Reflections

A solid foundation of design, color and value distinguishes the expressive paintings of Dan McCaw. With studies at San Francisco Academy of Art and later the Art Center of Design, Los Angeles, where he was an instructor for fifteen years, the foundation is simply a starting point for an exciting exploration of new ways to look at familiar objects.

McCaw has been the subject of feature articles in Art Voices South (1979), Southwest Art (1983 and 1993), Western Art Digest (1985), International Fine Art Collector (1992) and Island Scene Magazine (1996). Most recently, Dan completed a book entitled A Proven Strategy for Creating Great Art (2002). His work may be found in many national and international, private and corporate collections.

Dan McCaw is one of America's most highly respected contemporary impressionists. Raised in the mining town of Butte, Montana, McCaw began sketching and drawing at an early age. In 1962 he began his formal art training with a scholarship to the San Francisco Academy of Art. Two years later, he was offered a position as an illustrator with a commercial art firm in Los Angeles. The move south proved to be a fortuitous one for McCaw, as he became less satisfied with commercial art and longed to pursue a fine art career. He continued his artistic pursuits at the Art Center College of Design where he fell under the spell of the great European Masters, including Joaquin Sorrolla, whose work has had a lasting influence on his ideas about light and design. While his sensitive figural work is deeply rooted in the romantic impressionist tradition, recent years have seen him moving toward a more individual expressionist tradition. McCaw credits Eduard Vuillard, Pierre Bonnard, Gustav Klimt and the Abstract Expressionists for helping him to develop a heightened awareness in his work and not to rigorously conform to the literal representation of the subject. A skilled and discerning interpreter of color harmonies, light and mood, the core of McCaw's work is based on expressing feeling and emotions with the fewest elements, that less is more. "My primary interest lies in going beyond the technique in order to interpret the subject in different ways and expand on that interpretation to make a personal statement. Creativity lies in uncertainty because your solution can be anything"! Nearly three decades after embarking on his artistic journey, Dan McCaw continues his quest for maximum expression, pushing his art into exciting new territory. Dan McCaw and his wife Stacey live in Los Angeles, Ca.