“My work deals with transformation, perspective, and the balance of nature and humanity. I use linear perspective and geometric patterns in combination with human forms and natural objects to illustrate the illusion that is our collective perceived reality. My aspiration is not to tell one story, but to create settings and subjects that viewers can become part of and develop their own narratives within.

What draws me to printmaking is repeatability and process. I’ve always sought to learn as many skills and is feasible and printmaking has provided me with a seemingly endless inventory of methods and techniques. Each new process lends to a different style of creation and the production and exhibition of multiples can, in itself, be transformative. The repetition of and image can create an immersive experience which may lend to deeper thinking and, ideally, deeper self reflection.”
- Dan Dawson


Dan was born and raised in Central Maine, spending most of his life in Bangor. Since 2018 he has resided in Western Massachusetts where he makes art from his home studio.

As a child Dan was as interested in creating as most children are. He was often more so wrapped up in playing make believe than creating visual art but this practice of making imaginary imagery, if only in his own head for the time being, would reemerge later on in life. At the age of 13, Dan received a screen printing kit as a gift and was hooked on the idea of multiples. With the help of his high school art teacher he was able to learn the skills necessary to use the kit as well as a few other techniques such as lino-cut and a few book making techniques.

These tools started a cascade of learning and practice as Dan began printing shirts and posters for his friends and friends of friends. He mostly taught himself how to digitally alter images for screen printing and in the process he was able to begin the development of his own work. The necessity of multiple color prints inspired the building of a homemade four color screen printing press. The success of this contraption also lead to an experimental relief press with a car jack at its core.

Naturally as Dan went down this path he came against more and more challenges and became aware of more and more techniques that he wished to understand. Ultimately these desires culminated in an application to the University of Maine. It was here that Dan was able to learn, experiment, and build a body of work that has cycled him ever forward towards new creations.