Born in Fort Worth, Texas, John Berry grew up with a passion for horses in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He resided in southern California for thirteen years before moving to Taos, New Mexico in 1987. Prior to pursuing a full-time art career, Berry trained and showed horses professionally. Following training with Olympic standard riders and instructors, like Gabor Foltenyi and Carol Grant, Berry began a 16-year career as a professional trainer and show rider. Initially working with hunters and jumpers, he eventually embraced dressage, a discipline he continues to participate in.
Berry’s passion for horses matches his passion for painting. After mastering the portrait and human figure, Berry began to focus on equine art. His riding career and his intimate knowledge of the anatomy, movement and spirit of the horse continue to inform and inspire his work. He finds that the years of riding have provided the necessary discipline and persistence that serve him well in his artistic endeavors.
Berry’s art background includes human figure and portrait study in California with Jack Ragland (listed in Who’s Who in American Art) and Edward Moore in the 1980’s, and in Taos with David Borenstein and Valori Fussell in the 1990s. When Berry began to make the transition into painting horses in 1996, he found encouragement and support in his friend and mentor, Lanford Monroe, an internationally known landscape and wildlife painter. Since then he has devoted himself entirely to equine painting: portraits as well as the horse in the dramatic light and landscape of northern New Mexico.
Back to Gallery Page