Donald Clapper
Donald Clapper's realistic artwork has received national as well as international recognition including participation in over twenty museum exhibitions across the nation. Clapper has exhibited his paintings in the major art markets including New York City, Scottsdale, Los Angeles, Dallas, Santa Fe and at top level galleries including the Eleanor Ettinger Gallery, Klaudia Marr Gallery, Manitou Galleries, Scottsdale Fine Art Gallery and Pan American Gallery. He scope is broad but he always stays in the field of realism whether the subject be still life, trompe l'oeil or his new "Dramatic Realism" figure paintings..
In April of 2001 Don Clapper co-founded the Trompe l’Oeil Society of Artists, an exclusive group dedicated to this "fool the eye" genre. The group was formed for the purpose of promoting and advancing the visibility of this exacting style on a national level. In 2003 Clapper co-founded the International Guild of Realism, a group dedicated to the advancement of realism through juried national and international gallery and museum exhibitions. This prestigious group now has over 200 professional juried artist members from around the country and the world!
Donald Clapper graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder, but it wasn't until the late 1980's, when he saw the work of William Harnett at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, that he became enthralled with the creation of the illusionary dimension and began to paint Trompe l'Oeil in earnest. Since then, his paintings have appeared in numerous national painting competitions, winning several awards including his selection as a finalist in the National Juried Art Competition. He also garnered Best of Show in 1996 and First Place in 2000 for submitted works. His work has been featured in several publications, and he has authored articles in such magazines as International Artist Magazine.
Clapper’s painting developed during the 1980-90’s while he lived and worked in Gainesville, Florida.
Due to the busyness of the daytime, he pursued his artwork during the quiet evening and predawn hours. It was during this season that he developed his own techniques and proficiency as he applied the Old Masters’ methods of indirect lighting, shadowing, glazing and multi dimensional affects to the canvas. He began his first series of tabletop Still Lifes, including Afternoon Tea, which won both local and nationwide awards including a centerfold winner of Art Calendar Magazine, October issue, 2000.
After a period of painting Still Lifes, Clapper completed Tribute to William Harnett, a Trompe l’Oeil that not only pays homage to his first “Silent Mentor”, what's more it eludes the viewer to believe it may have been painted from the studio of none other than John Peto, Harnett’s student and friend.
Clapper’s work has received national as well as regional recognition. Some of his award winning oil paintings are currently on a Three Year National Museum Tour and others will also be featured in a second Group Show in Santa Fe this September. His work has already been featured in many museums across the country including the Phoenix Art Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin and the Museum of Fine Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He paints almost exclusively Trompe l’Oeil these days, except for some personally commissioned tabletop Still Lifes.
In April of 2001, Clapper co-founded the Trompe l’Oeil Society of Artists, an exclusive group of today’s finest artists dedicated to the genre of Trompe l’Oeil. In two years, the Society has organized major Gallery shows and Museum exhibitions in the major art markets including New York City, Santa Fe and Scottsdale.
Don was accompanied by his fiancée, Vala Ola, at his Trompe l'Oeil museum show at the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Vala is an accomplished painter and bronze sculptor and her work can be seen in top level galleries across the nation.
Donald Clapper's realistic artwork has received national as well as international recognition including participation in over twenty museum exhibitions across the nation. Clapper has exhibited his paintings in the major art markets including New York City, Scottsdale, Los Angeles, Dallas, Santa Fe and at top level galleries including the Eleanor Ettinger Gallery, Klaudia Marr Gallery, Manitou Galleries, Scottsdale Fine Art Gallery and Pan American Gallery. He scope is broad but he always stays in the field of realism whether the subject be still life, trompe l'oeil or his new "Dramatic Realism" figure paintings..
In April of 2001 Don Clapper co-founded the Trompe l’Oeil Society of Artists, an exclusive group dedicated to this "fool the eye" genre. The group was formed for the purpose of promoting and advancing the visibility of this exacting style on a national level. In 2003 Clapper co-founded the International Guild of Realism, a group dedicated to the advancement of realism through juried national and international gallery and museum exhibitions. This prestigious group now has over 200 professional juried artist members from around the country and the world!
Donald Clapper graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder, but it wasn't until the late 1980's, when he saw the work of William Harnett at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, that he became enthralled with the creation of the illusionary dimension and began to paint Trompe l'Oeil in earnest. Since then, his paintings have appeared in numerous national painting competitions, winning several awards including his selection as a finalist in the National Juried Art Competition. He also garnered Best of Show in 1996 and First Place in 2000 for submitted works. His work has been featured in several publications, and he has authored articles in such magazines as International Artist Magazine.
Clapper’s painting developed during the 1980-90’s while he lived and worked in Gainesville, Florida.
Due to the busyness of the daytime, he pursued his artwork during the quiet evening and predawn hours. It was during this season that he developed his own techniques and proficiency as he applied the Old Masters’ methods of indirect lighting, shadowing, glazing and multi dimensional affects to the canvas. He began his first series of tabletop Still Lifes, including Afternoon Tea, which won both local and nationwide awards including a centerfold winner of Art Calendar Magazine, October issue, 2000.
After a period of painting Still Lifes, Clapper completed Tribute to William Harnett, a Trompe l’Oeil that not only pays homage to his first “Silent Mentor”, what's more it eludes the viewer to believe it may have been painted from the studio of none other than John Peto, Harnett’s student and friend.
Clapper’s work has received national as well as regional recognition. Some of his award winning oil paintings are currently on a Three Year National Museum Tour and others will also be featured in a second Group Show in Santa Fe this September. His work has already been featured in many museums across the country including the Phoenix Art Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin and the Museum of Fine Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He paints almost exclusively Trompe l’Oeil these days, except for some personally commissioned tabletop Still Lifes.
In April of 2001, Clapper co-founded the Trompe l’Oeil Society of Artists, an exclusive group of today’s finest artists dedicated to the genre of Trompe l’Oeil. In two years, the Society has organized major Gallery shows and Museum exhibitions in the major art markets including New York City, Santa Fe and Scottsdale.
Don was accompanied by his fiancée, Vala Ola, at his Trompe l'Oeil museum show at the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Vala is an accomplished painter and bronze sculptor and her work can be seen in top level galleries across the nation.
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