BIO

algury(at)comcast.net | 215.913.1373

Al Gury is an artist, educator and author based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received his BA in Fine Arts and Humanities from Saint Louis University, a four-year Certificate in Painting from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), and an MFA from the University of Delaware.

He is a recipient of the Cresson Traveling Fellowship and numerous grants and awards for painting and art education and was designated a master teacher by both The University of the Arts in Philadelphia and American Artist Magazine. A painter of the figure, landscapes, still lifes and portraits, his paintings have been exhibited at the National Academy of Design in New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the National Capitol in Washington D.C., Washington and Lee University, the University of Pennsylvania, and galleries across the country.

Gury is a Full Professor of Painting, Drawing and Art Education at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. He is a contributing editor for Per Contra, The International Journal of Art, Literature and Ideas and has written numerous articles on art and art history, for periodicals in the U.S., U.K. and Europe. He authored three books on painting and drawing published by Penguin-Random House, and numerous articles and publications for magazines and museums in the US and Europe. He is also a guest lecturer at the Barnes Foundation and at other museums and in many art institutions in Philadelphia and around the country.

Gury has had a life-long involvement in social justice, especially in the areas of the underserved and the unacknowledged. He founded the After School Studio Arts Program at PAFA to provide free art education and a safe after school space for Philadelphia high school students. Having served thousands of underserved youth, the program celebrated its 30th anniversary in January, 2024. 

He also has guided community based programing and outreach for the unhoused, as well as participating in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts program of painting portraits of victims of gun violence in Philadelphia, “Lost Dreams on Canvas”. Gury has worked with the Mural Arts Program in Philadelphia, both as a teacher of Philadelphia's youth and as a guide for mural artists.

Since 2006, He has been an advocate, foster parent and volunteer nursing assistant for the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society, which serves Philadelphia’s abandoned animals.