Ken Goldman

Ken Goldman was born in Illinois and has been based in San Diego, California since 1970. He received his formal training at the New York Studio School, the National Academy of Design, and the Art Students League, and studied privately with celebrated artists including Wolf Kahn, Vern Wilson, and Liane Collot D'Herbois in both the United States and Europe — a foundation that informs the breadth and depth of his artistic practice.

A master of multiple mediums, Goldman works across oils, watercolours, pastels, wood carvings, Sumi-e, veiled watercolours, and murals, producing a body of work that is as technically versatile as it is emotionally resonant. His paintings have been exhibited internationally across Holland, France, Italy, Greece, Colombia, Mexico, China, and major American cities including New York, Boston, and Washington D.C. Between 2012 and 2022, his work was featured at the Shanghai International Biennial, two Shenzhen International Biennials, and at five Chinese universities including Tsinghua and Qingdao. His works are held in the permanent collections of the San Diego Museum of Fine Art, the Hilbert Museum of California Art, the Hickory Museum of Fine Art in North Carolina, and the Zuo Wen Museum in Qingdao, China, among others.

The author of over sixteen instructional books on pastels, acrylics, charcoal, artistic anatomy, and more, Goldman has been profiled in leading publications including The Art of Watercolour, Southwest Art, International Artist, and The Artist's Magazine. A long-serving instructor at the Athenaeum School of the Arts in La Jolla, he has taught figure drawing, artistic anatomy, and landscape painting for decades. A former President of the National Watercolor Society (NWS), he now holds the distinguished title of NWS President Emeritus, cementing his legacy as one of the most influential figures in American watercolour art.