Artist Statement
As a young student – about 1000 years ago – I began drawing. Perhaps it was my grandfather, an artist who didn’t know it, who first introduced me to art. I consider my art a way of life and a means of seeing. Shunning photo realism . . . “after all we do have cameras these days,” my impressionist watercolors present a way of “Seeing.” My abstracts provide another way of “Seeing,” and finally, there are my paintings of “Art as Commentary.”
I share my artist wife Joanna’s passion for search and discovery. I see my architecture, sketching, painting, sculpture, and writing as an interrelated life’s pursuit.
About the Artist
Donald Sunshine FAIA, Professor Emeritus of Architecture, Virginia Tech, is an award winning architect, author, and artist. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, past president of the Virginia Society American Institute of Architects, and Distinguished Visiting Professor, University of Arizona.
In addition to the many buildings he has designed, and his eight books, his architecture and art has been widely exhibited. Prior exhibits include Chicago’s Art Institute and the Museum of Science and Industry, as well as exhibits in Virginia, Florida, Hawaii and elsewhere.
Professor Sunshine and his artist and collaborator wife Joanna, live on their family farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. There, in his late-80s, he continues his painting and writing.