David B. Smith Gallery

Artist Statement:

Don Stinson is known for painting vistas that explore the physical and cultural landscapes of the west. Late Twentieth Century practices of cultural geography, land-use planning and topographic photography shape his work. Stinson is drawn to the emerging forms of 21st century energy and communication industries such as wind turbines and cell towers as well as the modern ruins of abandoned gas station canopies and drive-in theatre screens. His work does not present a romantic vision of untouched wilderness areas or simply put forward evidence of our environmental destruction in the context of a once sublime natural environment. Rather, the power of nature in Don’s work resides in the slow steady erosion of a steel post, the influx of grasses over taking gravel parking areas or even the pink tinged water of the Great Salt Lake lapping away at the edges of Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty. He strives to paint with eloquence and occasional grace a clear-eyed view of what we make of the landscape and what the landscape eventually makes of us.

Artist Biography:

Stinson was born in Amarillo, Texas. He received a BFA in 1978 from the Colorado State University and a MFA in 1982 from The School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and Tufts University. He was the recipient of Colorado Council on the Arts Director's Grant and his work is placed in the collections of the Denver Art Museum and the Art in Embassies Program in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He has been featured both in extensive solo and group exhibitions in Colorado and Texas with prominent showings at the Nicolaysen Art Museum, Casper, Wyoming, the Coors Western Art Exhibit, Denver, Colorado, Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, Colorado and Artist Space, New York. Don currently lives and works in Evergreen Colorado with his wife, Public and Environmental Policy Planner, Barbara Stinson and their three children, Will, Marissa, and Emmett.