Richard C. Pionk was born in Moose Lake, Minnesota in 1936 and learned the qualities of classical still life painting by spending hours in museums from Brooklyn to Paris studying the works of Chardin, Vollon, and Fantin-Latour.

Mr. Pionk was well known for his oils, pastels, and watercolors. He won more than 100 awards from the Pastel Society of America, Audubon Artists, Hudson Valley Art Association, Allied Artists, Knickerbocker Artists, National Arts Club, Salmagundi Club, Wall Street Art Association, American Artists Professional League, and the Ridgewood, New Jersey Art Institute.

In 1984, he was named Master Pastelist by the Pastel Society of America for Exceptional Merit and, in 1997, was inducted into the Pastel Hall of Fame. Mr. Pionk exhibited with the Pastel Society of America in Still Life Painters of the 20th Century, at the Hermitage Museum, Norfolk, Virginia; the Monmouth Gallery, New York; the Queens Museum, the Chapellier Galleries; the Oak Tree Gallery, New York; Portraits Incorporated; Lever House; Union Carbide, New York; Grand Central Art Gallery; and at the Society of Pastelists, Lille, France, among others.
     
He has been featured in Carol Katchen's Creative Painting in Pastel (North Light) and Dramatize Your Paintings with Tonal Value, (North Light). His latest book was Best in Pastel II (Rockport Publications). He has been represented in collections in New York, Vienna, Germany, England, France, Brazil, and throughout the United States.
     
In 1994, his work was included in the exhibition Contemporary Pastel Artists in Taiwan. A book by the same title was published in January 1994 in Chinese and English. In 1998, he took part in a Pastel Travel Exhibition that toured through several cities in China. He was featured in Artists Magazine (April 1988, 1993), Classical Still Life Painting by Carol Katchen, Unlock the Potential of Pastel (1991), and Express Yourself in Your Paintings by David Richards (North Light). He is a member of numerous artists societies.

He received his formal training at the Art Student’s League in New York City in which he now teaches. He has received more than 100 awards and honors including those from the Allied Artists of America, Audubon Artists, National Arts Club, Salmagundi Club, Pastel Society of America, Knickerbocker Artists, Hudson Valley Art Association, American Artists Professional League, Ridgewood Art Institute, etc, and he is also a professional member of these and other prestigious associations. His exhibitions include the Hermitage Museum, Norfolk, Virginia, Monmouth Museum of New Jersey, Queen Museum, New York, Canton Art Museum, Ohio, Ponce Art Museum, Puerto Rico, Lever House, New York, Jackson Museum, Mississippi, etc.. The publication "Creative Painting With Pastels" includes the artist’s work, as does "How to Discover Your Personal Painting Style", and "Basic Still Life Techniques" and articles titled "Classical Still Life Painting" and "Unlock The Potential Of Pastels" have been published in Artist Magazine.

Observations and influences on personal technique and school of painting: "I prefer to work exclusively in my studio where I am able to set up the subject and work directly from life, which gives me maximum control of the choice of objects, placement and lighting. I choose my studio because of the north window, which provides a source of unchangeable light. The lower part of the window is blocked out so as to give the light a downward direction as if it were coming from a skylight. In chiaroscuro painting, the eye follows the light, going from one section to another, and the shadows structure the painting. I usually let the light come in from the left to the focal point. The background is dark and the light on objects gradually gets brighter as it moves to the right."

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