DON GRIFFIN

About the Artist

Don Griffin was born in Washington, DC, and the younger of two children. His father worked for the Federal Government’s Defense Supply Agency. He was also an expert cabinetmaker. During the fifties he was a pioneer in the business of building Custom High Fidelity Speaker Systems. The Federal Government also employed his mother in the Pentagon. The family moved to Baltimore Maryland when Don was age three. As a child he discovered drawing and it stuck with him throughout his school years. He later studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Griffin says it was here he actually discovered that he really was, an artist. Revealed while listening to a lecture on his major [Interior Design], he said it hit him like a freight train, “I’m an Artist”! Griffin’s first encounter with exhibitions occurred at an organized event held at the Sphinx Club on Pennsylvania Avenue. He had one or two Realist works in the show. It is said that he also stopped exhibiting right after that show. However, his father entered a Realist Painting in a government exhibition. An offer was made to purchase the work and this stimulated him to go on. His next bout with exhibitions was not until the eighties, when he joined the Maryland Art League. It seems everything that came along, as an opportunity to exhibit Griffin would accommodate. After a few years with the Art League, Don and his Sister became founding members of the Art Gallery of Fells Point. He held the elected office of First Vice President, his Sister became Treasurer. Griffin reached a turning point and decided it was time to venture out on his own, and severed ties to organizations. In the late eighties he contacted a gallery owner in Washington, DC. It was Henrietta Ersham, the owner of HENRI GALLERY. Henri saw much potential in his work and decided to represent him. Henri was a supporter of avant- garde artist. In 1994 Henri departed life and the gallery closed. In 1996 he was selected by Art Communication International for inclusion in the most comprehensive Compact Disk Collection of contemporary art ever assembled. The Best Contemporary Art CD-ROM Series, The Juried Collection 1996. It contains artwork from 326 artists selected by a Jury of art professionals from 10,000 slides submitted as a result of a worldwide call for entries. Griffin was also selected for “VIRTUOSITY,” an eternal exhibition a virtual Art Fair in New York City and the first and largest Juried Art Exhibition ever assembled on interactive 3-D CD-ROM. Selected by a distinguished panel of jurors from the following galleries: Allan Stone Gallery, New York / O.K.Harris Gallery, New York / Pamela Auchincloss Gallery, New York / Kouros Gallery, New York / Curt Marcus Gallery, New York / Knoedler & Company, New York / and David Rubin, Curator 20th Century Art Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona.