Celebrating the life of John Sevcik
It is with deep sadness that we share news of the recent passing of John Sevcik, a longtime and influential member of Fleisher’s faculty. John passed away on March 1, 2024 after a battle with metastatic lung cancer.
John brought a wide range of teaching experience to Fleisher’s studios, having also taught courses at The Delaware Art Museum, the Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Immaculata University, Delaware College of Art and Design, and Bucks County Community College. His approach to teaching and commitment to the creative journey also reflected his philosophy of life. As John said, “In my oil paintings, I explore certain evocative states created by the energy and expression of painted images. A narrative element is also evident. The balance of enigma and meaning in my work reflect my philosophy of life. In considering the human scene, I remind students that the making of a painting is a journey that remembers others we have taken.”
In John’s case, the journey would include an English Literature degree from Villanova and graduating from the four-year certificate program at The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In addition to being an accomplished visual artist with paintings and drawings exhibited across the country and internationally, he was also a playwright, poet and essayist. His impact on Fleisher was long and lasting, as John joined the faculty nearly two decades ago and supported a wide range of students with his patient and encouraging approach. As a teaching artist, he also remained committed to honing his own craft, honored as a past recipient of the Fred and Naomi Hazell Award (a faculty fellowship at Fleisher established by artist, musician, poet and craftswoman Naomi Hazell to support the artistic growth and excellence of painters working in oils) and contributing work to many of our past Dear Fleisher events to help raise funds for the organization.
The Approach of Night, oil on gessoed shirt box, 9.5 x 14 inches
Back in 2018, Fleisher student (and current Board Member) Nancy Shell was featured in a post on our blog which touched on the impact of John Sevcik’s guidance as her teacher. As Nancy shared, “John’s class taught me trust … trust in the vision, clarity of the mind’s eye, in the process.” Despite the accolades she had received, Shell says she began to question whether or not she was a “real artist,” and found her insecurities preventing her from initially participating in class. “I literally could not do anything,” she said. “I went to John’s class and for three weeks I just sat there and did nothing. I couldn’t put pen to paper. He talked me through it, he talked me off the wall.”
John will be deeply missed. His legacy lives on through the beautiful work he has shared with us, as well as the enduring impact of his commitment to helping others to develop their own gifts as well.
On Sunday, April 28 from 2–5 pm*, Fleisher will be hosting a memorial service to celebrate John Sevcik’s life. The service will begin at 2 pm with readings of John’s poetry and discussions of his paintings, followed by time for open sharing of remembrances. The service is open to all who would like to join and John’s wife Lynne and his close friends are looking forward to being in community with his students and colleagues.
In lieu of flowers, we’re encouraging members of the Fleisher community to make contributions to this fund to support John’s wife Lynne as she continues to navigate the medical expenses related to John’s illness. (*Note: The event time was recently updated.)
A two-person exhibition featuring work by John and Lynne (Campbell) titled Songs of Winter; Songs of a Summer will also be opening at Cerulean Arts in late March. The show runs from March 27 through April 21, with an opening reception on Saturday, March 30 from 2–5 pm.
As John’s former students, colleagues, and friends, please leave your own tributes and stories in the comments field below to become part of this archive honoring his long and lasting impact. (Should you encounter any issues leaving comments on the post, please e-mail your comment to esweeny@fleisher.org and we’ll make sure it is included.) To learn more about John Sevcik’s thoughtfully engaged practice as a visual artist, teacher, poet, and essayist, please discover the rich archives of his own blogs (with some essays exploring the work of other teaching artists at Fleisher):
View from the Studio
Poems for a New Century
In closing, a poem from John’s collection, written in the spring of 2023:
I Would Rise
I thought if I could
I would rise, this day of all days
Sunday on Easter, in the sun
Lit below the cold blue sky.
That was the life of a poet:
The sun and gratitude
The sway of breeze upon the bough
The cemetery silent and of stone
Its obelisks and angels pointing up
To where, as heaven knows,
The birds do fly, but I
Have no more hills to climb
Though I would rise, though I would rise.
– John Sevcik
Header image: John Sevcik and his painting Kill Devil Hills (The Wright Bros. Glider No. 3) at the Cheltenham Center for the Arts in 2019.
John was a unique voice, as both a painter and writer, of gentle compassion and understanding, in a world that badly needs just that! He will be enormously missed by all who knew him.
I think of you and him every day Lynne. I think of him as the incredible person and friend he was. But right now at 5am, having reread his poem on the Fleisher post, I’m thinking of what a loss this is to the world of art and to his students. So much heart, intelligence and talent. He sent me a poem about Russia last summer. I was such a small part of his life at this point, yet he reached out from time to time. I can’t believe I will never receive another poem. These feelings from me, a friend now fairly distant. I think of what pain and loss you, his wife, are now living daily. I know these words are cold comfort Lynne but please know I am thinking of you. So much love is coming to you from so many people who realize the enormity of your loss.
I am shocked and saddened to hear about John. I had the fortune to be in his class more than once. He was a wonderful painter and teacher. He was the absolute best at interpreting works of art. He saw things the rest of us didn’t. John was encouraging and supportive. He had a great laugh. Several times he was kind enough to share his writing with us. Because of him I look deeper and dig deeper with my own work. He was a very special person. My condolences to his family and friends.
John had a powerful way of connecting with people. Our first conversations were Zoom meetings for class planning. Each session moved quickly from logistics (class dates, times and topics) to deeply thought provoking conversation about art, history, aesthetics, and more. Our conversations were so engaging that I would forget we were remote! His presence as an artist and educator were as clear online as they were in person. He exuded empathy and engagement always.
I am so sad that he is gone and feel incredibly lucky to have met him. His intellect and creativity were irrepressible and will continue to impact all of us with whom he shared his incredible gifts.
I took his class three times. He was a fine teacher and gentleman. He will be missed.
I studied painting with John for three years about ten years ago. I never met a teacher who was so kind and supportive of me and my work. Though I had never painted before, he encouraged me to follow my intuition, set up my own still life compositions, use whatever colors and techniques, though often unconventional, I needed to achieve my specific vision, and clearly understood what I was trying to express. He recommended venues where I might show my work, and made me feel confident that my work was of value. I was shocked and saddened to hear of his passing, and send my condolences to those who were close to him. We have lost a wonderful teacher and, more important, a very special man, and he will be missed by those of us who are lucky enough to have known him. – Andrea Preis
John was one of my most influential teachers. In his Observation, Memory & Imagination Classes we ( beginners to advanced ) were thriving. I always looked forward to the final critique when I would learn so much about my own work and the work of my classmates.
And Lynne, John spoke of you with such tenderness and even adoration and today please know that you are in my thoughts and prayers.
Several years ago I signed up for a painting class at Fleisher with John Sevcik. From the very first class, I was amazed in that John gave an art lecture like no other. He brilliantly taught the subject, but not just from an art perspective. He related the class to so many aspects of life both personally and intellectually. John showed caring and a sense of wonder for the student work, whether it was from an accomplished artist or a beginner. He also shared stories of his life with his dear wife, Lynne, and tried to get to know many of aspects of the student’s life and perspective, not just their artwork. He also encouraged people to excel in the style that they wanted to. In my case I’ve painted bold and modern, not John’s style at all, and yet he appreciated them and taught me so much, that he was able to encourage me to do more paintings than I ever thought possible. One painting that John encouraged me to work on took a top prize at Fleisher that year and would absolutely have never happened without him. I took many many classes with him and every year they had a fresh approach. He became both a caring friend and mentor. Both he and Lynne’s work is breathtakingly beautiful – and intertwined with their teaching and caring for others and each other. I can’t write a tribute to John without including Lynne because they were truly one. I feel honored to know them. I am saddened by not only John’s loss but that future students will not be able to have him as their teacher. I’m sad but I’m so very grateful and appreciative of having known John Sevcik.
I took John’s class in 2018, and I learned a lot from him. It was a short but important moment in my journey as an artist. Some of my favorite paintings were started in his class. One of them I was actually working on when I learned of his passing.
Thanks for your time, John.
You showed me how to say the things I couldn’t intuit
To find the voice inside my hands, the castles in the mess
Those castles and the waves crashed down and hatched a thousand eggs
Now you’re gone and I’ll never get to show you what I made
In 2007, I took a painting class at Fleisher with John Sevcik. Little did I know that he would become my ongoing teacher, and also caring friend. From the first class it was evident that John taught as no other I had ever experienced. He was such a beautifully accomplished artist and achieved such greatness as a painter, along with his equally accomplished and caring wife Lynne as well.
They were like one and he shared that. In his class, everyone’s work thrilled him, even people who had never picked up a paintbrush before equally with the very experienced. He did not impose his will, instead inspiring everyone to continue painting in the style that expressed them, and giving space to work on their own as well. One year he encouraged me so much that I took one of the top prizes at Fleisher. To take a class with John was also in a sense to take a class with Lynne, in that their work and their lives were so intertwined, and he shared that with the class. I took many many classes with John and his lectures were so intricate and always, always so helpful, rich and colorful and slightly different from before. I am so saddened by his loss, but also at the thought that no new students moving forward will be taught by him. So many loved him and for good reason.
John was a great teacher and we had lots of fun engaging in conversations and debating our individual perspectives on creating art. I haven’t been in Philly for a number of years so I haven’t had the opportunity to see John in a long time. Still he was one of those people/educators who will be with me for ever!!!
John was my teacher and my friend. Always so gently encouraging. I called his class, which I took several times in different forms/titles, “Art and Life with John.” And poetry, too. Always poetry in its many guises.
John, You are cherished and missed!
I had the good fortune of finding Fleisher about 12 years ago, and wandering the building to discover John’s class soon after. I was so excited to find him and his way of teaching. His studio was a lively scene of talking and painting, imagination and encouragement. Could I join his next class? Sure!
Art reveals your soul – John knew how to navigate souls and artists with encouragement, and creative expansiveness. John shared his magic with each artist, along with an incredibly rich knowledge of history, art, politics and precise words! Often he told stories during studio, connecting all these things, and drawing us into his wonder.
It’s Easter morning as I write this. I just saw John and his wife Lynne’s show at Cerulean. His spirit so exquisitely expressed in his paintings – that stays with me – what can’t be put into words but the heart recognizes: we are a part of the mystery, the beauty, and connected to all things and each other – we are in the stars, and the light at sunset.
I will always feel grateful to know John and his wife Lynne. John greatly shaped my painting – he let me be, and helped me find my path as an artist. I hope to honor him by sharing encouragement with other artists, to sustain the community he created, to nourish each other, to find the wonder!
When covid arrived I began searching for classes I could take online. I needed to connect and wanted to pursue my painting interests. I very luckily happened to enroll in John’s observation memory and imagination class in the Fall. And continued to enroll in consecutive classes for two years. I was so inspired by John’s style of encouragement and technique. I looked forward to listening to his wise and poetic talks in class. As well for his demonstrations of spheres every term. I was devastated to learn he would not be teaching again due to illness. And now learning about his passing. Although I never met Lynn in person I have followed her memories and writing on Facebook about their life together and how loving and intimate John was with her. I cherish the time I got to spend with John in class. Thank you Lynn for sharing him with us.
A dear friend, whom I knew since college. I remember when he was an astronomy major, but I always thought he would be an important poet. He was an important part of my life over the years. — Darrell Schweitzer
Very sad to hear of the passing of John Sevcik. As a teacher at Fleisher, he brought out creativity in everyone.
Always positive. and accepting. Truly an amazing man, artist and writer.
I’m so surprised and sad to hear that John is no longer with us. I took classes with him in person for a year or two pre-pandemic, then by Zoom during the pandemic. From him I learned what I had not learned from any other art teacher over a period of 50 years. His class, “Observation, Memory and Imagination” (I think I have the title right), was transformative. That approach of first scribbling with pencil, then charcoal, then paint and intuitively finding images or shapes from those scribbles, was amazing. I do my best to continue practicing that.
While students drew or painted, John went from person to person and made helpful suggestions, gave very interesting and informative talks about all the arts and even philosophy, and played music or asked students to bring in music. What a great combination!
I was in Philadelphia from 2016 to 2021 and am grateful that I was able to study with John during those years.
John wanted each of us to find the door to our own creativity, through graphite scribbles or random shapes that emerged unsocialized from our inner selves and not subject to our critical selves. He carried a warm spark to the frightened new student and fresh energy to those at plateau awaiting a next step.
He understood at a very deep level, the creative process, its needs for patience and necessary process, the waiting and the working anyway, as a way to wait until something new emerged. And he truly celebrated when he saw something he valued. I loved his spirit and his sensitive verbal feedback to Students.
Lynne was ever his partner as a teacher who loves her work with serious students. May she continue to contain her own and John’s generous warmth as she negotiates these next difficult months.
-Linda Farrow
John wore many hats. My first encounter with him was during the production of “Drinks before Dinner” at Villanova University. He played the lead role. I didn’t know him as a painter until years later where we both served on Fleisher’s faculty and I became acquainted with his evocative work. I will miss John.
I am saddened to hear of this great loss. What a wonderful person and artist.
I too met John through his online class Observation, Memory and Imagination. I also would read his essays. I was very transformed by this class and by John’s spirit. His legacy of kindness will always be remembered by all his students. Blessings!