User:Crashkickave/John Cheney Wood

John Cheney Wood (10 July 1922 - 20 July 2012) was an American photographer, printmaker, and drawer who is known for his influence at the Alfred University School of Art & Design, as well as the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, NY (4).

Biography
Wood was born in Delhi California, and grew up on a homestead ranch as the second of three sons. The family was soon forced to move East due to a drought, as well as the depression following the First World War. After moving East to New England, the family moved several times, which prevented John from settling into any one social group. During his childhood, Wood was surrounded by artistic family members, but most held the mindset that one must not do art as a profession or in a serious manner. Wood's family members included musicians, piano manufacturers, a photographer, painters, a carpenter, and his great uncle, Thomas Hill, who was a famous American painter (on the edge). John joined the Air Force in 1941, which would eventually become a very large influence in his life. The Air Force and flying introduced multi-point perspectives, rather than the one-point perspective that had made Wood uncomfortable in the past. In the Air Force, Wood began teaching other pilots and checking their skills. He developed a viewpoint that, "[a] student pilot can only learn to fly by flying, so the flight instructor has to let go," which would eventually carry into his future teaching positions (carol wood's paper). After leaving the Air Force in 1945, John attended University of Colorado to study architectural engineering. John dropped out of the artitectural engineering department (wood), and moved on to open a commercial photography studio in Concord with a high school friend named Bill Anderson (on the edge). The studio offered portrait work and aerial photographs (quite fitting, as they were both pilots). John married Suzanne Watson in 1950, and was soon accepted into the Institute of Design in Chicago. John's family ideals of not doing art in a "serious manner," were still ingrained in him at this point. But it was at the Institute of Design that John was introduced to the idea that one could do art as a profession. At the Institute of Design, John met Aaron Siskind and Harry Callahan, whom became colleagues of his. John was highly recommended by those he worked with at the Institute of Design, which helped him receive a teaching position at Alfred University in 1954 (carol wood paper).

Teaching
John's work in the Air Force and at the Institute of Design laid a groundwork for his teaching habits. In the Air Force, John had been teach other pilots to fly, and by his fourth year at the Institute, he was teaching a visual fundamentals. Upon starting at Alfred University, John was allowed to be flexible, as well as have large influence in what and how he wanted to teach. (carol wood paper).

Collections
Albin O. Kuhn Library, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Catonsville, MD Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD Brent Sikkema Gallery, New York, NY Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, AZ The Elizabeth Collection, Rochester, NY International Museum of Photography, George Eastman House, Rochester, NY Lightwork Gallery, Syracuse, NY Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, CA Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY The Museum of Art, University of Oregon. Eugene, OR The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada Nelson-Atkin Museum, Kansas City, MO New York Public Library, New York, NY The Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, CA The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA School of Art and Design, NYS College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, NY Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE Smithsonian Institution, Dibner Library Special Collections, Washington, DC United States Consulate, Moscow, USSR University of California, Los Angeles, CA University of Colorado Art Museum, Boulder, CO Video Data Bank, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY