Cruson, Jon Jay

John Jay Cruson was born in the Sacramento Valley, California, where he was raised in a small agricultural community in a home filled with Asian furniture and artifacts. He attended school in Oregon, receiving his BS and Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Oregon. He spent a year in Vietnam during the late 1960’s fulfilling his military obligation. 

For several years Cruson taught painting and lithography at the University of Oregon, Oregon State University and Treasure Valley Community College. In the early 1970’s he gave up teaching and began pursuing painting and print making as a full time career. His work caught the eye of Mrs. Betty Gray who began exhibiting his prints at Salishan Lodge on the Oregon Coast. Jon moved to the Oregon coast and his career and renown as a professional artist steadily grew. He also received a substantial NEA grant from the Oregon Arts Commission. For two years, it allowed him to work, teach and further develop his craft. 

Cruson has work in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Chrysler Corporation in Michigan, and throughout Oregon. He currently creates paintings and prints in his studio in Eugene, Oregon.

Farm Country Farmland 19 Farmland 6 Revisited Landscape 1 Open-Country 11 Ridged Line Vista-18 Vista 14 Vista 2B