News

Note: click on each painting for more information


2024 Schedule updated 11-11-2024

Melanie Parke and Richard Kooyman "In Conversation" is now showing at Anne Loucks Gallery in Glencoe, Illinois.

Melanie and I have titled the exhibition of new paintings "In Conversation" because we are always 'in conversation' about our work and lives as artists. I hope you can see the show.


I have added a Writing section to the website where I will be posting my art writing and all of my previous pieces from Substack.


If you are in the Grand Traverse area be sure to check out the new V Gallery www.v-v-v-v.com/ where my work is exhibited.



Why do I make paintings?
Fleeting visual phenomena along the Lake Michigan shoreline and deep within its forests fuels ideas for my paintings.
How the sun sparkles at the edge of a wood, or the sun or moon reflects light on the water, are occurrences I find compelling. They point to something in nature that is bigger than me.

I like simple and direct brushstrokes in my work. I’m striving for temperate colors and brushwork that connect emotionally to a place and time. My process is both visceral and somewhat intuitive. I like to think of my paintings as things that can hold energy and from which you can go and receive that energy back.

I make paintings because I believe it is still one of the most important personal, social, and political acts a person can do.