Biography
"Every emotion goes into my paintings - love, hate, joy, sadness - it's all in there. An amazing thing happens when you love hard and paint hard. You become one with the work. The mind can make paint do things, anything - make it behave in ways it shouldn't. The act of painting becomes spiritual. Once this happens, anything is possible."
Drew Ernst is a modern, contemporary, figurative painter. Drew attended the highly respected Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, America's oldest fine arts school. During his four years there, he polished his painting skills through studying with accomplished artists including Sidney Goldman, Peter Paone, and Bo Bartlett. As part of his training at PAFA, he drew from cadavers at the Hannaman Medical School in Philadelphia to learn the intricacies of the human form.
Beginning at the age of fifteen, Drew began drawing live models in figurative drawing classes at Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio. His attendance in these classes was arranged by Drew's mentor, Martin J. Garhart, Kenyon Art Professor, painter, and poet. At the same time, Drew was a watercolorist learning from high school teacher and superb watercolorist Chris Bunn. Watercolor was a great transition into oil painting for Drew.
Education
1998-2002
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
2001-02 Hannaman Hospital College of Medicine, anatomy studies
1998 East Knox High School, Howard, Ohio
Exhibitions
2005 Zenith Gallery, Washington, DC
Ohio Art League 94th Juried Art Exhibition, Columbus OH
2004 Art Access, Columbus, OH
2000-03 Annual Student Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
Recognition and Awards
2002 Stacey Scholarship, National Cowboy Hall of Fame
2001 Annual Student Exhibition, Alexander Prize, Pennsylvania Academy of
Fine Arts Museum
Artists’ House Gallery Award, Annual Student Exhibition, Pennsylvania
Academy of Fine Arts Museum
J. Henry Schiedt Memorial Travel Scholarship, Annual Student Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Museum
Susan Carlen Brown Memorial Prize for Aqueous Media on Paper,
Annual Student Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Museum
2000 M.G. Capuzzi Memorial, Annual Student Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy Fine Arts Museum
1998 Knox County High Schools Juried Show, Best of Show,
sponsored by Mount Vernon Nazarene College
Ohio Governor’s Youth Art Exhibition, Top 25, awarded a scholarship for
an academic year
Ducks Unlimited, Best of Show, First Place
Scholarship to Arrowmount School of Arts & Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN
Chad Mierzjewski Scholarship
1996 Ohio Governor’s Youth Art Exhibition
Ohio Capital Conference Visual Art Invitational
Who’s Who Among American High School Students
1997-98 School Year, Ohio Arts & Crafts Guild Scholarship Competition,
First Place – a scholarship to an Ohio college
Chad Mierzjewski Scholarship
1997 Knox County High Schools Juries Art Show, Best of Show,
sponsored by Mount Vernon Nazarene College
Top 25, Ohio Governor’s Youth Art Exhibition, Full scholarship to Otterbein College, Westerville, OH
Full scholarship, Kendall College of Art and Design, Grand Rapids, MI
Experience
1997-98 School Year, taught art classes to eighth graders