Bryan McFarlane: Born in Moore Town Portland, Jamaica, studied at The Edna Manly College of Art in Kingston, Jamaica and completed his MFA Degree at Massachusetts College of Arts and Design. Upon graduation from Art School, he taught at The Edna Manly College in Kingston, Jamaica, returning as a frequent external examiner and critic over the last two decades. McFarlane achieved the level of ‘Tenured professor’ of Painting and Drawing at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth in 1997. He has led groups of students to study art in Jamaica, France and China; and elevated many local and international young artists/students’ career. He was previously appointed as a Visiting Professor at the University of The West Indies, the Rhode Island School of Design, the School of The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. McFarlane worked on prestigious interdisciplinary collaborations. The first 3-year project with The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution titled Synergy from which he developed works presented in an exhibition – “Ocean Stories” in 2014 at the New Bedford Art Museum and the Museum of Science, Boston. The second 3-year collaborative project with EMMAS and TERC scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was funded by the National Science Foundation. Recently, McFarlane was invited by The Explorers Club in New York as one of the artists for the dialogue – “Rethinking the Ocean” of World Oceans Week 2019.
Prof. McFarlane has exhibited and lectured as visiting artist at numerous universities and museums throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Caribbean: The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Boston; The National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston; The Edna Manly College, Jamaica; Rose Art Museum, The College of The Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts; the Museum of the National Center of African American Artists, Boston; Du Sable Museum, Chicago; The Nebraska Art Museum; Lamont Library of Harvard University, Cambridge; Rhode Island School of Design; The Loma Linda Medical School, California; Museum of the Americas, Washington DC; The Painting Center New York City; The George Adams gallery, New York City; The Federal University of Bahia, Brazil; Canizares Gallery, Brazil; The Pont Aven School of Contemporary Art, France, and City Hall, Paris, France; The Commonwealth Institute, London; The Free University of Berlin, Germany; The University of Kumasi, Ghana. In the East, he has lectured and presented major works at Hunan Normal University in Changsha, China, the University of Architecture and Technology in Xi’an, China and Northeastern University in Shenyang, China, China Art Museum in Shanghai, M99 Art Center of Shanghai University, Sunshine International Museum in Beijing, Beijing World Art Museum, Promo-Arte Gallery in Tokyo, Japan.
Professor McFarlane is currently a member of the African American Master Artists in Residency Program at Northeastern University, Boston and is represented by Gallery Naga in Boston.
McFarlane has received numerous awards, including the prestigious: “Silver Musgrave Medal” in the Arts, with a Citation from The Institute of Jamaica. He has received two Wolf Kahn and Emily Mason Foundation Awards for 2011 and 2005 in New York City; a Gold medal from the Chinese Government for entry in the “Olympic Fine Arts Exhibition 2008” in Beijing; nominee for the Joan Mitchell Foundation Award in 2004 and 2005; The Louis Comfort and Tiffany Foundation in 1992. He received a 1997 Purchase Award from the National Gallery of Jamaica. In 1986 and 1987, McFarlane was commissioned by Miller Brewing Company/Phillip Morris in New York City to paint portraits of 12 leading African-American Journalists, which were reproduced in the Gallery of Greats calendar and is now in the permanent collection of the DuSable Museum of African American History, Chicago, Illinois.
McFarlane has works in collections nationally and internationally, including Federal Reserve Bank of Boston; the Museum of the National Center of African-American Artists, Boston; The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas; the National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston; the Bank of Jamaica; the NCB collection; the Jamaica Money Market Brokers; The Bank of America; Sunshine International Museum, Beijing; the Ferry International Art Center in Beijing and Shanghai University. McFarlane continues to work in his studios in Jamaica, Boston and Beijing. McFarlane draws inspiration derived from his travels throughout China, East Asia, Turkey, West Africa, South America, Europe and the Caribbean.
Among his published credits are noted critics who have reviewed his works widely: Books: “Collection of Olympic Fine Arts 2008” publication Volume 1 of 5 for 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; Catalogue publications: David Boxer, National Gallery of Jamaica; the Today Arts Magazine, Beijing China; Edmund Barry Gaither, curator at The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and Director of the Museum of The National Center of African American Artists; Lowery Stokes Sims, The Museum of Arts and Design, former curator at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA)New York City; Wang Baoju, Acting Director of Today Art Museum and Chief Editor of Today Arts Magazine in Beijing ; Wang Zhongwen – Chief Curator-Sunshine International Museum in Beijing. Nancy Stapen, art critic of Boston Globe; Patricia Hills, Art New England; Elizabeth Sussaman, The Whitney Museum of American Art; Kay Koeninger, Columbus Dispatch; Michael Weizenback, The Washington Post; Matilde Matos, Journal da Bahia, Brazil; Christine Tamin, Boston Globe. Numerous publications including: “Revue Noire” International, a Paris Publication; Magazine du Camescope, Paris; The New Art Examiner, Chicago; Dallas Fort Worth Magazine; The Jamaica Daily Gleaner; The Chicago Tribune; The Chicago Herald; The Jamaica Herald, and numerous national and international television interviews including Boston, New York and Washington DC.