Ronald D. Russon was born and raised in a rural area outside of Salt Lake City. He was surrounded by the Wasatch Mountains, many farms, and acres of cultivated ground. Raised in a family of five boys in an agrarian area, work was taught and expected. Being big boys, Ron and his brother were farmed out to the neighbors and relatives for labor and heavy lifting. They became known as “those Russon boys” and were often found helping with a flooded basement, shoveling as sundries, elbow deep in axle grease, etc. (the piano moving count is up to around 29). In addition to the dairy farm, Russon maintained two other jobs to pay for his schooling.
When not working, Russon is often fishing, hiking, or drawing. Through his childhood, whether playing “the squiggle game” during religious activities or doodling on his notes, Ron was drawing. As a youngster, he never took art too seriously, or considered it as a viable career. He attended Utah Valley Community College and took a basic drawing class, and something about it felt right. He was accepted into the Illustration Design program at Brigham Young University and, as he puts it, “didn’t get fired, so I kept going.” While going to BYU, he was involved in a severe car accident, leaving him with a smashed car and broken neck. It slowed his progress for a bit, but he recovered and went back to school, and even accomplished an internship in New York City at Illustration House, and studied under several prominent illustrators and artists.
Russon became a freelance illustrator and gained several clients, but after painting an acrylic Uncle Sam wrapping a smiling house in red tape due to the editor’s “art consciousness,” he was drawn back to his rural roots of farms and wildlife. Listening to bluegrass or space-pop, Ron paints in oil employing a loose brush and pallet knife to varied scenes, from a serene resting tractor in a windrowed field of hay to a cacophony of geometric colors creating luminescent bison. Through both abstraction and realism, his art reflects his relationship with nature and his communication with the outdoors. Ron is currently painting full time for galleries, and freelance illustrating as well.
Exhibitions
“Color Theories,” Gallery MAR, Park City, Utah 2010
Utah Artists Hands, Salt Lake City, Utah 2010
Wasatch Society of Artists Show, Salt Lake City Utah 2010
Gallery at the Station, Ogden Utah 2010
B.Y.U. 30 Years of Illustration Alumni Show, Provo, Utah 2010
Central Utah Art Center Juried show, Ephraim, Utah 2010
Group Show Utah Artists Hands, Salt Lake City, Utah 2009
Group Show, Gallery MAR, Park City, Utah 2009-10
Group Show, Covey Center for the Arts, Provo Utah 2009
Two Person Show, Gallery Mar, Park City Utah 2009-10
Art Fundraiser Kimball Art Center, Park City Utah 2009
Lehi Celebration Art Show, Lehi, Utah 2008
B.Y.U. Illustration Alumni Show, Provo, Utah 2008
Group Show Utah Artists Hands, Salt Lake City, Utah 2008
Art Access Plate Show, Salt Lake City, Utah 2007, 2008
Springville Art Museum, Religious Art Show, Springville, Utah 2002-2007
Painting given to Ambassador of China, Salt Lake City, Utah 2007
One Man show Utah Artists Hands, Salt Lake City, Utah 2007
Pioneer Theatre Show, Salt Lake City, Utah 2007
Bean Museum Nature Art Show, B.Y.U. 2005
Utah Arts Council Traveling Show, Utah 2005-2007, 2009
Arts for the Parks, Jackson Hole, Wyoming 2005
Deseret News Landscape Art Show, Salt Lake City, Utah 2005
Utah County Art Show, Provo, Utah 2003, 2004, 2005
Phippen Museum Art Show, Prescott, Arizona 2003, 2004
Utah Arts Council Show, Park City, Utah, 2002
Lehi Sesquicentennial Art Show, Lehi, Utah 2002
Hogle Zoo Art Show, Salt Lake City, Utah 2002, 2004-2009 (Poster 2008)
Art for the Athletes, Park City, Utah 2005-2007
Professional Affiliations: Wasatch Society of Painters and Western Art Association
