Support Jerry Ross's Legacy Art Exhibit

I am Jerry Ross, an artist (painter) who, having reached the age of 81, am preparing a legacy retrospective exhibit for June-July in 2026 to be held in Eugene, OR most likely at the Gordon Hotel. I have over 300 works to exhibit and make available for sale to the general public. Your generous donation of $5 or more will greatly contribute to reaching my $10K goal needed for this exhibit to happen. Funds will go for framing, space rental, advertising, and outreach.

My story in brief: I was born in Buffalo, NY where at an early age I attended the Albright art School and studied under Buffalo painter Anthony Sisti. I became active in anti-war andvil rights causes in the sixties and had two federal courthouse trials as part of the "Buffalo Nine." I won two hung juries and had the charges dismissed but because of constant FBI surveillance and harassment, I left for Arizona and a teaching assignment on the Mexican-Arizona border.

After that academic year I traveled to the UK and nthen to Germany. In Buffalo, I had founded the MArtin Sostre Defense Committee for a Black political prisoner, and in Germany I attempted to contact Amnesty International on his behalf.

Returning to Arizona, I taught T'ai Chi Chuan in public parks and then moved to Eugene, OR where I founded the Tao Te Ching Society to teach T'ai Chi in public parks and on campus. I attended the Ken Kesey "Poetic Hoo Haw" at McArthur Court on campus and met Angela whom I later married.

I began painting again, meeting up with U of O fine arts graduate students like David Rich, Andy Johnson, and other painters like Bob Devine and Jim Ulrich. I was juried into the New Zone Gallery on 4th and High Sreet.

After works submitted to the Eugene Mayor's Show were repeatedly refused, I started the Salon des Refuses art exhibit to run parallel to the Mayor's Show and when the New Zone Gallery folded, Ikept it alive by using its non-profit status to host several years of the Refuse exhibit.

After winning the Mayor's Choice award in 2000, I had won a lunch with the Mayor and used the opportunity to organize the Downtown Initiative for the Visual Arts with Carolyn Kranzler and other arts activists.

DIVA lasted 10 years hosting many exhibits in downtown Eugene and the Salon ran for over 20 years. New Zone Art Collective lasted 40 years and is still in existance. I was awarded a legacy membership several years ago.

Meanwhile Angela and I started spending our summers in Italy. I was a data processing manager at the Lane County Regional Information System (RIS) and later a full time instructor at Lane Community College and part time at Linfield College. But summers were spent in Italy painting and exhibiting there.

Eventually I had exhibits in Livergnano, Loiano, Bologna, Firenze, Rome, Milan, and Terni. I won a gold medal competition in Corsico, near Milan and won an exhibit the following year. I now have important works in the permanent collection of the Goracci family and was commissioned by their organization, la Tavola Italiana, to paint a large grup of important figures that was presented to the public at an important conference.

Back in Eugene I codified my unique style of painting as "American Verismo" and have taught many workshops locally and also for the Brownsville Art Association. Many of my students have gone on to have successful plein air painting careers: Patty McNutt, Sally Schwader, Sue Matsu, and many others. I founded "Club Maccia" for the study of American verismo and we, as a group, had several important exhibits, one in Newport, OR and one at the Jacobs Gallery at the Hult Center.