jake gaedtke

As a second-grader, Jake was completely lost and separated from the rest of his class as they toured the Detroit Museum of Art. The paintings that surrounded him had Jake so spellbound that he was cut off from his class, and found himself mesmerized in a sea of art. He wanted so much to be able to do the work he was seeing before him on the walls. That desire never left him.

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Like most landscape painters, Jake loved the outdoors and he grew up spending a great deal of time camping, fishing, hiking, and exploring. As a teenager of sixteen Jake's parents allowed him to take the two-year Famous Artist Course for Young People, a correspondence art course that started him on a path of learning and discovery of the art world. A high school art teacher fresh out of college bellowed the fire inside of Jake through his passion, enthusiasm, and love for drawing, painting, and art history. His personal interest in learning and growing as an artist is something that has never left him. Jake has spent a lifetime drawing and painting, but he wanted to focus more on landscapes and the natural world he was so close to. An invitation from the landscape painter Jay Moore to take his newly formed one-on-one Mentorship program elevated his skills and awareness. After five grueling months of extremely hard work and study, Jake's growth as an artist took a professional turn and he hasn't looked back since.

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My purpose as an artist is to share my vision and experience of the natural world and its many marvels. Through the learned disciplines of skilled techniques with all the emotion, I feel "in the moment" as I am painting, it is my desire to capture that moment of intense awareness for the viewer to experience and enjoy for themselves.

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Jake lives and works in Bozeman, Montana with his wife, Janice.

In both my field studies and my studio paintings, I invite the observer to journey with me into a world of total sensory awareness of the countless wonders and manifold expressions of nature.

Jake has been a professional full-time artist for over 20 years and lives in Bozeman, Montana with his wife, Janice, who is also a painter.