Eric Whitten paints landscapes in oil, some on a large scale. His work is concerned with history, culture, and memory. His recent work is more intimate and explores personal memory and landscape.
Influenced by the French artist Pierre Bonnard, Whitten works from small sketches done on location, using color to express emotions as the memory is revisited many times.
Eric Whitten was born in Walnut Creek, California, in 1966 and educated at Yale, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1989. Whitten also holds a Master of Arts in United States History with a focus on American Indian Affairs and a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from the Academy of Art College in San Francisco. He is married, has three children, and lives in Point Reyes Station, California.
In 2008, Whitten was chosen as one of three artists to exhibit work in conjunction with a conference on the writer Wallace Stegner. Whitten’s paintings were large-scale landscapes (up to seven feet wide), created on location and based on Stegner’s writings about the American West. The work explored themes of Western scale and color, as well as the culture and history of our relationship to the land.
To learn more about the Wallace Stegner exhibition, read the Pt. Reyes Light article by Jacoba Charles, “Painter Evokes Raw, Rough West.”
Education
1989 — Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
Bachelor of Arts in American Studies
Senior Thesis: The Legend of Butch Cassidy
1993 — University of Rochester, Rochester, New York
Master of Arts in American History
Thesis: American Indian Policy in the 1880s
2000 — Academy of Art College, San Francisco, California
Master of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing
Exhibitions
2015 — Landscape, Point Reyes Library, Point Reyes Station, California
2014 — Marin Open Studios, Novato, California
2013 — Landscape and Memory, The Tamalpais, Greenbrae, California
2013 — Member Show, Museum of Contemporary Art, Novato, California
2013 — Marin Open Studios, Novato, California
2012 — Small Treasures, Museum of Contemporary Art, Novato, California
2012 — Marin Open Studios, San Rafael, California
2012 — Fresh Work, Juried Show, Museum of Contemporary Art, Novato, California
2010 — Members Show, Juried Show, Honorable Mention, Museum of Contemporary Art, Novato, California
2010 — Donner-Truckee Veterinary Hospital, Truckee, California
2008 — Geography of Hope, Juried Show in conjunction with the Wallace Stegner Conference, Claudia Chapline Gallery, Stinson Beach, California
2007 — Figure Interpretations, Museum of Contemporary Art, Novato, California
2005 — Marin Open Studios, Point Reyes Station, California
2004 — Marin Open Studios, Point Reyes Station, California
2003 — Marin Arts Council Members Show, Corte Madera Town Center, Corte Madera, California
2003 — Cafe Arrivederci, San Rafael, California
2003 — The Beauty of Marin, Marin Civic Center, San Rafael, California
2002 — Water Dragon Group Show, Water Dragon Gallery, Fairfax, California
2002–2003 — Doce Lunas Restaurant, Kenwood, California
2002 — Marin Open Studios, San Rafael, California
2000 — Master of Fine Arts Show, Academy of Art College, San Francisco, California
2000 — Graduate Figure Show, Academy of Art College, San Francisco, California
Awards & Commissions
2012 — Painting, Mr. and Mrs. Wayne McIntosh, San Rafael, California
2010 — Painting, Dixie School District, San Rafael, California
2006 — Drawing, Mr. and Mrs. Joe McLaughlin, San Francisco, California
2004 — Painting, Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Greve, Durango, Colorado
2004 — Painting, Dixie School, San Rafael, California
2003 — Painting, Dr. and Mrs. Whitten, Point Reyes, California
2002 — Painting, Mr. and Mrs. Russell Burbank, Mill Valley, California
2001 — Drawing, Mr. and Mrs. Patrick McGee, San Anselmo, California
2000 — Painting, Mr. and Mrs. Joe McLaughlin, San Francisco, California
1998 — Painting, Mr. Richard Respini, Marshall, California
1995 — Buck Foundation Achievement Award in Painting
Related Employment & Activities
2006–Present — Critique Leader, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Novato, California
2000–2001 — Art Instructor in Color and Design, Academy of Art College, San Francisco, California
