Stan Stokes
Stan Stokes is an American painter known for his aviation art. His work hangs in three presidential libraries.
Since the mid-1980s NASA has commissioned Stokes to paint 15 works ranging from the Space Shuttles to the SR-71 Blackbird. Stokes has also painted numerous works for Burt Rutan. Stokes's works hang in the Air Force art collection, the United States Air Force Academy, The Pentagon, the San Diego Air & Space Museum, the Palm Springs Air Museum, the National Museum of Naval Aviation, and the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.
His work encompasses portraits, landscapes, aviation and space, ships, cars and his new collection of cat-related fine art paintings. Stokes's art has been published in numerous books and periodicals. Stokes is working on a book honoring the Tuskegee Airmen.
Works
Presidential library works
Stokes's 12-foot-by-120-foot mural of the "History of the Flying White House" is on permanent display in the new Air Force One Pavilion of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. In addition, Stokes's painting of the USS Ronald Reagan is hanging in the library's Legacy Room.
The George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas, has two paintings by Stokes on permanent display. Both are of the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77), our nation's next aircraft carrier.
The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library houses two of his works, the first of which depicts the future aircraft carrier the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78). The second painting is of the USS Monterey (CVL-26), the carrier on which young Ford served with distinction in World War II.
Selected list of works
- 1934 American Classics
- Gotcha
- Off to the Turkey Shoot
- Sirens of Death
- Slashed by a Sabre
- Top Cover
Awards
- 1975: 1st place, Benedictine Art Awards
- 1985: 1st place, National Air and Space Museum's "Golden Age of Flight" art competition
- 2000: R.G. Smith Award, National Museum of Naval Aviation