Featured Arkansas Artist: Dennis McCann

The Arkansas Studies Institute houses four art galleries, including a retail gallery, featuring the work of Arkansas artists and art related to the state. This post is part of a bi-weekly series featuring ASI gallery artists.

Dennis McCann
Biography

Dennis McCann was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1952 and was raised in North Little Rock. In 1983, while completing his master’s degree, he accepted a job with the Little Rock Fire Department. This allowed him the time to develop as an artist and the privilege to serve his community in a fulfilling professional career. He is currently a captain with the LRFD in the Community Outreach and Public Education Program.

McCann has achieved considerable recognition as a regional artist, having had his work accepted in 155 regional and national juried exhibitions, in which he has won forty awards. He has had twelve one-man exhibitions and is included in ninety-eight private and corporate collections. In 2002, he had two one-man exhibits: Dennis McCann, A View of Arkansas at the Arts Center of the Ozarks, in Springdale, Arkansas, and a retrospective at the Baum Gallery at the University of Central Arkansas, which highlighted three stages of McCann’s paintings and drawings. He was also the recipient of a 2002 Individual Artist Fellowship from the Arkansas Arts Council. In 2005, four of McCann’s landscape paintings were selected for the South Arkansas University Reynolds Collection.

McCann is represented by the Arkansas Studies Institute Retail Gallery in Little Rock, Gallery Central in Hot Springs, and the Hannah Davis Gallery in Memphis, Tennessee. His work can also be seen at the Reynolds Center on Aging website and the Arkansas Artist Registry website.

Artist Statement

Over the years, my work has adapted to new techniques and experiences, dealing mostly with subject matter, scale, and process. However, the one constant in my work is the use of sunlight and shadows to establish interesting compositions. Draped lawn chairs, neighborhood scenes, and Arkansas landscapes are subjects that I use.
My neighborhood scenes remind me of the simpler times of my childhood. Many represent the 1960s architecture of the Levy subdivision of North Little Rock, not far from my childhood home. The compositions of these artworks also rely on sunlight and the geometric shapes created by the cast shadows.

My landscape compositions place the viewer in the middle of the woods rather than in a panoramic scene. I stand in the creek, brush aside branches, or just wait for the light to change in order to achieve the desired composition. I also look at light and value changes with regard to color and intensity. Sometimes timing is everything if red maples and yellow leaves of hickory trees are to be appreciated. Add some snow or blazing fall foliage, include springtime chartreuse or summer viridian, mix in some sunlight, and the conditions are perfect.

To create my artwork, I work in my studio, using photos that I have taken. I generally work on a large scale and listen to music while I draw or paint. Each piece is a representation of the photo, and I make adjustments to the composition based on intensity of light, color, or subject complexity.


Click here to see more work by Dennis McCann.