I DISCOVERED R.H. IVES GAMMELL (1893-1981) WAS TRAINING YOUNG PAINTERS AT THE FENWAY Studios in Boston, Massachusetts, so in 1973 I moved there to study. Ives taught traditional painting and passed on his own training following the First World War. I will be forever grateful to him for showing me the way the historic painters of the Boston School thought. Mr. Gammell introduced me to Robert Douglas Hunter with whom I continued my training. Hunter was an established professional painter and showed me what that looked like. Having the opportunity to tag along behind a pro was life-changing for me in my early twenties and he became my mentor. My goal was to make a living as a painter. The late David Curtis, my roommate in Boston's historic Fenway Studio, was from Gloucester, MA, and had grown up in a famous family of landscape artists. David took me outside to paint on the Charles River Esplanade in the summer of 1974. Not a lot of people were painting outside in that era and I had never seen anybody do it before that day. I was absolutely enthralled with it and have been painting the landscape ever since. Sometimes I paint outside and sometimes in the studio, but all those years of painting on location inform my work.
After training in Boston I returned to Minnesota where for about seven years. I tried to make a living as an artist in Minneapolis without much success. I starved and lived without a car, a phone, or a bank account. But I did develop my skills during that time. In 1983 I returned to the East Coast to see if it offered me more opportunities. Robert Douglas Hunter suggested I move to Rockport, Massachusetts, a hundred-year-old art colony known for landscape painting. It is different from other art colonies because it has a tradition of artist-run galleries. I met a couple of glass blowers who made little glass animals and together we opened a tiny gallery on Bearskin Neck, a historic street on a rocky peninsula sticking out into the ocean where little fish shacks and houses, some dating back to the revolution, have been turned into seasonal galleries. My paintings were inexpensive and I sold a lot of them. Over the years I built my reputation and increased my prices. Rockport is on Cape Ann, north of Boston and there is a Cape Ann style of painting. I set out to learn that and have tried for my entire career to append myself to the open end of that tradition. I have made my living selling pictures and teaching workshops.
Currently, I am living on Cape Ann, in the 400-year-old seaport of Gloucester, about forty-five minutes north of Boston. I own and run the Stapleton Kearns Gallery in Rockport where I show my own art and that of my wife Dale Ratcliff. I have served on the board of governors of the Rockport Art Association and as its president for five years. I am also a member of the Guild of Boston Artists and sat on their board for many years as well. I was recently awarded the Christopher A. Hamilos Award for “Best in Show” in the Rockport Art Associations and Museums 2023 National Show.
— Stapleton Kearns
TEACHING
Stapleton Kearns: Designing Your Landscape Painting
New Masters Academy(online)
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