At the 8th Annual Plein Air Convention in San Francisco, California, Eric Rhoads honored master watercolorist Joseph Zbukvic with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the world of art.
Watch a tribute video to Joseph Zbukvic here:
Born in 1952 in Croatia, Zbukvic showed signs of his creativity as a child but was never taught how to paint. He emigrated to Australia in 1970, and it was during a university class on Industrial Design, in a chance lesson on how to do a watercolor wash to add color, that Zbukvic was initiated into what he refers to as this “magic medium.”
Since then, Zbukvic has had more than 50 solo exhibitions in Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and recently in China, where watercolor reigns. He has won more than 200 major awards, including the coveted Gold Medal for the best painting of the show at the Camberwell Rotary Art Exhibition in 2001, 2003, and 2004. And in 2014, his work received recognition as Best of Show at the Zhujiajiao Biennial International Watercolour Competition.
A highly respected and sought-after teacher, Zbukvic has produced five top-selling instructional videos and has published a book titled Atmosphere and Mood in Watercolour.
Listen as Zbukvic talks about “traps” artists can fall into, how various countries handle art and education, and much more, in this PleinAir Podcast with Eric Rhoads:
PACE is the largest gathering of landscape and plein air artists in the world. To learn more and to register for the next convention, visit PleinAirConvention.com.
I am proud to know this famous artist and a great man, Joseph Zbukvic, since the early grammar and gymnasium school time in Croatia. Dear Joseph, I am thankful for this long time friendship with you. My honest compliment and congratulation for the receiving Lifetime Achievement Award!