PRESS RELEASE
& TESTIMONIALS
Winona Lake artist will draw Caricatures at Blueberry
Date: August 28-September 1, 2008
Time: 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM daily
Location: Blue Berry Festival .( Located in front of the Family Arts Building)
Cost: $25
Web site: www.swartzentruber.com.
The Blueberry Festival will feature the caricature portrait entertainment and artwork of Winona Lake, Indiana craftsman Don Swartzentruber (Corporate & Private Caricatures). An eclectic list of training and twenty-five years of professional experience make this caricaturist stand out from his peers. In seven short minutes Swartzentruber is able to create a beautiful illustrated portrait with a playful theme in full pastel color.
Much attention has been given to the large anthology of themes he has developed. Careers, hobbies, sports and dreams...the sky is the limit. "I've had the privilege of drawing people from all walks of life, FBI agent, bioscience researcher, pro golfer, Olympic athlete, politicians and entertainers. It is also interesting to project people into their fantasies...the woman who want to be a "beach babe" as a gift for her husbands, or a kid who wants to play major league baseball." Some patrons ask the artist to decide. This is an especially enjoyable time for the audience.
"I learn the caricature trade like a gypsy, peddling at festivals up and down the east coast and around various other parts of the nation on summer tours", Swartzentruber describes. The artist now primarily entertains in the Chicago, Indianapolis, Detroit and Toledo area. Staying local allows festival patrons to schedule weddings, Christmas party, and business conventions. He always makes the evening memorable, and the attendees take home a souvenir. Countless festivals and corporations have contracted him to entertain at their special event. Clients include; Sony, R.R. Donnelley's, Lincoln Life, the Delaware Symphony, and Notre Dame.
He suggested that his objective is to earn affirmation for the portrait likeness and a laugh from the theme. He studied with a Disney animator for two years for whom he attribute the gentle humor that is incorporate into the caricatures. He discovered early in his career that people enjoy a playful caricatured exaggeration over grotesque distortion. In reviewing his examples, it becomes clear that he leans more towards portrait over cartoon. Occasionally I have model request a quick "stuffed sausage" caricatures and I am more then happy to oblige.
He concluded eight years of post-secondary education with a MFA in Vermont. Swartzentruber has invested a substantial amount of time studying and teaching portraiture. He is an art instructor at Warsaw High School, and adjunct professor at Grace College.
Swartzentruber is also a contemporary artist who has exhibited in fifty galleries and museums. Unlike his studio work, he finds the greatest joy of drawing on location, is the immediate response of the patrons and crowd. Swartzentruber is the artist of the "Famous Faces" caricature portrait exhibition that received a state art commission grant. This collection of Mark Twin, Adolph Hitler, Bob Marley and Jerry Garcia and many others will all be at the fair. Off-season, he creates caricatures from photography via mail orders that people and companies give as personalized gifts. The more laborious watercolor caricature is favored. "I move through several stages starting with a light pencil sketch, a watercolor wash, soft pastel color, and final detail with prisma color," Swartzentruber explains.
At thirteen, Swartzentruber was enraptured by the artist at the World's Fair. Three years later he signed a contracted with the Delaware State Fair and the following year toured New England. Swartzentruber has created thousands of commissioned caricature portraits since 1983. His philosophy as an artist is to sketch each person quickly and to be in a constant state of skill development. He said, "Enthusiasm by the patron, to hang the picture with great pride as soon as they get home or to the office, is important to me."
For further interview questions or material contact the artist.
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