Radnor High School graduate Jay Macrone had aspirations of being a professional artist but his father didn’t support that goal, writes Max Silverman for Main Line Today.

“My dad was very blue-collar and hardworking,” says Macrone. “He didn’t want me to go to art school because he didn’t what me to struggle making a living with a ‘hippie art degree.’”

He ended up distancing himself from his art passion, eventually becoming Radnor Township’s director of parks and recreation.

In 1998, he experienced a traumatizing car accident and a therapist recommended art to clear his mind.

 “Art therapy saved me,” said Macrone.“When I have a piece going, all the depression and anxiety washes away.”

With Russian painter Dolya Goutman as his mentor, Macrone took on several art projects, including depictions of Civil War landscapes in oil pastel. His work was featured in 2000 in the Lord Nelson Gallery in Gettysburg. The Philadelphia Civil War Museum also commissioned three works.

He later shifted to a technique known as “patternism, creating a “quilt on a canvas.” 

His most recent project “Philly Pheeling,” is a love letter to his home city. It is on display at the Philadelphia City Hall Visitor Center.

Read more about  Jay Macrone and his art work in Main Line Today.