Scott Switzer was born in Billings, Montana in 1960 and has devoted himself full time to painting since 1981. He received his formal art education in Los Angeles, California from Otis Parsons School of Design, but readily admits that his mentoring under various prominent artists, fellowship with contemporaries, personal study of art history, added to his own individual victories and failures throughout the 20 year duration of his creative pursuit are greater contributions to his work.

In the early years of his career Scott took pleasure in living and painting the majestic beauty found close to his birth place, enriching himself and his work through travels to distant places including the Canadian Rockies, Mexico, Western and Far Eastern Russia,

China and Italy. The camaraderie Scott enjoys with the individuals he encounters has been and continues to be a common thread throughout his travels and a constant source of inspiration.

Even in China where free disclosure was restricted, Scott secretly engaged in dialogue with the students and their accomplished professors at the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts. Behind closed doors he purchased works on paper, which remain a treasured part of his personal collection.

In a small Mexican fishing village, which Scott visited on several occasions, he introduced a gifted young family man to canvas and paint. This afforded the young man a welcome respite from the unending task of providing a meager living for himself and his small brood. Scott sparked a fast fellowship with this man’s whole extended community requiring him to humbly receive their gifts of food and hospitality. For Scott the passion and simplicity of these poor but joyous people proved contagious spilling over into his paintings and way of life.

Scott’s solitary exploration of the Hermitage and The Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg allowed him to see in life masterpieces previously admired only in his vast library of art books. This experience was enhanced by spending time with an extended family, who so generously invited Scott to share their small cottage outside the city. In keeping with the Russian tradition of hospitality, dined on local delicacies and debated good naturedly.

A chord was touched deep within Scott on another trip to Russia, five time zones away from Saint Petersburg, in Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka Peninsula in far eastern Russia. Amid severe poverty and hardship Scott met with a group of five accomplished artist, sharing a common unspoken language, which overrode the many extreme difficulties and cultural differences.

At a conference for the reconciliation of the white Russians and the indigenous peoples of that area, Scott met a man who was a spiritual leader of the Koryak people, relatives of the North American Inuit people. He was an academy trained artist and though they did not even speak the same language, Scott had opportunity to purchase a large amount of paint and supplies for this man and journey with him 600 miles north of Petropavlovsk to spend time painting together in his village, Asoryo. There the song deep inside Scott that began back in Petropavlovsk, culminated as he danced and drummed in union with the Koryak people in the full native regalia they dress him in. The unspoken spirit of these and other experiences and relationship enrich Scott with a depth and awareness that he expresses not in words but in his paintings.

In January of 2000 Scott and his wife, Shelley, with their four children in tow, set out on a prolonged sojourn. They moved to Alaska, to a remote Russian village, Nikolaevsk, about 28 miles from Homer. Using the signature colors for which he is known Scott captured the folkloric scenes of day-to-day village life Nikolaevsk for almost two years.

Recently the Switzers, joined by their eldest son and a newly adopted baby, moved closer

To Homer, a celebrated destination, located at the end of the Kenai Peninsula on Kachemak Bay and known for its fishing, bears, glaciers and mountains. Scott is usually found close to his new home absorbing and depicting these and his many other discoveries and adventures in this land called America’s last frontier.

Ever thirsty for the inspiration of a new quest.