Artist Statement

John Skahill’s work uses pastels and charcoal on charcoal paper to recreate scenes within his life. These scenes are for the most part, nothing special and cover rooms and walls of places he spends a lot of time. His work encompases ordinary rooms or sections of rooms that at a passing glance are not very interesting. This work depicts how something regular can become something with interest and value.

John spends a lot of time just observing what's around him. This allows him to especially appreciate the structures and scenery he views everyday. His goal is to try and emphasize how often people don't realize that everyday things such as a staircase or a window have their own inherent interest and value. He is not trying to strike any emotional chords within the viewer but instead just display some of the ordinary parts of life that he believes people often gloss over. John has created art similar to this in previous work from other classes taken such as drawing, and drawing with color. But he believes his work here is an accurate cultivation of his aim to showcase overlooked scenes. His inspirations for this work are many of the oil paintings created by Edward Hopper.

John Skahill

About the Artist

John Skahill is a pastel and charcoal artist currently living in Baltimore as and is a senior studio arts major at Loyola University Maryland. Growing up in a suburban community, John draws different scenes from within either suburban houses or other rooms he has come across. Using aspects such as perspective, John captures these scenes in order to show how each room is interesting to him. One of his biggest influences on his work is Edward Hopper. John takes inspiration from the moods and composition of Edward Hopper’s work and attempts to create work with a similar feel to many of Edward Hopper's pieces. Finding the process of creating the work just as rewarding and enjoyable as the final outcome, John embraces mistakes within his work because they create a greater sense of interest in the viewer. Some of his proudest work was created in his drawing and drawing with color classes where he was challenged on many occasions to use both color as well as light to create scenes which led to some of his favorite pieces.