Andrei
Kushnir grew up in Scott, Mississippi
and Chicago, Illinois.
Always interested in art, he was a cartoonist for the Chicago Illini,
student newspaper of the University of
Illinois at Chicago.
After experimenting with various media, he started painting in oils in
1980, and quickly discovered the joys of painting landscapes outdoors,
en plein
air. Essentially self-taught, he also
took lessons with artists Michael Francis, at the Alexandria,
Virginia Art League, and Michele Marin Taylor.
The
artist
developed a naturalistic, realist style, and has painted in every type
of
weather, focusing on the American landscape.
This includes the Potomac River and C&O
Canal, both near his Maryland home. He has also
painted in
Virginia’s
Crooked Run
Valley and in every part of the Shenandoah Valley.
He has painted along the shores of Maine,
New York, Cape
Hatteras and Florida’s
Gulf Coast,
as well as in the Western U.S. states, particularly California,
Colorado,
The Dakotas, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona,
as well as in New Zealand, Japan, Italy, France and
Holland.
He has exhibited
his works in numerous juried
and invitational shows throughout the United States, often selected by
judges who were curators at major art museums.
Kushnir has
been a member of the Alexandria and Fairfax, Virginia, Art Leagues, as
well as
the Washington, DC Capitol Hill Art League, the Blue Ridge Arts
Council, Front
Royal, VA, and the Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers Society,
Washington, DC., where he ultimately was elected vice
president.
He was elected a signature member of the
National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society, and has been a member of New
York’s Salmagundi Club and the
Washington Society of Landscape Painters.
He is also a member of the Oil Painters of America and an Official
Coast
Guard Artist.
The
artist
had his first one-artist show in 1998 at the Museum
of Florida’s Art and Culture, Sebring, Florida, now
administered by the South Florida State College.
Subsequent one artist shows were held at, among others, the Capitol
Hill
Art League, Washington, DC,
Taylor & Sons Fine Art, Washington, DC, Rehhoboth Art League,
Rehoboth Beach, DE; American Painting Fine
Art in Washington, DC
and New York, NY,
and the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, VA, where he was the
first living
artist accorded such an exhibit. Upon the publication of his
book
of paintings of Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, he was selected for
single artist exhibitions of works from the book catalog at the Museum
of the Shenandoah Valley, Winchester, VA; the Duke Hall Gallery of Fine
Art, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA; and the Virginia
Museum of History & Culture, Richmond, VA.
Group shows
include venues across the United States: University of Maryland
University College, College Park, MD; the Art League, Alexandria, VA;
The Atheneum, Alexandria, VA; Principle Gallery, Alexandria, VA; ART MD
95, Ellicott City, MD; Touchstone Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Blue Ridge
Arts Council,
Front Royal, VA; Foundry Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Artists’
Atelier, Atlanta,
GA; Glen Echo Park ,Glen Echo, MD; Spectrum Gallery, Washington, D.C.;
Miniature
Painters, Sculptors, Gravers Society, Washington, D.C.; Art Gallery
Fells
Point, Baltimore., MD; Serendipity Gallery, Boca Grande, FL; Miniature
Art Society of Florida; Madison Avenue Art Gallery, Germantown, TN;
Icehouse Gallery, Berkley
Springs, WVA; Cogswell Gallery, Vail, CO; Squash Blossom, Colorado
Springs, CA;Parklane Gallery, Kirkland,
WA; International
Visions, Washington, D.C.; Fairfax Art League, Fairfax, VA; Museum of
Contemporary
Art, Washington, D.C.; Capitol Hill Art League, Washington, D.C.; Mill
River Gallery
I, Ellicott City, MD; Salmagundi Club, New York, NY; eklektikos
gallery, Washington,
D.C.; Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MT; Mill Atelier Gallery, Santa Fe,
NM; Art
Institute & Gallery, Salisbury, MD; Taylor & Sons, Fine
Art,
Washington,
D.C.; Olympics Exhibit, Nagano City, Japan; Gallery West, Alexandria,
VA; Abend
Gallery, Denver, CO; Papermill Playhouse,
Millburn, NJ; Alder Gallery, Eugene, OR; Maryland Art League,
Baltimore,
MD; Hudson River Art Association, NY; Broderick
Gallery, Portland, OR; Gallery on the Square, Danville, KY; Trudy
Labell Fine
Art, Naples, FL; Lexington Art League, Lexington, KY; Period Gallery,
Omaha, NE;
Snow Goose Gallery, Bethlehem, PA; Arts for the Parks, Casper WY;
Alexander
Gallery, New York, NY; Crane Collection, Cape Ann, MA; Sandy Spring
Museum, MD.
The
artist’s
works are in the permanent collections of the U.S. Coast Guard;
District of Columbia’s Commission of Arts &
Humanities; Museum of Florida’s Art and Culture, Avon Park,
FL;
Virginia Museum of History & Culture, Richmond, VA;
University of Maryland University College, College Park,
MD; and the University Club, Washington, DC.
Kushnir is
the author of eleven publications of his artistic work: Oh, Shenandoah, Paintings
of the Historic
Valley and River (2016)
published
by George F. Thompson Publishing Company, Staunton, VA.; Shenandoah Valley's Interstates (2024) published
by George F. Thompson Publishing;
My River
(1999) and American
Light, 2001, published by
Taylor & Sons Fine Art; Painted
History
(2004) published
jointly by the Virginia Historical
Society and Howell Press; Potomac
River
School (2009), Painted
Seasons (2010), River Visions
(2013), Blue
Ridge Paintings (2017), Small
Marine Paintings (2018)
published by American Painting
Press, Painted Boca Grande
(2020) published by American Painting Press.
He is also
the author of the nonfiction work EPIC
JOURNEY, The Life and Times of Wasyl Kushnir (2020),
published
by Academic Studies Press, Cherry Orchard Books. Paintings by
the artist are
also included in Along the Potomac,
Images of America (2000), by
Philip Woodsworth Ogilvie, Arcadia
Publishing, and Rock Creek Park (2003),
by Gail
Spillsbury, Johns Hopkins University Press.
Articles about Andrei Kushnir and his work have appeared in numerous
publications, including the Nature
Conservancy Magazine (2008,
2012); Richmond Times Dispatch
(Virginia) (2019); Daily News Record (Virginia) (2017); The Daily
Progress (Virginia) (2017); Ukrainian Weekly, (2016); The Journal (West
Virginia) (2011); Gloucester Mathews Gazette Journal (Virginia) (2010);
HILL
RAG
(Washington, DC) (2006); Washington
Times (Washington, DC)
(1999); Washington
Post (Washington, D.C.) (2002); Montgomery
Gazette (Maryland) (1998); élan
Magazine
(Virginia) (2008); Gasparilla
Gazette (Florida) (1998); Highlander
Today
(Florida) (2000); Longboat Observer
(Florida) (1998); and Register Guard
(Oregon)
(1998).
Andrei
Kushnir continues to show in juried exhibits, as well as invitational
shows. His main exhibition venue is the Andrei Kushnir Studio,
American
Painting Fine Art, Washington, DC.
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