By Bella Erakko
John Stoeckley, with his business degree, worked the corporate world until luckily for him, he lost his job. Thus opened the door to his lifetime passion. Drawing. Since first grade, he’d been complimented on his talent, and he readily admits, “I am incentivized through encouragement.” Now he wrote up a business plan for his new publishing concept—a book, Reflections of Missouri, based on his pen-and-ink drawings. Always using his business acumen, he initially saw his target market as galleries and framing shops but quickly realized art shows aligned him with his best audience. “Making a sale is the challenge, a lot of fun.”
Meanwhile, his wife frequently traveled to France as her job entailed working with a major cookware company there. He accompanied her, sating his thirst for drawing on the wonderful Provence area. Eventually they began an annual rhythm of living in an ancient village for March and April. He enthuses, “The poppy fields bloom. The irises bloom. Olive trees are flowering.” It’s very near where Van Gogh painted his final masterpieces.
Doubling their passions, today she teaches French cooking to American couples who live in their house for two weeks. John takes the non-cooking spouse on plein air adventures.
Over the years, Stoeckley developed a business rhythm. College images sell very well. Incredibly detailed, they far surpass architectural renderings. They always carry a warmth and welcome about them. He also quickly realized that staying to one size allowed him to use one mat size, one frame size, one glass size, one color combination. Entering a Stoeckley art exhibit allows the viewer to concentrate on the art—the image.
He also takes commissions, nearing 600 at this point, and on two occasions he drew the wrong thing. Once he asked a friend to snap a shot of the house. Wrong house. Then there was the college frat house…
But plein air ventures tug at the heart and occasionally stop the car. En route to Iowa, Stoeckley saw an Amish farmer plowing with a team of mules. He asked if he could photograph them. The farmer explained, smiling, “We don’t like to be photographed but my mules don’t mind.”
Today John mentors other artists—not in the artistic process but in the rarer, harder to attain, business concepts. He used joblessness, a business degree, and a passion for drawing to create a viable life. Rare indeed for the artist.
An open house will be held on Saturday, November 14,2020 from 1:00 until 6:00.
