William Richard Swanson

“My favorite subject is marines, especially coral reef scenes. The living reef never fails to inspire me. Underwater is a world of wonder, beauty, life, color and mystery.” A Florida resident, William became a certified diver in 1985 and has dived or snorkeled off Florida, the Caribbean, Hawaii and Africa. “My art is an interpretation of a world that has been largely overlooked by artists. Scuba was not invented until the twentieth century and by then the art world had migrated to abstract. It is a world of endless variety. The mystery of the sea suggests soft edges, a scroll coral suggests hard edges, a queen angelfish suggests strong color, while a cloudy stormy ocean suggests low chroma.”

William Swanson studied art in Philadelphia at both The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and Fleisher Art Memorial.

His paintings have been in many open juried exhibits and won awards in Florida and Pennsylvania. In 2017 he won awards at open juried exhibits at the Visual Arts Center - Punta Gorda and Venice Art Center, and had a solo show in Sarasota, Florida.