biography

Don Weir was born in Frankfurt, Germany and spent his childhood in the United States. After attending Oregon State University, he moved to Alaska ... eventually settling in northern British Columbia in the mid-1970's. He began painting while teaching primary school in the small village of Kitwanga which is located on the Skeena River in the northern part of the province. His initial years of painting involved working the summer months in the Skeena River valley and then spending the winter months in various locations in Alaska, the southern Yukon, northern BC, and the Caribbean.

Beginning in 1981, he secured work as a winter caretaker at a jade mine which was located in an isolated valley just north of Spatsizi Park in northwestern BC. This allowed Mr. Weir to paint year round, living in remote wilderness areas in the winter months and then returning to paint during the summer months near his home in the Skeena River valley.

Mr. Weir works mainly in oil and his art concentrates on capturing atmospheric light effects and interpreting on canvass the mood and power of the Northern landscape. His influences range from the work of medeival tapestry artisans and contemporary landscape quiltmakers to the artists who live and work in Alaska and northern Canada.

He presently lives and works out of his wilderness homestead near Atlin, BC in the far northwestern tip of British Columbia and spends his time exploring and painting in the U.S. Southwest, Alaska and the wilderness areas of the northern Yukon near his home.

SOLO EXHIBITS

Guild Hall - Whitehorse, Yukon - April 1996
Yukon Arts Center - Whitehorse, Yukon - March 2002
Juneau Arts and Humanities Council - Juneau, Alaska - March 2003
Studio Blue - Vancouver, British Columbia - April 2003
Well Street Gallery - Fairbanks, Alaska – September 2003
Alaska Pacific University - Anchorage, Alaska - November 2004
Nemo Art - Anchorage, Alaska - May & June 2005
Well Street Gallery - Fairbanks, Alaska - September 2005
Bunnell Street Gallery - Homer, Alaska - October 2005
Nemoart - Anchorage, Alaska - June-July 2007
Well Street Gallery - Fairbanks, Alaska - August 2007
Yukon Arts Centre - Whitehorse, Yukon - November 2007

GROUP SHOWS

Yukon Arts Center - Whitehorse, Yukon - September 1999
Yukon Arts Center - Whitehorse, Yukon - June 2002
Well Street Gallery - Fairbanks, Alaska - June 2003
Yukon Arts Center - Whitehorse, Yukon - Spring 2005
FAA Gallery - Fairbanks, Alaska - July 2005
Durango Arts Center - Durango, Colorado - February 2006
Well Street Gallery - Fairbanks, Alaska - July 2006
Shy Rabbit Contemporary Gallery - Pagosa Springs, Colorado - October, 2006

COLLECTIONS

Government of the Yukon Territories, Permanent Collection - Whitehorse, Yukon
Endswell Foundation - Vancouver, British Columbia
Tides Canada Foundation - Vancouver, British Columbia
Sagaya Corporation - Anchorage, Alaska
Blue Sky Studio - Anchorage, Alaska
Western Management Consultants - Vancouver, British Columbia
State of Alaska - Alaska Marine Highway System - Valdez, Alaska

GALLERY REPRESENTATION

Well Street Gallery - Fairbanks, Alaska - T:907-452-6169

UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS

Bunnell Street Gallery - Homer, Alaska - Solo show - June 2008