Donald VanAuken
Donald VanAuken
Originally from Michigan, Donald W. VanAuken’s most current workin oil painting and printmakingdeals with locationand one’s place within an environment. Having recently purchased a 1915 farmhouse within Mid-Michigan. The artist and his wife have begun to explore this concept of “location” and itsrelationshipto how and what one creates. Artifacts from the past suchas, found photographs as well as encounters with native wildlife have spun off into a narrative of this environment. Animals and relics of the past are often used as an allegorical means to describe situations, quandaries and everyday experiences that can describe a place. As an art educator VanAuken has served in secondary education, Museum interpretation, as an adjunct professor of art, and as a Teaching Associate with the School of Art at Ohio University where he received his M.F.A. in Painting, in 2007. Heis currently a professor of Art and Program Director of Visual Art Talent with the Visual Arts Programat Olivet College.
Location and my surrounding environment have always played a crucial role in my creative process. My spouse and I live in a century-old farmhouse in Calhoun County, Michigan. This property is surrounded by small area of wooded glens and fields. Through my work I continue to explore this concept of “location”. Our property is also in close proximity to a nearby highway, which counterbalances some of the more serene attributes of our homestead. This push and pull manifests itself in my visual work, a juxtaposition of attraction and repulsion. My use of visual references of local wildlifeand fauna within this setting are allegorical, used as a means to explore situations, quandaries,and everyday experiences, contributing to the larger narrative that is constantly evolving in my prints and paintings.
