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Myth and Reality - The American West," oil (40"x50"), by Don Crouch
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American West Artist Don Crouch Plans October Exhibit at WIU

August 1, 2007

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MACOMB, IL - - The American West, old and new, is a powerful attraction for people of many cultures and causes. For Don Crouch, the son of a New Mexico rancher, the American West is both his passion and his art; and it has earned him international acclaim.

Teaching art is also a passion for Crouch, who, with 43 years in the Western Illinois University art department, is the longest serving professor at WIU.

"I was always happy I stayed at Western," Crouch said. "If you leave, you never make a nest."

On Saturday, Oct. 27 the Renaissance artist of the American West will open his one-man retrospect – "Don Crouch: Early, Middle and Recent Works, 1965-2007"– as the featured show at the WIU Art Gallery. The exhibit will run through Thursday, Nov.15. Both floors of the Art Gallery will be filled with selections of work from his tenure at Western.

"This exhibit will be a reflection of what I feel is important to acknowledge in a visual way," said Crouch. "My work has evolved around archeology and the natural world, including landscape and mammals. I work in all mediums. To me it is the total thought that counts regardless of style or medium. The show also will include a selection of works in different phases of development so viewers can see the thinking and process behind them," he added.

There will be sculptures, drawings, prints and oil paintings; as well as Crouch's newest signature – paintings within paintings – including his 40" x 50" oil titled "Myth and Reality: The American West," which features a Navajo chief blanket, a beaded piece from the Crow tribe and a painting of a buffalo in a Wyoming landscape by Tucker Smith.

A special public reception for Crouch will be held from 2-5 p.m. during the Saturday (Oct. 27) opening at the University Art Gallery. In addition to countless friends and art enthusiasts, Crouch said he would especially like to reminisce with his former students.

"I have so many students throughout the world; I want to share this with them," Crouch said. "It's going to be fun, and it's kind of touching in a way. This is not the end of my teaching career," he added. "I enjoy teaching, and I enjoy the students. As long as I can be responsible as an educator and respected for my experienced viewpoint, I plan to keep on teaching."

The professor is somewhat amused at a phenomenon of late, one that only happens to longterm teachers.

"I'm seeing my former students come back because their children are at Western," he said. "I saw five former students just this way last spring (2007)."

Crouch, who was among eight new hires in the art department in 1965, said one of his most memorable and noteworthy experiences as a new teacher was the opportunity to take students to Europe for study tours during his first three summers at Western. He saw and shared the artwork of the masters with students, and he made connections with artists that led to multiple travels abroad for his own creative work.

In 2004 Crouch and his son, Jack, now a junior art major at Western, traveled to the Keet Seel Ruin (AZ) – the largest ruin in North America of prehistoric cliff-dwellings situated in the Navajo National Monument – to continue the elder's never-ending search for inspiration in what he calls "the cycle of the West."

Crouch was among 19 artists featured in the prestigious 2003 "New Art of the West 8," a biennial exhibition at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in Indianapolis. The museum showcases the work of Native Americans and other contemporary artists who create work about the American West.

In the artist's statement for that show, Crouch wrote: "My early connection with horses, ranchers, ruins, artifacts, the border between the United States and Mexico, and the confluence of diverse peoples leads me to both old and new ideas, and the meeting of myth and reality. My heritage includes the form and content of my art. I am constantly aware of the cycle of the West as I encounter ancient and more recent artists and objects, often utilitarian, but left behind in the rush of history…My goal is to capture the essence of my subjects with an implicit timelessness."

Crouch's work is in many public collections and has been the topic of numerous news stories and magazine features. Among the first was the Jan. 10, 1971 St. Louis Post Dispatch magazine Sunday Pictures. It included a cover photograph of Crouch in front of a self-portrait in his wedding hat. On the bottom of the magazine were the words "Talent and Discipline." The six-page feature, "Prairie Printmaker," provided information and photographs about Crouch at his Macomb farm homestead with several of his students. Nearly four decades have passed since that article. As a teacher, he has impacted two generations and hundreds of students. As an artist, his work reflects timeless layers of history.

Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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