Don Swartzentruber

Don Michael Swartzentruber (swärt-zen-trü-ber) is an American artist. His paintings, printmaking and drawing typically appropriate elements of neo-pop and surrealism.[1][2] The artist, who signs with his surname, is recognized for his juxtaposition of spiritual themes with lowbrow imagery.[3] Not one to dodge provocative topics, he engages viewers with themes that shift from a rather socratic dialogue to dogmatic sermons.[4]

Early life

Born in 1966, he grew up in Greenwood, Delaware.[5] He studied formally at various programs including character animation with Disney animator Milt Neil at the Kubert School. While earning a MFA in Visual Art at Vermont College of Norwich University he studied with Karl Wirsum (Chicago Imagists), Don Baum, Joseph Seigenthaler, and Ernesto Pujol.

A Deity for Darwin, Oil on Canvas
Totem Triptych Exhibit, the Lincoln Center

Exhibit highlights

Swartzentruber was raised in a Mennonite home and community. He briefly attended Rosedale Bible College and then Grace College and Seminary. His religious upbringing facilitated his creation of the controversial art exhibit Pop Mennonite.[6][7] He is one of the first to appropriate Mennonite culture as a theme in contemporary art. The images manifest from cultural critique and autobiography. An audio project accompanied the exhibits at Bluffton University and Goshen College[8][9] and included Mennonite music. The harshest disapproval of Pop Mennonite bred from Mennonite bloggers reviewing the paintings online.[10][11][12][13]

The Totem Triptych collection offered viewers an opportunity to create reader interpretation that was billed on an equal footing as the artist’s authorial intent.[14] The images and essay were published in various literary projects such as Footsteps to Oxford, Mung Being, and 5 Trope. The 36triptychs were exhibited at Art Space Lima and the Lincoln Center.

Facing the Sublime and the Grotesque collection was awarded an Indiana Arts Commission Grant. The artist built images based on grotesque elements in the mask collection at the Chicago Field Museum.

Commercial art

Swartzentruber also engages in commercial work such as caricatures,[15][16][17] illustrations and exhibitions (i.e., musical group Bride “Silence is Madness”). He held positions as a television art director and graphic designer prior to entering education.[18]

Art education

An outspoken advocate and mentor, Swartzentruber has contributed much in the training of students in the arts. He held the post of adjunct professor at Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne University, Grace College, and instructor at Warsaw Community High School. He has lectured at Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture, the Midwest Scholars Conference, and the Art Education Association of Indiana Conference.

Current developments

His studio is in northern Indiana, where he resides with his wife and two sons.[19] In 2008 he received a grant to engage in material dealing with ethics and apologetics. It included the publication of philosophers such as Alvin Plantinga, John Warwick Montgomery, Dinesh D’Souza, and William Lane Craig. The project fell under the title Carnival Sage®. He is said to be working on sequential art that will follow a similar apologetic focus.

References
  1. Evan Gillespie. "Separing the Sideshow Icons: Artist depicts our cliched fantasies." South Bend Tribune, [South Bend, IN] 19 Oct 2007. Print.
  2. Bonfiglio, Jeremy D. "In a Word: Weird." South Bend Tribune [South Bend, Indiana] 13 Aug. 2006, D4 sec. Print.
  3. Smith, Teresa. ""Swartzentruber Imagination on Display."" Times Union [Warsaw, IN] 4 Aug. 2001, Cover Story sec.: 1-2. Print.
  4. Sairs, Vicki. "Pop Goes the Mennonite: Conversations with an Artist and His Work." DreamSeeker Magazine [Telford, PA] Winter 2007, Vol 7 ed. Print.
  5. Mihopoulos, Effie, prod. "The Swartzentruber and Danny Mansmith Episode."Northeastern Illinois University. WXAV 388.3 FM, Chicago, ILL, 23 Apr. 2006. Radio.
  6. Smith, Teresa. "Swartzentruber's Latest Exhibit Is 'Pop-Mennonite." Times Union [Warsaw, IN] 31 Oct. 2005, Cover sec.: 1-2. Print.
  7. McClure, Matt. "Mennonite Art Display Depicts Rural Life in New Light." The Sounding Board [Winona Lake, IN] 11 July 2005: 7. Print.
  8. Beyeler, Jodi. "Pop-Mennonite to Premiere at Goshen College."The Goshen News [Goshen, IN] 14 Oct. 2005. Print.
  9. Gallardo, Joanne. "From Looney Tunes to Menno Simons."The Goshen College Record [Goshen, IN] 20 Oct. 2005, Vol. 107 No.7 ed. Print.
  10. Friesen, Ilse E. "Pop-Mennonite Surrealism." Canadian Mennonite [Waterloo, Ontario] 16 May 2005, Vol 9, No. 10 ed. Print.
  11. Rhodes, Robert. "Art's Oddity, A Critique of Old Order Culture." Mennonite Weekly Review [Newton, Kansas] 1 July 2005. Print.
  12. Hughes, Andy. "Old Order Betty Boop to Debut at Goshen Exhibit." The Farmer's Exchange [New Paris, IN] 23 Aug. 2005. Print.
  13. "Review of Pop-Mennonite Exhibit."Mennonite Weekly Review [Newton, Kansas] 16 Oct. 2005: 14. Print.
  14. David Sloan. "Swartzentruber's 'Totem Triptch' Is the Art of the Game." Times Union [Warsaw, IN] 28 May 2010. Print.
  15. DuVal, Steve, and Erika Edberg, prods. "Wake Up." Wake Up. Fox 28. SouthBend, Indiana, 13 June 2003. Television.
  16. Champlin, Clay. News 22. WSBT, SouthBend, Indiana, 14 June 2003. Television.
  17. Strike, Allen, prod. News Radio. WTRL, Elkhart, Indiana, 9 Sept. 2002. Radio.
  18. "Open Studio".Public Television. WNIT, Elkhart, Indiana, 21 Jan. 2001. Television.
  19. Bigelow, Lea-Ann. "Swartzentruber." Indiana Review Summer 2004: 94-95, 195-96. Print.
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