Celebrated artist Andrew Jonstone will present a keynote to the Rotary Club of Hayward on Monday, March 04.
A British artist now living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area, he is a muralist specializing in photo real trompe l’oeil ( deceive the eye), and has been a professional artist his entire life.
Following a classical European education in the arts, he became the apprentice and protégé of William Holgate (1931-2002), the world's finest master of the decorative arts in the last 150 years, working on cathedrals, Royal Palaces and international architectural treasures. His clients recently have included The Smithsonian Washington DC, Chabot Space and Science Center, US Department of Justice, Alameda County Supervisors. Stanford Medical Center and NASA. He was a faculty member at University of California, Berkeley, where he lectured in and wrote the curriculum for the course “mural and decorative arts” and continues his calling to pass along his knowledge with The Big Picture Project, mentoring graffiti offenders towards “making without victims”.
Since 2005 He worked with the legendary architect/artist Rod Garrett on designing of ”The Man”, the centerpiece of the Burning Man festival, the world's largest art event held every year in Black Rock Desert, Nevada. Andrew continued as the designer of The Man after Rod's passing in August 2011 and was given the title of “Steward Of The Man” by Burning Man's founders.
In October 2011 he was honored by winning the Alameda County Board of Supervisors 2011 Arts Leadership Award and was subsequently appointed by the Supervisors to two four-year terms as a board member and President of the Alameda County Arts Commission representing District 4. He also holds a position on the board of the Alameda County Arts Education Commission and is President of the Executive Committee.
In the Summer of 2020 Andrew was also the subject of a feature film by BBC Director Gerald Fox called "Art On Fire" based on a book of the same name by Jennifer Raiser.