Artist John Connors - a short sketch and bio - pictures below -

John will always be an artistic and historically minded Huck Finn --- and storyteller.

How fortunate John was, to grow up across from the old burial grounds on Third Avenue.
His respect for history and his desire to put it on canvas was fueled as his family often told stories of ancestors who came as indentured housekeepers as well as learned people as if they just lived up the street. 
Actually, they HAD lived just up the street!!

As one of eight, in a somewhat undisciplined household, John would often disappear, while quite young, for a day or two in his quest to learn.  He avidly learned all he could about the families, architecture and events that were Lansingburgh.  He camped in Oakwood Cemetery, joined whatever church offered the best food at summer Bible School, and went to New York for a day or two.  He and friends once crossed the icy Hudson to Peebles Island, while his mother unknowingly listened to the blaring police scanner of police on both sides of the river, chasing her own son, having warned him not to do something so dangerous.  John was worried that the pursuing police would break thru the thin ice.  But true to form, John and his youthful buddies crossed safely and evaded police on both sides.

Not one to shirk his duty, John joined the Navy and was transferred to serve as a Marine Corpsman, flying in helicopters to pick up injured servicemen while aboard an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean.  This experience allowed him to later earn a living while pursuing art.  In New York at the time, he also volunteered, as a corpsman at 911, but no one came.

John became a student at the Art Students League in New York, a starting point for many famous American artists, including Norman Rockwell.   He later traveled all over the world, except for South America and Antarctica, studying and painting.  While traveling by tramp steamer, he argued with mid-easterners to allow him into their countries to paint.  The barrel of a pistol to his head changed his mind.

John was very humbled when asked to speak at the unveiling of the marker honoring Norman Rockwell's painting of the fourth street house. When possible, John breathes a sense of history into his paintings of the old and newer Troy

John has several patrons nationwide who regularly attend his openings in the area.
His paintings are featured at Clements' Framing and Gallery, Bway & 2nd St. in Troy.