Stuart Roper   
     
    Born in North Carolina in 1953, painter and sculptor Stuart Roper moved to Manhattan in the mid-1970s to attend the Art Students League of New York. There, he studied anatomy and figure drawing with Thomas Fogarty and portraiture with John Howard Sanden. Following New York, Stuart made a brief move to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he studied color theory under the direction of Gerry Wright. In 1980, he moved to St. Simons Island, Georgia for a year, prior to settling in the state's capital, Atlanta. Over the next ten years, his work included various commissions, both private and corporate, as well as a number of solo and group exhibitions. In the fall of 1991, Stuart moved to France, west of Paris in the small Normandy village of Pressagny l'Orgueilleux. There, he settled in the guest cottage of the Château de la Madeleine. Only minutes away from the home of Claude Monet in Giverny, the place and its artistic precedent guided Stuart's own paint handling; through plein-air work, he found the approach of the Impressionists, which has since characterized most of his painting. Normandy offered Stuart myriad tones of gray amidst the often-foggy landscapes, however, the frequent inclement weather made plein-air work difficult. In 1993 Stuart moved to the small hilltop village of Fayence in southern France where he would remain for the next five years working under "a glorious sun." During this time, his work took him to Italy, Corsica and back to Normandy, all the while enchanted by the light, and concentrating on the development of his limited three-color palette. In 1998, Stuart made the decision to return to the United States, where he settled in Asheville, North Carolina. The Grove Arcade Public Market commissioned Stuart to recreate the original 1920s finials that adorn the top of the building, and the City Parks and Recreation Department also commissioned him on the development of “Grove’s Vision”, a station on the city’s historical Urban Trail. He may be spotted almost anywhere, as he continues his love of capturing the landscape and developing his artistic vocabulary.