By Hailey Andersen
John Marcella Grant is a local artist in Bryan College Station. Originally from Los Angeles, California, Grant moved down to the South to pursue a degree in architecture from Texas A&M University. It wasn’t until a time of adversity that he was inspired to give an artistic career a shot.
Grant studied architecture at Texas A&M from 2003 to 2006. Knowing in the back of his mind that art was something he enjoyed, all it took was one spark to ignite the flame and get his career started. In the middle of his studies, Grant’s wife, Julie, became really sick.
Julie endured four back surgeries, which had complications and led to a month of hospitalization. During that time, John and his kids spent their time at home painting a mural on the wall of his and Julie’s bedroom.
“I was kind of freaking out, and I just started doing this huge mural,” says Grant. “I had never really done art before, just doodled for fun. … The mural covered the whole wall of our bedroom and we were just kind of in survival mode for that month.”
When Julie got better and returned home from the hospital, Grant was given the nudge he needed to jump into his passion for painting. Caroline Anderson, Julie’s friend, had come home from the hospital with Julie to see the mural.
“All three of us were just looking at the mural and Caroline says, ‘That’s pretty good. You should try to do more of this,’ and that’s what kind of got me going,” Grant says.
Grant has done drawings and sculptures throughout his career as an artist but moving forward he wants to stick to acrylic painting and oils. Out of about 54 of his commissions, 40 to 50 of them are capturing people in different moments of time. Grant says he believes it is important to make sure his paintings consist of both strong technique and content. Capturing a person’s emotions and telling a story is a goal Grant says he continues to implement into his creative process.
“When I paint I just try not to think of anything in English — no words — because it tends to mess me up,” Grant says. “I just try to think ‘blob blob blob’ in my head, so I just start with big blobs and then get more fine-tuned, more fine-tuned.”
Grant says he bases the majority of his paintings off people he admires and knows. Looking at photographs of his subjects is enough for him to put together a masterpiece that reveals their deepest thoughts and most defined features.
One of Grant’s favorite pieces he painted is of an artist he admires, Kent Twitchell. “I really admire Kent because he has both awesome technique and his content says something,” Grant says. “I was just trying to capture his wisdom and experience, and I feel like I succeeded.”
On Jan. 26, Grant will be appearing in his first art show called Kitsch-In-Sync in Los Angeles along with 20 to 25 other artists. Grant says he is looking forward to the show and considers it one of his biggest opportunities so far. To see more of Grant’s paintings, visit his website, www.grantartistry.com.
