Biography

2025 Honorary Artist Member
At age six, Allen Polt’s first grade teacher, so impressed with his natural talent, arranged the artist’s first one-man show. His gift was acknowledged and his future established. Polt went on to earn his Degree in Illustrating Arts from the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art. After graduating, he worked in New York City, drawing black and white portraits for the Wall Street Journal. He continued his studies of drawing and painting under the direction of Frank Reilly of the Art Students League.

In 1974, Allen left Manhattan for a change of pace and found visual inspiration in the landscape of Taos, New Mexico; an art community inundated with landscapes. His masterful paintings have been featured in galleries across the Southwest. Albeit a diversity of subject matter, Polt’s heart kept returning to people (portraiture, Characters of the Old West, and Old Mexico Market scenes). Allen’s ability to capture the essence of his subject’s personality is appreciated through commissioned work throughout the world.

He has chosen portraiture as his primary work because it is stimulating; Allen enjoys the risk of capturing the spirit and personality of a person and how it heightens his artistic awareness. Every portrait presents a new and interesting challenge.

In 2013, Allen relocated his art studio to Oro Valley, Arizona where he loves both the wonderful people and the beautiful weather.