Anthony Jas Knight

Biography

Jas Knight is an American Realist living in a city that is deeply rooted in this tradition. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, his artistic gifts were noticed at a very early age. By the time he was in kindergarten, Mr. Knight's teacher had suggested that his parents encourage him to study visual art. His mother soon began taking him to local museums and exposing him to literature about the artists of the past, Mr. Knight quickly became a tireless draftsman, spending most of his spare time drawing in his room.

By the age of six he had won first place in Connecticut's Poison Control poster contest. At seven he sold his first painting to the art coordinator for the West Hartford Public School District. At eight he had his first one-man show at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Hartford. Later that year he had a second one-man show which was covered by the evening news. The then congresswoman, Barbara Kennelly, soon requested that two of Mr. Knight's pieces be hung in her office in Washington, D.C. He also sold a painting to the University of Hartford that year for their DeWitt Collection. At the age of nine he sold a painting to Leonard E.B. Andrews, an art collector who received national attention when he purchased Andrew Wyeth's "Helga Collection." At the age of ten he had won an Honorable Mention Blue Ribbon in the "That's What It's All About" international juried adult competition. Afterwards it was discovered that Mr. Knight was still a young child and he once again was featured on the evening news.

Mr. Knight continued winning awards and selling paintings throughout his childhood and later went on to pursue an art education at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Having completed his first year there, he transferred to the University of the Arts, where he received his B.F.A. in 2001. That year he was a recipient of both the Greater Hartford Arts Council's "Innovation Grant" and a special scholarship awarded by the Leonard Andrews Foundation. He most recently was featured in the "Emerging Artists Exhibit" at Artists' House Gallery in April of 2005. He is currently showing at Jas Knight Studio and represented by Serephin Gallery where he is scheduled to show this Fall.