Daniel Nisbeth

Daniel Nisbeth is a seventeenth generation American, with his roots going back to the early Quaker settlers of Westchester County, and the Native American Algonquian Peoples. His work is often an expression of his connection to the land – trees, rocks, animals, air, wind and sky.)  These elements of nature can be found in the genre of his work, using every medium possible to tell his story  – from massive painterly murals which have been the back drop to professional dance troupes, and films  to multi-media exhibitions.  Love of music is also a central theme (his murals have hung in dance schools); his abstract paintings are studies of movement in time and space, using boldly vivid colors in his investigation of the interplay between each stroke. As a true renaissance man, he is also a poet, printmaker, sculptor, singer, songwriter and percussionist, and a father to his sixteen year old daughter, Sara. He has also created a one-of-a-kind system using his printing skills and painterly talents to develop his latest series of figurative, aquatic and wild life art.

Most of his life he has been a teacher. His passion is children. He has taught at Northern Westchester Center for the Arts for over eight years, a highly prestigious art school for children and adults in his native Hudson Valley, New York. He also taught fantasy illustration, cartooning, ceramics and sculpture. Daniel also exhibited at the Northern Westchester Center, juried by Susan Cross of the Guggenheim Museum. The Harvey School (Katonah, New York) was his home as a teacher for many years (1997-2006) with children – ceramics, woodwork, jewelry, drawing and illustration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

His art career has spanned two continents. He received a BFA in Fine Art from SUNY Oswego, New York. While there, he studied with the celebrated ceramic artist, Richard Zakin. The most spectacular art monument erected while attending school was a live-in, 18ft., handmade Native American teepee, made from the canvas of a massive mural, complete with updraft and wood-burning kiln which he resided in for one year. In 1986 he was awarded a training program in fresco painting in Sienna, Italy within the International Studies Program at SUNY Buffalo, New York.  There he sculpted, painted, and experimented in printmaking with the great Otello Chiti. For a semester, he studied with Otello the ancient painting media of egg tempura and fresco. Niccola Bindi was another teacher in Sienna, a renowned ceramist and mold-maker – with Niccola, Daniel created a magnificent eagle sculptor entitled, “Contrada de Falco” (Eagle’s Place) and, “In il Dente de Lupa” (In the Mouth of the Wolf). Alaska is another inspiring base for Daniel. He was a commercial fisherman and purchased twenty acres of raw land there he still owns, and continued in his love of art and nature with many images of eagles, trees and the people of Alaska. He juried on Kenai Peninsula at the Kenai Arts Guild, spring 2005, and over 108 submissions, while also conducting a nine-day workshop – hand building with clay.

For the last two years, Daniel Nisbeth has been completing a huge series, encompassing over hundreds of hand-drawn and painted plates for reproduction in preparation for a limited edition series run. He had an exhibition entitled, “Chrysalsis” showing fifty of his abstract oil paintings with customized wooden frames transitioning into figurative illustrations (October 2007 – March 2008) at the New Ark Art Space, Newark, N.J.  His sculpture series entitled, “Birdbaths” was showing as well.

If that wasn’t enough, Daniel Nisbeth’s most current work is finishing illustrations on a children’s book, “Aristotle and the Floating Bottle” by author Michelle DeQuattro.  In February, 2008 his masterpiece, “Shining Bolero with the Sun” (8’ X 24’) was the backdrop for the new motion picture, Museum Scandals (Shurin/Levy Productions) to be seen in film festivals nationally in the fall/winter of 2008. Daniel was also seen and interviewed in the film along with other great artists; (www.KirkReinert.com,and www.WhispersinBlue.com.) Daniel currently lives on his great-grandfather’s property in a winterized finishing cabin on the natural aquifer, Lake Waccabuc, with his dog Cooper, his cat Latka and daughter Sara. His fiancé, Laura Banks is a bestselling author with her third book coming out with Simon and Schuster, June of 2008. (www.LauraBanks.com.) Most recently Daniel completed marketing and educative training with Peak Potentials and Landmark Education.