Andy Braitman is an artist of national stature. His work has been featured in galleries and in one-man and group shows in Santa Fe, Chicago, Atlanta, Millburn, N.J., Washington, D.C., Noorbeek, Holland, and Rio de Janiero and Curitba, Brazil. He has exhibited at Jerald Melberg, Hodges Taylor, Shain Fine Art and now the Redsky Gallery in Charlotte, and in many other galleries throughout North Carolina. He was chosen by Nancy Reagan as one of America's Leading Artists, along with other notable artists such as Frank Stella and Andrew Wyeth, and asked to contribute a decorated Easter egg to the White House. The egg is now on display in the Smithsonian Institute. He was selected to participate in the prestigious Maryland Biennial Juried Exhibition at the Charles Museum of Art in Baltimore. Andy was born in Casper, Wyoming and moved to Maryland during his high school years. He attended the University of Maryland, and it was there that he discovered a true passion for art. He took every drawing and art class offered by the university, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in fine arts with minors in physics and art history. He studied physics to learn about light and took anatomy and physiology courses in the nursing school to learn about the human body. He won the Warton Award Grant for Outstanding Senior Artist in 1972 and in 1974. Because Andy didn't change his major to art until the end of his sophomore year, he was a senior for three years. His next task was to determine if he could make a living to support himself while he pursued his dream of being an artist. He worked mixing colors in a paint store and as an electrician's apprentice. At times he would work for 6 months in a 'real job' to make enough money to paint for 6 months. For approximately 10 years, Andy supported himself solely through the sale of his paintings. Andy has been an Artist in Residence for Prince Georges County, Maryland and for Edgecombe and Mitchell Counties in N.C. In those roles he has been guest lecturer at area colleges, conducted workshops, judged art competitions, and participated in public art projects. Braitman's most recent work focuses on the relationship of texture and color combined with lost edges that speak more to his earlier abstraction than they do to his later reality. His recent trip to Santa Fe inspired even more abstraction in his work however retaining the color he has developed through his landscape paintings.