Don Maitz
United States
Don Maitz Biography
My desire to be an artist has been a lifelong ambition. At thirteen I took up the challenge offered by Norman Rockwell who appeared in advertisements from the Famous Artists Correspondence Course printed on the back of comic books, “If you can draw Bambi and this pirate, we can make you an artist.”. My parents agreed to enroll me and later, not only had I drawings published in comics where the advertisement appeared, I became a foremost painter of pirates, creating the Captain Morgan Spiced Rum character, with exhibitions in museums across the country.
From 1971-1975 I attended the Paier School of Art and studied with Ken Davies, Rudolf Zallinger, Leonard Fisher, Dean Keller, and others. I graduated at the top of class in a year acknowledged as the most outstanding in student potential. The faculty arranged a bus trip to the Brandywine River Museum to see works of N.C., and Andrew Wyeth, Howard Pyle, and Maxfield Parrish which inspired a career producing art of imagination and adventure.
Several hundred paintings have been reproduced by mass market publishing firms since. I created art in five national campaigns for the Captain Morgan Spiced Rum product and been commissioned by National Geographic. I’ve done concept art for two animated motion pictures and illustrated books by Stephen King, Ray Bradbury,and many others. Awards have been presented by the Society of Illustrators, and those my field has to offer. I’ve paintings juried into the Annual International Marine Art Exhibition at the Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport in Mystic, CT with one receiving an Award of Excellence.
I work predominantly in oils and while trained in still life and figure painting, 40 years of painting commercially helped me develop skills in landscape painting as well.
After years living in Connecticut, I was invited to the Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, FL as a visiting guest instructor. I served one year, returned to Connecticut, connected with my future wife, and married on Casey Key, again in Sarasota, where we settled. Deviating from the footsteps of artists who traveled to paint the experience of the West, I decided when not on assignment to produce art inspired by sea rovers that represent Florida's past. This led to maritime museum exhibits and Signature Artist status in the American Society of Marine Artists.
I share in a long history of creating works of Imaginative Realism, whose dramatic art is embraced by artists who have visualized mythical creatures, angels, biblical heroes, and characters from legends and literature since mankind picked up a brush. In 1980, I helped organize an exhibit of fantastic art at the New Britain Museum of American Art. The popular exhibit broke attendance records. Since, this art form appeared at the Delaware Art Museum, the Allentown Art Museum, and other venues and galleries with exhibitions featured in American Artist and Art Connoisseur magazines. In 2012, eighty seven of my imaginative works hung in four museums simultaneously.
http://www.paravia.com/DonMaitz
* This statement has been provided directly by the artist in association to their 14th International ARC Salon entries. This content has not been edited for typos or grammatical errors and has not been vetted for accuracy.
