Ralph Slatton was born in 1952 in Trumann, Arkansas. Since preschool, he recalls putting crayon to paper and calling the end result "art". Unlike most youngsters who eventually abandon such activities, he never did outgrow that first fascination of the creative process.

Slatton spent some very significant years at Arkansas State University where he learned the formal mechanics of making art. By 1986 he had earned both the BFA and the MA degrees with concentration in printmaking. With a strong background in traditional techniques of etching, he enrolled at the University of Iowa printmaking program. During his graduate studies, he served as Assistant Registrar at the University of Iowa Museum of Art. One of his duties was to assist with an exhibition of African Art at the Taiwan Museum of Art, in Taichung, Republic of China. This experience provided excellent opportunity to access the enormous Tribal Arts collection, whose imagery soon became the inspiration of Slatton's work. After a brief stay in China, he returned to his studies in Iowa, graduating in 1989 with the MFA degree in Printmaking.

Slatton is presently Chair of the Art Department and Associate Professor in charge of printmaking at East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee. A selected list of his exhibitions includes: Sapporo International Print Biennial and the Kochi International Triennial of Japan; the International biennial of Taipei; Imperial Gallery of Tokyo; L'Etang d'Art, Bages, France; Paper in Particular, Columbia College; 9th National Print and Drawing Exhibition, College of Notre Dame, Maryland. His work is published in the Best of Printmaking '97, Rockford Publisher. He is listed in Who's Who in American Art.

Source: http://www.clt.astate.edu/elind/alumni_4.htm
Arkansas State University Art Alumni Pages