Patrick Kirmer, “The painter of Johns Brook,” continues to paint in his new residence at the Keene Valley Neighborhood House. Born in Hollywood, Calif., Kirmer was one of six children of a butcher and stay-at-home mom. He attended Hollywood High School just a few years ahead of Carol Burnett. Kirmer’s formative years were dusted by “Tinsel Town” during Hollywood’s “Golden Age.” After serving in the U.S. Army, Kirmer parlayed his G.I. Bill into a bachelor’s degree in art from the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland.

His teachers included Sabro Hasagawa, Jason Schoener and Richard Dieberkorn.He relocated East to pursue art in New York City. He was an art teacher at Baldwin School for 30 years. He first came to this neck of the woods to teach art at the Baldwin School Camp mid-century in Keene Valley. This was when he adopted Johns Brook as his lifelong study, coming to the Adirondacks each summer for 1964 until 1989 to develop his own personal art work.