda’s Club of GR, Calvin College and the Bissell Corporation. The artist’s continuing focus in his studio and plein air work has been to identify the poetry within a given landscape while seeking to discover a sense of his own place within it.
“The past however many years of pandemic and uncertainty have only deepened a desire to find relevance. My search for peace, place and quiet beauty has only grown more important. The times in which we are living practically demand it of us and I don’t think we have a choice. It is seemingly never quiet anymore. We are constantly knocked back by the noise. We are misunderstood, hated or, worse yet, ignored. And yet somehow, if not by miracle, then by stubborn resolve, our desire to depict the beauty that surrounds us does not diminish.”
Artists Website: shawnkrueger.com