Greg Osterhaus
Greg Osterhaus discoverd his interest in art at an early age.
As a child, he was always drawing and making up stories, mostly
drawing space men, armored war vehicles and monsters...typical boy
stuff!! At this time he received great encouragement from one
of his Catholic school teachers, Sister Helen Edward, who took an
interest in his artistic enthusiasm and drawing abilities. His
parents also enrolled him in private art classes where he received
valuable academic instruction.
Greg moved
form Schenectady, NY to Roanoke, Virginia when he was 12 years old
and has lived there ever since. While art wasn't a focus for
him at school, he did later attend oil painting classes at the local
community college and entered work in several art shows. After
high school, Greg attended Virginia Tech as a student of Architecture. Having spent some time taking art and literature classes he eventually
decided to focus on a career in graphic arts.
During his college years, Greg was heavily involved with the school
newspaper that claimed a readership of over 20,000. This provided
a great opportunity for him to develop his creativity. His involvement
included designing a comic strip and writing an editorial column,
as well as contributing illustrations to accompany the stories.
For two summers during college, Greg sold pen & ink artist impressions
of people's homes in the more affluent areas of his town. He
also developed his interest in creative writing, completing an unpublished
novel during his last two years of college.
After graduation, Greg found employment with an architecture firm
as a graphic artist and photographer, where he worked for six years.
During this time, Greg tried a number of studies from figure works,
to landscape paintings in watercolor, oil and pastel.
Having spent his formative years in Southwest Virginia, Greg's influence
has always been the beautiful surroundings of the Blue Ridge Mountains
and Shenendoah Valley. In fact, the majority of his landscapes
were taken directly from scenes he'd pass within fifteen to twenty
miles of his home.
These days, the work of
Greg Osterhaus is represented in many corporate and private collections
and can be found in galleries throughout the United States.