Professor Don VanAuken graduated from Kendall College of Art and Design with a B.F.A. in Illustration in 1997, he later received his M.F.A. in painting from The Ohio University in 2007. He has worked in secondary public arts education, in the museum field and as an instructor of art with Kellogg Community College, Kalamazoo Community College and most recently at Olivet College beginning in 2015 to the present. He has exhibited in regional, national, and international exhibitions. His work is included in more than 45 public and private collections.

 

VanAuken’s work focuses on location and his surrounding environment which has played a crucial role in his creative process. The use of visual references of local wild life and 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 his prints and paintings.

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Location and my surrounding environment have always played a crucial role in my creative process. The Field Notes and sketches that I create are from the onsite investigations of my surroundings are an essential component of my larger studies that comprise these works. Be it in our own small, wooded property here in Marshall, or on a longer trip such as when I had the opportunity to travel to Harrington, Maine for a two- week artist residency with the Golden Apple Artist Residency Program in July 0f 2021.

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Some of these works are of the local environment and some are a reflection of a new space. Being from the Midwest, my reaction to a new environment such as Down East Maine introduced my process to a vastly different landscape and aided in the development of this body of work. Through these paintings and prints, I continue to explore this concept of “location” used to explore situations, quandaries, and everyday experiences, contributing to the larger narrative that is constantly evolving in my artwork.