Foster Grissim, b. 1991
Foster Grissim grew up in Nashville before studying at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, FL, and Watkins College of Art. He later moved to Denver to train under master painter Quang Ho, where the sprawling Western landscape reshaped how he saw and painted everything. Rather than documenting subjects literally, Foster began chasing something harder to name: the patterns of light, the mood of a moment, the feeling a scene leaves behind.
In 2021, he won Best of Show at the Coors Western Art Exhibit & Sale, one of the most respected juried shows in western art. The recognition came early in his career and confirmed what his work had already been saying.
Alongside Quang Ho, he cofounded Made for Artists, an online platform dedicated to bringing real studio education to painters and creative learners at every level.
His work is currently featured in Saks Gallery in Denver and as an ‘Artist to Watch’ in Southwest Art.
Now back in Nashville, the familiar is worth a second look.
My Approach
I paint with a quiet mind.
After years of study under master painter Quang Ho, I learned that the best work happens when thought gets out of the way and the painting is allowed to unfold on its own terms. It feels almost like watching from the outside, a kind of flow state where instinct leads and the hand follows.
My approach is less about capturing what something looks like and more about capturing what it feels like. Light, shadow, and atmosphere do the heavy lifting. The subject is a starting point, not the destination.
That philosophy has only deepened since returning to Nashville, where the everyday has become rich territory for the same curiosity I brought to the Western landscape.