Lead Hill's John Wooldridge graduated in 1991. After receiving a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the U of A John moved to Washington DC, employed by NASA. John has designed, built, and operated systems in orbit around Earth and on the surface of Mars. But John's first love is art, now living in Colorado he is a featured artist at the Fort Collins Blue Moose Art Gallery and at the Cantrell Gallery in Little Rock.. He is an associate member of Oil Painters of American and a Signature Member of the Arkansas League of Artists and is a featured artist at the Denver Blue Moose Art Gallery.
Many will remember John’s sister Susie who graduated in 1980 and his mom who was always a warm friendly face in the cafeteria. John grew up on their farm on outside South Lead Hill on the Zinc road. John spent many hours of his formative years drawing and roaming on their 200 acre cattle farm. He indulged a love of art and a desire to learn to paint as a very young teen by taking his only lessons in a locally. Aside from these lessons and the odd workshop now and then, he is self taught. . After receiving a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Arkansas, he moved his young family to the suburbs of Washington D.C. to pursue a career with NASA. He has designed, built, and operated systems in orbit around Earth and on the surface of Mars. He currently resides near Denver, Colorado where he still works on advancing humanity’s reach towards the stars during the day and painting and writing fiction at night