BIOGRAPHY
Born 1947, July 18 – Detroit Michigan – (United States)
Dan was drawing by the age of seven. During his school years he took evening art classes and began working in oils and water colors. Dan’s family owned a tavern and inn a small town in Michigan. His father’s saloon was Dan’s first “gallery” where he presented and sold his wildlife paintings to patrons for forty dollars each. This farming community gave Dan a deep appreciation for the beauty of the land, the light of early mornings and the deep hues of summer sunsets.
Dan earned a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Design from the University of Michigan in 1969. Following graduation he was drafted into the U.S. Army Medical Corps. Assigned to a medical company guarding the Panama Canal, Dan’s job was that of an ambulance driver, the same as writer, Ernest Hemingway in the First World War. During this time Dan was invited to be Command Artist for the U.S. Southern Command to do paintings for the Department of Defense. This work documented civil engineering projects carried out by the Corps of Engineers and the Medical Corps to improve health care in civilian native rural jungle populations in Panama.
Following his military service, Dan worked for several commercial art studios in Detroit where he met his wife Rhonda. It was during this time that Dan learned the discipline needed to succeed in the art business.
In 1975 Dan decided to turn his attention to becoming a western fine artist. He focused on what he perceived as a simpler time – the early 20th century American frontier. Dan and Rhonda fell in love with the West and moved to Scottsdale in 1975, where they live happily still.