He’s many other things of course, including an academic, a teacher, a stand-up comedian, an artist philosopher, a bicycle commuter, and an institution- builder. But he approaches all of these endeavors with the eye and the temperament of a painter. His sculptural works feel like three-dimensional paintings and his photographs read like impressionistic landscapes. This painterly approach extends beyond his art making to his teaching as well. John’s students arrive in the studio as underpaintings and later leave with new layers of knowledge, aesthetic meanings and perceptual understandings.