Who-s-Who-in-AAJ

AAJ would like to learn more about our members. We invite you to submit a personal profile to be posted on our webpage and social media. We encourage you to submit a face shot or self portrait, include a few pics of your favorite works of art, and give a brief description of your educational background and a statement of how you approach your art making. Feel free to tell us about your family, employment, and other interests.

You can email this info to either Ken Cotlar (kcpc69@icloud.com) or Duane Webb (duanewebb@floodcity.net).

It’s our hope that this enterprise will bring us closer as a group and be of interest to the entire art community.

Who's Who in

Allied Artists of Johnstown

About Kenneth Cotlar

CONTACT e-mail: kcpc69@comcast.net Text or call 814-241-2947 USPS: 522 E.Horner St., Ebensburg, PA. 15931

Biography

Kenneth Cotlar, originally from Bucks County, Pennsylvania; earned a BFA from Penn State University in 1969. He worked as a graphic design artist in Philadelphia for several years before moving to Cambria County to partner with his wife in business. He freelanced graphic design projects for various regional businesses as well as visual merchandising and advertising art. For three decades he painted sporadically, selling his works selectively. Retiring from business in early 2001, he returned to full time painting after graduate work at Indiana University of PA. His award winning paintings have been exhibited in numerous juried shows, one man exhibits, art festivals and are held in private collections throughout the United States.

Ken Cotlar

Current President of AAJ

Kenneth Cotlar Artist Statement

My abstract paintings are process driven works created on various surfaces, masonite, plexiglass, aluminum, or heavy raw duck canvas using acrylic, latex and oil paints.

My methodology involves readying myself by means of Transcendental Meditation(relaxing and clearing the mind of preconceived images), and then executing a random mark, stroke, swath or pool of paint, and then each subsequent stroke is suggested from the previous. The concept is to get the painting to paint itself.

The process and the resulting image then, is what the painting is about. I consciously try not to impose myself on the painting, yet become part of the natural random progression of the art. The images are mostly unconscious or intuitive and are intentionally non-representational.

Juried Exhibits

Pittsburgh Society of Artists seasonal exhibits

Allied Artists of Johnstown seasonal exhibits 2001 to present, winning numerous awards.

Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, Biennial exhibits

Five Counties Art Assc. West PA Art Exhibit 2007

Art inCommon, Altoona seasonal exhibits 2001 to present, winning numerous awards.

Southwestern Pennsylvania Council for the Arts January, 2004 + 2006

Westsylvania Arts & Heritage Festival / Pa Council on the Arts 2002 + 2003

Westmoreland Art Nationals 2002

One Man Exhibits :

2021 Bottleworks, Johnstown, Pa

2018 Bellfonte Art Museum, Centre County, Pa