About the Artist

I was the kid that could draw. I was blessed with a wonderful gift. I painting-plein-aircannot remember a time that I did not have a compulsion to record what I was seeing. My Mom was wise enough to keep a big envelope full of that real early stuff. It is great fun to go through it. I can remember doing some of those drawings when I was six or seven.

From 1967 to 1970 I attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. The Chicago Academy was a great private school. In anatomy class we had to learn every bone and muscle, their names and how to draw them from memory. I had no idea that those endless color charts would have any benefit beyond feeding the diabolical humor of that professor. I also got to live in the heart of a great city for almost three years.

After 4 years in the Air Force, I earned my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Drawing and Painting from the University of Iowa in 1977 and my Master of Fine Arts degree in Printmaking from the University of Denver in 1984. In 1985 I was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts grant for my drawings and mezzotint engravings. Since that time I have created over 200 etchings and al‘a poup’ee inked mezzotint engravings. Several of my plein air paintings have been translated into full color, multiple plate prints using etching, aquatint and mezzotint plates in combination.

m2a359-040212highplainsartists122In 2005, I opened the Lasko Fine Art gallery at 113 North Tejon St. in Colorado Springs, CO. Over the next 5 years I split my time between managing the gallery, creating prints and paintings, and teaching drawing, oil painting and printmaking both privately and at the Bemis School of Art at the Colorado Arts Center.

In 2010, I moved the  gallery and printmaking facility to  226 C Paseo del Pueblo Norte, Taos, New Mexico. That same year I founded the Taos Society of Etchers. In 2014 I closed the gallery in Taos and moved the printmaking facility back to Colorado Springs. I continue to teach periodically at the Bemis School of Art at the Colorado Fine Arts Center and privately mentor 8 artists in Colorado Springs each week.

Education:

  • 1982-1984     MFA University of Denver, Denver, CO printpullPrintmaking
  • 1981-1982     University of Colorado, Boulder, CO Printmaking
  • 1978-1979     Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO Painting
  • 1976-1977     BFA University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA Drawing/Painting
  • 1975-1976     Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO Drawing, Painting
  • 1972-1973     Midwestern State University, Wichita Falls, TX Printmaking (USAF)
  • 1967-1970     Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, Chicago IL Anatomy, Composition, Color theory

Awards:

  • 2000   Invited by the Russian Government through UNESCO to study Rembrandt etchings at the HermitageMuseum, St. Petersburg
  • 1985-1986   National Endowment for the Arts, Visual Arts Grant, Drawing|Printmaking

Selected National Exhibitions:

  • Art Zone, 32nd Annual Competition, Jewish Community Center, Denver, Colorado 1996
  • American Artists Professional League 68th Grand National, Salmagundi Club, New York, NY 1996
  • Pro Arts Invitational, Oakland, California, 1989
  • Pacific Art League Five State Print Competition, Intaglio Award and purchase prize, Palo Alto, California, 1988
  • Art of Conscience, Core New Art Space, DenverColorado, 1986
  • National Print and Drawing Annual, Fairfax, California 1986
  • 28th National Print Exhibition, Hunterdon Art Center, Clinton, New Jersey, 1985
  • International Mezzotint Competition, The Print Club, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1985 (Selected for international traveling exhibition)
  • National Small Print & Drawing Exhibition, Schoharie County Arts Council, Cobbleskill, New York, 1985
  • 12th National Works on Paper, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1985
  • Rutgers National, Works on paper, Rutgers University, Camden, New Jersey, 1984
  • 3rd Annual Print National, Moravia College, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 1984

Selected Corporate & Private Collections:

  • Taos Art Museum
  • Oklahoma State University
  • Library of Congress, Washington, DC
  • Colorado History Museum, Denver, CO
  • WesternHistoryMuseum, Denver Public Library
  • Pioneers Museum, Colorado Springs, CO
  • Colorado Springs Fine Art Center
  • Natural History Museum, Denver, CO
  • Department of Natural Resources, Colorado Division of Wildlife
  • Qwest 
  • Quaker Oats
  • Placido Domingo
  • William Jefferson Clinton, President of the United States