John Bunker is a local artist who operates out of his home studio.
WHAT MEDIUM DO YOU PREFER?
“I’m probably more known for my watercolor pieces but I’ve been doing [acrylic] pieces on canvas lately. Watercolor has to be glazed with plexy or a glass surface because some washes can run. Acrylics and oils dry and are impervious to water.” Bunker also creates collages, drawings and hand-made paper objects such as bowls.
WHAT SUBJECTS DO YOU PAINT MOST?
“They always relate to nature. I’ve been experimenting with quadrants but they’re all natural pieces. Even my figures include natural forms. At my age, I don’t worry about my images anymore.”
IS THERE A COMMON THEME?
“I choose to work in a style that brings visual pleasure. It helps me and others who look at my work to realize how fragile nature is. The natural environment is scarce for us and generations to come.”
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN PAINTING?
“For a long time, 35 years, but I’ve only been doing it full-time for the last five. My museum work took up most of my day.” Palmer was the director at the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens before becoming interim director at the Jacksonville Art Museum. For two more decades, he served as JAM’s associate director managing the education programs, exhibitions and the store.
WHAT ELSE HAVE YOU DONE?
“I’ve done a lot of different things. I taught art and humanities for a number of years at Southside Junior High School in the 1960s; I was a visual education consultant; as a young person, I managed a drug store and worked in tobacco fields. Farming used to be a big thing around here. The hardest part was cropping. I did that for three summers. I also wrote a weekly column for the Jasper County newspaper.”
HOW DID YOUR TRANSITION GO FROM MUSEUM EXEC TO PAINTER?
“When I left I thought being self-directed, I would fall apart. Each time you come to a new work you’re coming up with a new image. I try to force myself into new and different directions, plus do all the things I need to do that keep me stimulated.”
WHAT KEEPS YOU STIMULATED?
“Reading a diverse list of books, walking for exercise and traveling to places I’ve never been.” His other interests include spinning (a stationary bike exercise), Thai food or any film by Merchant and Ivory.
WHAT CHOOSE PAINTING AS A CAREER?
“I always wanted to be an artist. I thought that if I didn’t, I would lost it [his talent].”
WHAT’S MOST REWARDING ABOUT ART?
“When I get into that zone where I don’t know about time or anything else and the work envelopes me and just flows. The zone is hard to get into.”
WHAT’S MOST CHALLENGING FOR YOU?
“Seeing people respond to my art. It gives me a great deal of angst because it’s painful to see people respond. Sometimes, when I’m not sure about a work, I’ll hide it for a few months. We all see things according to our own past. I try to develop tools in people to look at art objectively. I feel strongly about art enrichment.”
WHO COLLECTS YOUR WORK?
“I have a large following. Several pieces are at the Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art in storage. Many private individuals and corporations hold collections — Mayo Clinic, the Cummer, banks, Nordstrom. I used to have my own gallery. I’m represented by Stellers at the beach on a trial basis. I sell on my own but people don’t like to come to a home studio.”
IN THE BUNKER
Born in White Springs, Fla., Bunker currently resides in Ortega with his wife Diane.
EDUCATION
Bunker received a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Florida State University and his master’s degree in humanities from Vanderbilt University.
AU NATURALE
Bunker is a member of JaxPride, GreenScape and the Jacksonville Community Council, Inc. While participating in a JCCI study, he worked alongside the committee to tackle the issue of visual pollution [the City’s attractiveness] and planned growth. Currently he is president of the Riverside Fine Arts Association. “We bring concerts to the Church of the Good Shepherd. This year we will be bringing in the Harlem Girls Choir in conjunction with 100 Black Men of Jacksonville. Riverside Arts recruits internationally known artists.”
WHO INFLUENCED YOUR WORK?
“I like the post-Impressionist work and abstract expressionism. There isn’t one particular person. After my protest years [post-graduate school], I did female figures. I go from one thing to another. I like to be inventive with what I’m doing.”
WHO’S YOUR HERO?
“I like Thomas Jefferson. In the development of our country, he was a Renaissance man. He’s getting a bad rap now because he owned slaves but we have freedom because of the framers of the Constitution. They were very important for our society.”
— by Monica Chamness