In addition to my representational response to the natural world around me, I combine spontaneous intuition, abstraction, and symbolism, in my paintings to capture the essence of my subjects. My goal is to create images that have a truly meaningful and lasting impact on the viewer.

Scott Switzer (b. 1960, Billings, Montana) is an American painter whose work is distinguished by bold color, expressive brushwork, and an evolving blend of tradition and imagination. Encouraged in art from childhood, he later studied at Otis Parsons School of Design in Los Angeles and began his career painting the human figure, home life, and the natural splendor of his native Montana. Early influences included French and Russian realists, leading him toward plein-air painting and travels to study and paint in China, Italy, and Russia.

Switzer’s journeys have long informed his art. Time in Alaska’s remote Russian villages and in Homer, with its dramatic wilderness, deepened his connection to landscape and folkloric painting. Later, years in Costa Rica, Israel, and New York marked a turning point as his work shifted from representational traditions to a more experimental and intuitive approach, exploring themes of imagination, spirituality, and cultural connection.

Over more than four decades, Switzer’s paintings have been exhibited in solo and group shows across the United States, including the Meyer Gallery (Santa Fe, NM), Turner Gallery (Denver, CO), Trailside Galleries (Scottsdale, AZ, and Jackson Hole, WY), Shoal Creek Gallery (Austin, TX), Artique Gallery (Anchorage, AK), Dana Gallery (Missoula, MT), Teilbaum Center for the Arts (Los Gatos, CA), Chase Family Gallery at the Mandell JCC (West Hartford, CT), Mockingbird Gallery and Peterson Contemporary Art (Bend, OR).

Scott Switzer’s work is represented in numerous public and corporate collections, including the Rimrock Foundation (MT), First Interstate Bank (MT), ODS Health (OR, AK), Peace Health Southwest Medical Center (WA), and The Jerusalem Great Synagogue (Israel), and the Capitol Art Collection in Juneau, AK — one of the state’s most significant collections of Alaskan art.

Switzer lives with his wife Shelley in Sandpoint, Idaho, where he shares a studio with his son, painter Francis Switzer. His work continues to range from landscapes rooted in place, to expressive canvases that explore the intersections of culture, faith, and the inner world.