Florida Artists Group

Artists Bio:

Paul Ladnier, Professor Emeritus, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida, taught painting and drawing for nearly forty years.  He received numerous awards and recognition for the quality of his teaching and dedication to his students, the community and the university. Upon his retirement, UNF honored him with an eponymous scholarship, which provides educational funds for exceptional painting majors.  He received the MFA degree from Syracuse University and the BFA degree from Ringling School of Art, Sarasota, Florida.  Paul has exhibited in solo exhibitions and numerous group shows throughout his career. He is an invited artist to many plein-air competitions and events, including the prestigious, annual Publisher’s Invitational, “Paint the Adirondacks,” and 2016’s Publishers Invitational, Cuba.  He taught two summers in Italy as part of UNF’s study abroad program. He has painted throughout the United States, Central America, the Caribbean, and Europe.
He is a member of The American Impressionist Society, The Society of Illustrators, since 1984, and in 2017 he was elected to the prestigious Salmagundi Club, New York. In 2019 he was voted into the prestigious Florida artists Organization FLAG. (Florida Artists Group.)  He was one of eight charter members to start the CoRK Arts District in Jacksonville, which has become a focal point of the arts.  It has grown to more than 65 artists and studios.

Paul continues to travel, paint, exhibit his works, teach privately at his CoRK studio and conduct painting and drawing workshops. In June 2019, he taught a plein-air workshop for Il Chiostro at San Fedele, Italy and has been invited back to teach again in 2020.  In November 2019, he conducted a three-weekend figure drawing/painting workshop at the CoRK studios in Jacksonville.

Affiliations:  FCPAP (First Coast Plein Air Painters), The American Impressionist Society, Society of Illustrators, Adirondack Plein Air Painters, FLAG, (Florida Artists Group) and Salmagundi Club, New York

Artist Statement:

I have had a lifelong passion for painting and painting process, which plays a major role in my work as it reinforces the world I paint.  I believe that paint should reveal but not conceal the meaning of a work. Process should accentuate and contribute to the message and relay the passion and soul of the artist. 
My inspirations come from years of studying the works of Sargent, Sorolla, Mancini, Fechin, the Barbizon School, the Renaissance masters and the Impressionists.  Landscape and figure painting are my passions. Deliberate drawing, brushstrokes and marks, impasto, scratches, splatters, drips and multiple layers are all part of this process. In addition to the viewer examining my work from a distance, I want them to look closely…to explore the marks and layers of paint, which may sometimes reveal other aspects like original marks, multiple revisions, compositional changes and unexpected color and drawing.  My paintings are personal interpretations of the subject, developed with emphasis on drawing, color, balance, harmony and arrangement of everything necessary to convey the message of a painting.


Exhibitions and Awards:

2019 ​      Best of Show Award​, “The Old Warrior,” St Augustine Art Association, Members Show,
​       ​       ​  St.  Augustine, FL 
2019 ​      2​nd​ Place Award​, ‘Sanary Sur Mer Afternoon,” JCA “Plein-Air Light” Exhibition, Jacksonville, FL  2019 ​      Honorable Award​, Ponte Vedra Cultural Center Plein-Air Exhibition, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 
2019 ​      ​Top Award Quick Draw​, St Augustine Art Association Plein-Air Paintout, St Augustine, FL 
2019 ​      3​rd​ Place Award​, “Yellow Door,” St Marys, Ga. 9​th​ Annual Plein Air Paintout 
2019 ​      2​nd​ Place Award​, “Carl, ”St. Augustine Annual Member Show 
2018 ​      Artists Who Mentor, Narthex Gallery, ​Jacksonville, Florida 
2018 ​      Creativity Award​, “Bicycles, ”​Where Art Meets History​, St Augustine Art Association  
2018 ​      Invited Artist: White Oak Conservation Area 
2018 ​      Invited Artist in Residence: Thomasville, Georgia Rose Festival 
2018 ​      Article, ​“Twelve Thousand Pounds of Snapper,”​ Arbus Magazine 
2018 ​      Article, First Coast Magazine, The Colors of Cuba. 
2018 ​      Invited Speaker at UNF OLLI, ​The Colors of Cuba 
2017 ​      First Place​, Art Battle Invitational, Jacksonville Beach, FL 
2017 ​      ​Honorable mention​ ​Breath​ Ponte Vedra Cultural Center, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL  
2017 ​      Best of Show​, St Augustine Members Show, St Augustine, FL 
2017 ​      Honorable Mention​, St Augustine plein-air paintout, St Augustine, FL 
2017 ​      Best of Show​, Lake City plein-air paintout, Lake City, FL 
2017 ​      New Member Show, Salmagundi Club, New York, NY 
2017 ​      The Fine Line,​ Space Gallery, Jacksonville, FL 
2017 ​      ​Cuba, ​ Southlight Gallery, Jacksonville, FL 
2017 ​      The Cuba Project,​ Solo Exhibition, Jacksonville International Airport, Jacksonville, FL 
2017 ​      The DNA of the Mark, Frank Rampolla and his students, MOCA, Jacksonville, FL  
2016 ​      A River Speaks​ Lufrano Gallery, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL  
2015 ​      Florida, North, South, East, West​. Jewish Community Association, Jacksonville, FL  
2015 ​      ​Face Forward​, Jacksonville International Airport, Jacksonville, FL  
2015 ​      FCPAP Members Exhibition, Daryl Bunn Studio, Jacksonville, FL 
2014 ​      Friends, Angels and Other Anomalies​, Solo Exhibition, Thrasher Horne Center for the Arts,
​       ​       ​  Orange  Park, FL 
2014 ​      Low Country Light​ , Solo Exhibition, Ponte Vedra Cultural Center, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 
2013 ​      2​nd​ Place​ Figure Exhibition, Florida State College Jacksonville, Jacksonville, FL 
2010 ​      Looking Forward, Looking Back​, MOCA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, FL 
2010 ​      ​First Place Quick Draw​, Forgotten Coast en Plein-Air, Port St. Joe, FL