Interview with: Edward Donald
August 2025
Welcome Edward, first tell us about your background and why you chose to pursue this career.
Born in 1947 Detroit, Michigan and educated in the public school system where an interest in visual arts was enhanced through outstanding artists/instructors and additional training at Detroit Institute of Arts.
After graduating from high school and enrolling in Art School of the Society of Arts and Crafts (now College for Creative Studies), advertising design program Edward earned a merit scholarship in his second year.
He left college for employment as a designer and illustrator in Toronto, Canada after a failed attempt to join the Army in 1967. Edward graduated with a major in Advertising Design in 1975 from Center for Creative Studies in Detroit.
Canada was a revelation both socially and artistically in that he was exposed to a much more diverse and international way of living and creating. Edward began to see himself as an artist first and as the thing that defined his life more than other factors, such as nationality or community or employment. Canada also provided the opportunity to teach graphic design on a college level.
When he returned to USA, advertising, graphic design, and college teaching became my focus and source of employment until retirement in 2008 when Edward applied his time and energy to fine arts and continued teaching college part time.
Since 2011 Edward has taken part in over 60 juried group exhibitions across Europe and North America, and had work featured in at least 12 publications.
Do you remember the first artwork that stirred something inside you?
Alberto Giacometti seen at Detroit Institute of Arts in the 1960s.
What was your first step in becoming an artist?
Feelings frustration with coloring the drawings of others when my own thoughts and vision seemed more interesting. Even as a child it was all about feeling and understanding not just making a copy of what my eyes observed.
How do you define yourself in the creative industry?
Although I have always resisted definitions, I most broadly feel comfortable with “Expressionist”.
Who are your favourite artists, and who are the ones that built your creative imaginary?
Giacometti; Henry Moore; Charles McGee; Harry Borgman; Modigliani; Egon Schiele; Warhol.
How would you describe your artistic practice?
Searching. Listening for my subject and embracing its essence. Materials, technique and point of view are an extension of the relationship between artist and subject.
What are the recurring elements, themes, and concepts you refer to?
Plants, organic forms, colors and shapes and dramatic compositions.
Your practice is developed around different mediums, a multidisciplinary approach. Tell us about your practice.
I often look for texture and building the space between primary forms to create pauses and a kind of punctuation within the visual conversation. I use wet and dry materials together in what is not always a compatible or harmonious application.
Your practice also embraces painting. Over the decades, there has been talk multiple times about the supposed death of painting, which, in fact there never was. How do you see the future and development of this medium?
Much ado over materials and technique and not enough attention to purpose, meaning and transformative quality.
How do you develop your projects?
Most times I start with a small sketch or series of visual studies before working full size. When working with a human subject, I often use both in-person modeling and photos I’ve taken of that model. When doing flower studied, I first take photos and work out my composition, color palette and technique in a sketch pad or scraps of paper or board.
What projects do you plan to work on this year?
I plan on continuing botanicals but also work on blending human subjects with floral and plant like forms.
My work is gradually moving toward abstract representations.
Can you define the word "art" according to your personal view?
That is difficult. For me it is a unique interpretation of things seen, imagined and felt in ways that can be
shared with others. It creates more than a story, or image or feeling but brings life to the world.
Clearly, you have a distinct and identifiable personal style; how did you develop it?
I did not. The “style” people speak of is not an applied personality to my creations, but rather the physical representation of my inner voice and feelings.
Favorite contemporary artist and why?
Georgia O’Keeffe, because she embodied all the qualities I admire most in a great artist. To first and to the core of your being, be an artist; all that follows is application. Everything she did was an extension of her essence, her soul.
Is creativity innate, or do you have to work at it until the ideas come out?
“Talent” is a predisposition that needs to be developed. One must learn the tools and craft to make visual expressions. “Ideas” are nothing more than thoughts and not unique to artists. You cannot force a concept but one can and should be developed over time and concerted effort.
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Tell us a bit about the process of making your work?
I try and start with the feelings I wish to convey and assign palette, form and composition to that
emotional goal.
What are some references you draw upon in your work? Are there any themes in particular that
you like to focus on when creating?
As part of the planning process, I start with over arching emotional take aways, and not so much themes.
Once establishing a general direction, subject and goal I think about how best to approach my task and finally what tools can best serve those desires.