John Moyers

1958 - 0000

Though John Moyers was born in Atlanta, Georgia, he grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The son of Western artist William Moyers, John says, "Art was all around me. Dad would go over my work and help me see the areas that needed improvement. I just grew up with art. I guess you could say I wanted to be like my dad, whenever there was a piece of paper around, I was drawing horses or western stuff.” William Moyers clearly had the same effect on both his sons. John’s brother, Charles, is a wildlife sculptor.

John Moyers’ formal training began at the Laguna Beach School of Art where he spent a year taking both day and night classes. A Walt Disney Studios scholarship allowed Moyers to attend the California Institute for the Arts where he studied animation. Moyers says, "I really grew from the experience. They had such great instructors." Though, like his father, he worked briefly as an animator illustrating Spiderman cartoons at the Walt Disney Studios, in 1979 he was invited to a monthlong workshop at the Okanagan Game Farm in British Columbia taught by Western artist Robert Lougheed. “He [Lougheed] had a great work ethic, did not tolerate being lazy about your approach, and insisted that you work from life whenever possible,” says Moyers.

It turned out to be a pivotal point in his life and career. There he learned to paint wildlife plein air every day and met his future wife and fellow Western artist, Terri Kelly. Moyers and Terri ended up getting married and studying there during the summers for five years, which they say "… was exactly what we needed. We had attended art school where the emphasis was not on traditional academic studies but on painting abstractly. The time-honored techniques of color and value and working outdoors from life had to be discovered anew at the game farm. Everyone there was united in his or her view of good art."

John and Terri eventually settled in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where they share a studio. In 1994, John Moyers was made a member of the Cowboy Artists of America, and like his father he has served as its president and won many of its awards.

Moyers paints in oil and watercolor and enjoys painting a variety of subjects, including Indians, cowboys, and New Mexico landscapes. "I paint what excites me. Maybe for two months all I want to do is landscapes, then maybe Native Americans, and then Mexican pieces," he says, "The more you paint, the more comfortable you get with the process. Hopefully, I'm improving all the time. I hope people like what I do. I just try to paint. I try to make the values and colors as true to life as I can." A stickler for historical accuracy, John Moyers says, “I don’t want to paint unless I get everything right.”

WINTER ABOVE TAOS Oil on Canvas 2002 48 x 34 inches