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Headline:
JOHN STAMPER, WILDLIFE PAINTER, KENTUCKY HERITAGE ARTIST, DIES Publication Date: January 08, 1992 Source: The Courier-Journal Louisville, KY Page: 04B |
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Obituary:
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Wildlife artist John Stamper died of lung cancer
at his home Monday. He was 70. Stamper often said he loved painting "the little things that grow beneath the trees." Some of his original paintings hang at Western Kentucky University, Eastern Kentucky University and the Neil Armstrong Museum in Ohio. Private collectors of his work include country-music singer Loretta Lynn. He published 16 limited-edition prints, 11 of which have sold out. His last print was "Spring Bouquet," from a painting he did in the early 1980s. Stamper was one of the 16 original Kentucky Heritage Artists, a group formed in 1972 to present a picture of the state through the eyes of Kentuckians for retiring U.S. Sen. John Sherman Cooper. Their works were shown in Washington, D. C., in the Kentucky Heritage Art Exhibit, sponsored by Appalachian Regional Hospitals. Cooper and his wife, Lorraine, were the exhibit's hosts. Stamper's wife, Gail, said he had never tried to draw or paint until he was in his early 40s. John Stamper was doodling one day and decided that what he had drawn looked like a flower. His talent grew from there. He not only taught himself to draw, but he also was self-taught in mixing colors, Gail Stamper said. His career as an artist began after his career as a salesman in a retail men's clothing store. |