John Power
John was born in 1949 in a room overlooking the estuary of the mighty River Stour that marks the boundary of the counties of Essex and Suffolk in England. The view from the window across the water to Suffolk was to a naval training centre called H.M.S. Ganges. This was a coincidence involving another great river that was to have an important significance for his life.
Aged 17, he started his post-school Art education at Colchester School of Art, but after making the mistake of choosing Graphics in his Second Year, which turned out to be hard-sell commercial Art, he dropped out and worked for 'Gandalf's Garden', Underground Mystical Scene Magazine doing layout and illustration, and other freelance projects, like murals, and design and printing for a silk screen printer. But when his then wife became pregnant he decided to return to college, and took the shortest route to work by attending a teacher's training college, which has since been subsumed into Anglia Ruskin University. Once qualified he taught Art in schools, colleges, prisons and for mental health organisations until retired in 2012, picking up a Diploma in Art Education and a Masters Degree in Jungian Psychology and Art Therapy from London University while teaching.
In the late 1960s he began a correspondence with two ex-patriot Britains living in India: John Spiers, a Scot, who published a magazine called 'Values', in South India, and who also taught John serious astrology. The other ex-pat was one of the magazines contributors, an Englishman, known to the Indians as Dadaji Mahendranath , who had been initiated into the hereditary Old pre-Christian Religion of Europe by his aunt when he was twelve, had known founder of modern witchcraft, Gerald Gardner, and Aleister Crowley, the New Aeon Magician, before travelling to the Orient where he received initiations into Thai Shamanism, as a Nath Yogi, Uttara Tantrika and, Zen master, Taoist, and Vajrayana Buddhist. In 1979 Dadaji asked John to become a Preceptor for a Westernised dialect of the Uttarakaulas. This was reflected in his Art, although he had already spent a decade previously producing Surreal and Symbolist canvasses which showed a high level of influence from Indian Folk Art. He too has travelled widely in this role.
As teaching has always provided a livelihood, he has never set out to paint for money, except for commissions, but usually gives canvasses to friends, who are often the subject of portraits incorporated into the symbolism of the work.. But if anyone is interested in any of the canvasses or drawings on the Salón Arcano on-line gallery, it could be a good time to de-clutter the house and save his children the job of disposing of the work later on . Most of the canvasses are in oils and are in the region of one to one point five metres square, and would seem to be worth about £200-£300 by today's standards, [2014] and reasonable offers in that region would be considered. More details about individual canvasses can be supplied on request.
Contact: madaece21@talktalk.net
John Power's official website: http://www.johnpowerweb.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
