Graham Moody

Graham Moody is a collage and mixed media artist whose wide range of subject matter gives his work a diversity matched by few other artists.  Stemming from an early interest in music, opera, ballet, and musical theatre, Moody became somewhat of an accomplished musician, himself, studying under pianist George Duke.   He spent a brief period in the US Navy, and later attended graduate school for printmaking.  However, it was while working on the building and grounds crew at the University of Kansas that Moody began making assemblages and collages from found items.  Using ready-made objects, and adding color through various methods of painting (primarily oil, acrylic and watercolor), Moody is able to achieve a bold color palette and a broad spectrum of appearances in his pieces. 

These pieces are often inspired by places to which Moody has travelled and by scientific and celestial structures of interest to the artist, as seen in the piece entitled "Galaxy."  His  work is in numerous corporate collections, as well as private collections in Japan, France, Holland, and the United States. 

Graham Moody spends his days working as the Art Program director in a state prison.  He believes in the ideals of the field of art therapy, and takes pride in the work that the Arts-in-Correction program does, reducing violence and improving parole outcomes among state felony prisoners through the arts.  He has five other artists in the community that work for him teaching creative writing, painting, drawing, guitar and even inmate band.  This unique and challenging profession adds to the ecclectic flavor of Moody's work. 

On the nature of collage, Moody states: 
The elements of mystery and the treasure hunt are always present in this kind of work.   The individual components of the picturtes, which may have once been a map, a reproduction of a Japanese screen, or a part of the score of Handel's 'Saul,' are transformed into something new, something completely unique.  The disparate pieces of exotic papers, Beethoven manuscript, etchings, medieval miniatures, work together as signifiers. . . Collectors often want to know what a particular piece of paper was, when it was something else.  While it may be interesting to know, I am more interested in what it becomes.