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Stephen Nesser, MFA, CFI

Aviation Art

Jim Hard: Diamond in the Rough National Air & Space Museum--Smithsonian Institution	Red Haines in his Schweizer 1-35 The AirVenture Museum	The Land of 10,000 Lakes: Laura Hohanshelt flies a Schweitzer 1-23 The International Women's Air & Space Museum
Kevin Finke at 5,000 Feet (Schleicher ASK-21) The National Soaring Museum	K-7 on Final The Deutsches Segelflugmuseum (National Soaring Museum of Germay)	Bob Wander Flying the Woodstock He Built $2,000.00

My parents say that "airpwane" was the first word I spoke.

Throughout my childhood I tried to fly. I jumped off the garage with a parachute made of a sheet and hammered wood scraps together to build a glider.

At night I dreamed of spreading my arms and flying. I was disappointed to awaken and find I was gravity bound. I still am.

I yearned to be a professional pilot. But, with eyesight less than 20/20 I became an artist and gave up the dream of flight. Gave up, until one day, while lost in Southern Minnesota, I passed an airport with gliders. I slammed on the brakes and began my glider training. I trained in the Schleicher K-7 and ASK-21 that are in the paintings above. I went on to become a flight instructor (CFI), and have instructed for the last 18 years.

I've flown beside red tail hawks and bald eagles. I once dropped in, last in line, on a vee of pelicans.

Some pilots fly for the challenge of the sport, others for the competition of pilot against the elements. For me, it's beauty--I come to flight as an artist. The first time I did a barrel roll, after I got over the fear of, if-this-seatbelt-fails-it's-going-to-hurt-a-lot, I was awed by the panorama of the Earth as big as a North Dakota sky. I wanted to hang upside down for hours. The world is spectacular from 3,000 feet.

It wasn't much of a reach that I turned to painting to capture the feel and beauty of flight.

My paintings are in the collections of five museums, most recently, the Smithsonian Institution's Air & Space Museum.

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