J. Thomas Soltesz

J. Thomas Soltesz was born in a small coal mining town in western Pennsylvania. He is the fourth in a family of seven children. In the second grade Soltesz decided that he wanted to become a professional artist, but there was little opportunity for an art education in a rural community of forty-five hundred people. He had always loved to travel, and at an early age began to see the country. By the time Soltesz graduated from high school, he had hitched rides from Canada, to Florida, California, to New York City, all without parental interference. After high school, he hitch-hiked to Florida where he learned the art of sign and billboard painting; at this time he also became seriously interested in watercolors, and began studying privately. In 1974 Soltesz moved to Denver and enrolled in the Colorado Institute of Art. In 1976 he moved to the South Pacific to start a graphic design studio in Manila. His graphic design career took him to Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan, Australia, and Papua New Guinea. He returned to the United States in 1982 to continue his education and freelanced his way through the Academy of Art College in San Francisco where he majored in illustration and fine art. After four years of advanced classes at the Academy, he did commercial illustration for a number of years. In the early 90s he discovered the early California landscape artist that changed his way of painting. J. Thomas Soltesz is an Artist Member of the California Art Club and has won numerous awards in Plein air competitions. He is currently represented by seven art galleries in California.