As a child, Goss loved tracing and drawing. He took up painting as a hobby and stuck with it with very little formal training into his teen years. He took some art courses in high school, but didn’t initially believe that he would ever make a career of it. After reading “The Letters of Vincent van Gogh” at the age of 16, Goss decided to pursue art more seriously. During his undergraduate career at the University of Michigan, Goss created an 8-foot by 16-foot street scene mural for a school for delinquent boys. “It was a volunteer project,” he said. “It gave me a chance to use the compositional forms that I had learned [n class]. It was a surreal piece with a prism, storefronts and cars. They gave me creative freedom. I just did my own thing.” Goss said he applied to Syracuse University’s graduate program “in a panic.” He earned partial scholarships and a teaching assistance job. He got some exposure in the Central New York community as an up-and-coming painter, and that’s when Bristol-Myers approached him about painting a mural. That project, of course, opened the door for many other opportunities. Work trickled in steadily, including the projects at the Erie Canal Museum downtown and pieces commission by First Niagara Bank. He took on clients on nearby towns and established his Art in Public Places company, which was later renamed On-Sight Murals. Some of the projects he took on help, and some he’s done alone. The design work and color selection have always been tasks that Goss keeps for himself. “I like to be creative, but you still need to give them (clients) what they want. Small towns can be tough sometimes, but you can’t please everyone,” Goss said. Goss attempted to paint murals full-time, and often had as much work as he could handle. But when the work flow slowed down, he took on other jobs, including house painting. In 1986 he became a full-time tenured art professor at Cazenovia College, where he still works today. “It’s a nice arrangement because summers are your own,” said Goss, who lives in Syracuse. “And in the winter I can still do design work and indoor projects.” The stamina he developed painting houses when he was growing his
Goss’ murals, have been viewed by thousands of Central New Yorkers and visitors to the region over the years, and he hopes to eventually dot the entire span of the Erie Canal with several more pieces across the state. February / March 2014 - 55 plus
41