John Day has a BFA from Cornell University, where he studied with Jim Dine and Robert Richenburg, who had a decisive influence on his artistic development. Subsequently, he lived in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Connecticut and began observing the landscape, which led to the development of paintings based on farmland and forest settings. In Connecticut, he traveled to state parks and began producing sculptures and installations with natural materials gathered from forests and farmland. A large scale installation, Grove Circle, was completed near a forest trail in 1980. In 1984, two room-sized installations, Metacomet Voices and Corn Scaffold, were exhibited at the Old State House Museum in Hartford.
After moving to New York City in 1986, he continued work on a series of paintings based on travels to wilderness preserves in the Northeast. He also has done large and small scale installations in forest preserves and galleries in New York and Long Island, with materials gathered from the area. These include the College of New Rochelle, SUNY Old Westbury, the Dumbo Arts Festival, Nurture Art, the Great Neck Arts Center, Rush Arts Gallery, and the Steinberg Museum, LIU Post. During this period, he has exhibited assemblages and paintings in the Jamaica Arts Center, Omni Gallery, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and galleries in Queens, Long Island City and New Jersey. His work has been reviewed in the Hartford Courant, Art New England, the New York Times, and online publications. In 2022, he moved to Pennsylvania, and recently was included in the Radius exhibit at the Delaware Contemporary.
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. BFA, 1967
Individual Artist Grant, Queens Council on the Arts, 2014
Haylee Chancellor, “Perception and Transformation”, The Artists Forum, October, 2016.
Michael Corbin, "John Day - Journeys in Wilderness", online interview, 2015.
Benjamin Genocchio, “Reshaping the Art of Nature”. The New York Times, April, 2010.
Marc Katz, “Driven to Abstraction”, Great Neck Record, March 2009
“Art for the Environment in Muttontown Preserve”, Oyster Bay Pilot NY, 1999
Florence Berkman, "Two Connecticut Artists", The Middletown Press, August 1984.
Anne Robb, "Artworks Exhibits John Day," Hartford Courant, January, 1983.
Linda Hirsh, "John Day: Remembered Images," Art New England, February 1983.
Palmer Museum of Art, Penn State, NY
Pfizer, Inc, New York
Zoetis, Inc, New Jersey
Aetna Life & Casualty, Hartford, CT
St. Bonaventure University, NY
Penn College, PA
Albright College, PA
Muhlenberg College, PA
National Wildlife Refuge Association
NY League of Conservation Voters
Private Collections
2021
CONFRONTING WILDERNESS: THE ART OF JOHN DAY, Virtual Exhibit, Amelie Wallace Gallery, SUNY Old Westbury, NY
2022
THE FOREST BELONGS TO EVERYONE/EVERYONE BELONGS TO THE FOREST, Installation at Westbury Friends Meeting, Westbury, NY
2017
HELIX, Installation at Glenwood Gallery, Glenwood Landing, NY
2010
PAINTINGS, Patchogue Theater Gallery, Patchogue, NY
2007
SYMBIOSIS, Installation at Mooney Center Gallery, College of New Rochelle, New Rochelle, NY
2006
CONVERGENCE, Installation at Powell House Conference Center, East Chatham, NY
2004
LANDMARKS, Installation in Leeds Pond Preserve, Port Washington, NY
2000
GROVE SPIRAL, Installation in Muttontown Preserve, East Norwich, NY
1980
GROVE CIRCLE, Installation near the Metacomet Trail, East Granby, CT
1998 – 2010
ALTERED LANDSCAPE Installation Series in Area Parks and Preserves
1998
PAINTINGS, Manhasset Friends Meetinghouse Gallery, Manhasset, NY
2024
MIXED MESSAGING, part of Radius Exhibit, Delaware Contemporary, Wilmington, DE
2020
ONLINE STUDIO VISITS, series of 4 sessions reviewing recent work for art audience
2019
ARTIST CO-OP, Jamaica Arts Center, New York, N
2018
FOREST QUILT, assemblage in Long Island City Arts Open, New York, NY
2016
PERCEPTION AND TRANSFORMATION, paintings in Omni Gallery, Uniondale, NY
2015
ARS CONTINUUM, Group exhibition at Wallace Gallery, SUNY Old Westbury, NY
BLOWDOWN, Installation at Long Island City Arts Open, New York, NY
2014
TREES, Installation of Thicket, Steinberg Museum of Art, LIU Post, NY
2014
ROSETTA, Long Island City Arts Open, New York, NY
2013
CURATE NYC, Reforestation installation selected for online exhibit at Rush Arts, New York, NY
BRIDGING THE GAP, group exhibition at 3 galleries in Queens, NY
REFORESTATION, Installation at Long Island City Arts Open, NYC
2012
STICKS AND STONES, installation of Reliquary, Great Neck Arts Center, Great Neck, NY
2011
CURATE NYC, Portal installation selected for online exhibit, Rush Arts Gallery, New York, NY
PORTAL, Installation at Dumbo Arts Festival, Brooklyn, NY
LOCAL CONNECTIONS, paintings in group Exhibition, Long Island City Artists
THE CIVILITY SHOW, Group Exhibition at SUNY Old Westbury, Westbury, NY
2010
LIMINAL SPACE, paintings in Omni Gallery, Uniondale, NY
2010
REGARDING NATURE, Heliotrope Installation at Wallace Gallery, SUNY Old Westbury, NY
2009
DRIVEN TO ABSTRACTION, Great Neck Arts Center, NY
2008
SUDDEN FACES, City Without Walls Program, Seton Hall Law School, Newark, NJ
ECO DEMO M.O. Installation at Nurture Art Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2007
PROJECT DIVERSITY QUEENS, Group exhibition at 13 galleries in Queens, NY
2006
PAINTINGS, Pierro Gallery, South Orange, NJ
RECENT PAINTINGS, Omni Gallery, Uniondale, NY
2005
PAINTINGS, Shelter Rock Gallery, Manhasset, NY
2000
PAINTINGS, Federal Reserve Bank Exhibition, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York, NY
1984
TWO CONNECTICUT ARTISTS, Old State House Museum, Hartford, CT
Installation of Metacomet Voices and Corn Scaffold
