John Watrous plays in the field of art and technology. He is comfortable dancing on the cutting edge of art and technical research, experimenting with site specific work and real time remote sensing. His current one man sculpture show at S.R.J.C., Sacred Darkness, is a reflection of his interest in science and the unseen.
He has been on the art faculty at Santa Rosa Junior College for 28 years where he teaches three dimensional design and computer art. He has an M.A. in sculpture and received an A.A. degree from Santa Rosa Junior College.
Besides being very active as a Boy Scout, when John was eleven years old he got his ham radio license and participated in international contests. John has returned to ham radio after a 30 years absence, again winning esoteric contests. The 'ether' and 'unseen' qualities of radio influence his sculpture.
After spending time in Wyoming as a cowboy, John attended U. C. Berkeley as a science major until he was drafted. He served in the Air Force as a electo-mechanical technician. Returning to school in 1969, he attended S.R.J.C. changing his focus to an art major while helping his parents build a home in Gualala. From S.R.J.C. he transferred to Humboldt State University and then to New Mexico Highlands University. He returned to S.R.J.C. as an art teacher and gallery director. John has been working with computers on and off since 1964. In 1983 in began using computers in his art classes and he initiated the first all online class at S.R.J.C. in 1996. He was the art department chair for 7 years.
John has been the judge for several art shows. He has also received awards from Celebrate Sonoma for teaching and from the city of Santa Rosa. He was represented by the Gallery of Functional Art in Los Angeles, where he showed furniture and lighting pieces.
He spent part of his sabbatical leave in Turkey in 1998, to experience Muslim culture and architecture. His travels and experiences are reflected in his sculpture and sound recordings.