Douglas R. Giebel Born: 18 December 1948
My earliest memories evoke the satisfaction of drawing and working with my hands. My father was a printer/teacher with a strong artistic sense, and a role model for me in my early years. The Detroit public schools offered many wonderful opportunities for me as I was growing, including a Saturday morning class as a junior high student with a teacher at the Detroit Institute of Art. I remember becoming acquainted with great work in their collection such as Pieter Brueghel the Elder's Wedding Dance, by making copies at that young age.
The specialized art program at Cass Technical High School offered me fine instruction that upon graduation yielded a scholarship to attend art school in New York City. I was privileged to be able to study fine arts at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. My freshman figure drawing teacher was Lennart Anderson, who also was from Detroit and had attended Cass Tech as well, allowing us to share two art teachers there even though we graduated twenty years apart. In New York I was enriched by the constant exhibits in the galleries and museums, and the beautiful parks and public spaces in Brooklyn and Manhattan where I painted.
My own inclination as an artist was to work representationally. I am very grateful for the wise instruction I received from Lennart Anderson which emphasized study based upon direct observation of the model. My interests were fortified by a rather diverse and rowdy group called the Figurative Artists Alliance which met for weekly discussions at the Educational Alliance on East Broadway in lower Manhattan. I can vividly remember hearing the likes of Fairfield Porter, Sidney Tillum, Leland Bell, and Gabriel Laderman passionately discuss current exhibits and issues such as the possibility of narrative painting in our time, and the artist’s moral influence on society, with the controversial Vietnam War as a backdrop for all this clamor.
As a Christian, my understanding of the world as God's good creation has directed my work as a figurative artist. I admire the beauty that God has made for our enjoyment and His glory. I am stimulated by the inexhaustible splendor creation holds, reflecting the wisdom of its Creator. My work is nurtured by the subtlety and structure of what God has made. I am eager that the fruit of my artistic labor joins in the universal praise that all creation, as recorded in Psalm 148, sings to its Maker.