RB McGrath 1949 -
American - Newfoundlander
Location: Jacksonville, Arkansas
Website: http://www.rbmcgrathfineart.com
Painting style: Eclectic
Medium: Oil
Portraiture, Landscape, Still Life, Abstract
Born in a small fishing village named Branch, in Easter Cove, St. Mary's Bay, Newfoundland, McGrath is decended from a long line of Artists and Glassmakers who originated in the towns of Saint Claire and Colmar in the Vosges mountains of France on the Bonham side, (the original spelling of the surname is Bonhomme), and Irish immigrants to Newfoundland on the McGrath side who settled into St. Mary's Bay as Fishermen. Branch in modern times is noted for it's rich artistic and cultural history which has produced a number of musicians, singers, and dancers and visual artists.
Drawing and painting from early childhood McGrath began a serious pursuit as a painter in the mid 1980's. The first large scale work was an eight by ten foot mural (Mother Earth) for Northeastern University in Boston while serving as Artistic Director for Daka Food Services at the University. A more recent large scale work is on display at the Jacksonville Police Department in Arkansas, for whom McGrath also designed the CID Division insignia. McGrath's most recent work includes a six by six foot abstract work for the new multi-million dollar Easter Nixon Library in Jacksonville, Arkansas, and a large portrait modeled for Salvatore Moltisanti, President and Founder of the IBLA International Musicians Competition in Regusa, Italy.
A resident of Arkansas since 1964 McGrath produces small, medium, and large scale works in oil, in a studio in Jacksonville.