Don Koestner: Profound Light Revealed

A retrospective of one of Minnesota's most celebrated landscape artists
Friday, November 14, 5:30 to 9:00 p.m.
Saturday, November 15, 1:00 to 6:00 p.m.
Sunday, November 16, 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.

"I have devoted my career to accumulating knowledge of nature, living within the context of the landscape I paint." Don Koestner

Join us for a special celebration of the life and work of Minnesota artist, Don Koestner: "Profound Light Revealed"

A retrospective of a Minnesota artist whose powerful presentations of Minnesota's northern shore landscapes and intimate portraits of tucked-away natural places we feel like we've known ourselves, captures our hearts, stirs our memories and invites our promises to explore. Art collectors or not, those who love our state's natural graces, will identify with Koestner's work.

This is the first, and possibly the only time, such a great number of Don Koestner paintings (nearly four dozen) have been gathered together for exhibit. Some of these works are being offered for sale. A highlighted painting for the exhibit is "In Dry Dock" 1984, 16 x 20 has now been made available to art collectors.

In his new book about the life, technical artistry and "poetic vision" of Don Koestner, Bill Hakala says: "He draws his water from the world's largest freshwater lake and heats it with the sun. By most measures he has lived simply and this choice enabled his growth and achievement.

The book, A Way of Living: The Simple Life and Extraordinary Craft of Landscape Painter Don Koestner, is a testament to a man who so treasures the natural world, he has immersed himself in it. in doing so, he has escaped the costly constraints of the commercial world. And he has become, as Hakala points out, an inspiration to two generations of landscape painters.


Saturday, November 15 and Sunday, November 16 at Master Framers Gallery, author Bill Hakala will sign books between 1:00 and 5:00 p.m. "Author's Notes", a brief presentation about the book, will be offered at 2:00 p.m. both days. The author will highlight some of the stories from his recently published book, A Way of Living: The Simple Life and Extraordinary Craft of Landscape Painter Don Koestner. As Hakala will explain, Koestner's ability to live apart from a conventionally commercial world helped shape his artistic philosophy and the techniques of his craft.
Free parking is available at the corner of East Fourth and Wacouta Streets. Enter from the Wacouta Street side.

Special edition hardcover edition published by Obiris Books, $32.00 (plus tax)
Deluxe paperback edition published by Obiris Books, $24.00 (plus tax)
Online purchases may be ordered by visiting http://www.obirisbooks.com

Friday, November 14, 2008, at Master Framers Gallery, we will celebrate the retrospective's opening with a "by invitation" party, from 5:30 to 9:00 p.m.

Mr. Koestner looks forward to joining the party from about 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Bill Hakala, author of the newly-published biography of A Way of Living: The Simple Life and Extraordinary Craft of Landscape Painter Don Koestner Don Koestner will sign books throughout the evening. A lovely selection of wine provided by Lowertown Wine and Spirits, festive hors d' oeuvres representing Koestner's favorite Lake Superior tastes provided by Prom Catering, and the fun, fingerpickin' acoustic guitar of well known acoustic guitarist Phil Heywood will make the exhibit, sale and booksigning an evening to remember.
In acknowledgement of Koestner's vast contributions not only to our state's body of art but how we see and value our state's natural resources, the City of St. Paul will present Don Koestner with a proclamation of thanks at 7:00 p.m.
Free parking is available at the corner of East Fourth and Wacouta Streets. Enter from the Wacouta Street side. you will have recieved a yellow parking ticket with your invitation. Please display it on your dashboard.

About Don Koestner

For 55 years, Don Koestner has captured the interplay of light upon our upper Midwest landscape. "Painting", he said, "is what I do and who I am..." He's worked in subzero temperatures (as low as -15 F, standing on snowshoes at his painting sites and mixing kerosene with his paint to keep it from freezing.) And he's diligently worked through summer months when the sun has beat down on his head while the black flies have crawled up his pant legs and down his collar..Koestner's focus has been on capturing fleeting light effects-those light phenomena that disappear with a blink of the eye. Like magic, they are there and then gone. We forget them soon enough. But with Koestner's acute visual memory at work, that ethereal light is captured for all to see. In every painting, there is as much of Koestner's insight as there is nature. Light strokes the natural world and then is locked in a moment of time.

"He lives what he preaches..."

Amazingly, his wife Fern, whom Koestner married in 1960, not only supported his humble (some would say, primitive) lifestyle but invigorated his energies and anchored his worries with practical words of advice. Koestner told Hakala that in their 44 years together as soul mates, business partners, parents of two children and joint observers of nature, "we adopted the phrase "Oh, something will turn up," and it always did whenever money got troublingly low. Fern died in 2004 from lung cancer. Nevertheless, Koestner has continued to live in their North Shore cabin-turned home, where they lived together for the past 18 years. "For most of our years together, Fern and I lived considerably below what the government declares poverty level, but we did not feel deprived and did most of the things we wanted to." Hakala quotes Koestner as saying.

Don't miss this opportunity to hear Bill Hakala speak, view the exhibit, and perhaps purchase a Koestner painting to call your own.

In addition to Lowertown Wine and Spirits and Prom Catering we would also like to thank The Atelier and Drake Bank for helping sponsor this event.