Date/Time
Date(s) - August 6, 2023
3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
An Independent Vision
Exhibition closing reception
Robert W. Hoffert Learning Center: Sunday, August 6 from 3 to 5 p.m.
Celebrate Don Vogl’s prolific career at the closing reception for his solo exhibition Don Vogl: An Independent Vision! This is an open house event with refreshments.
Free & open to all!
Throughout his career, Vogl has maintained his independent vision as a painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. While aware of contemporary trends and theories, Vogl has frequently used them as a foil to explore his personal point of view. Instead of perfecting a singular style—which is the practice of many contemporary artists—he has forged his own path and worked abstractly when it suited him and representationally to realize his vision. This exhibition demonstrates how Vogl’s figuration and abstraction have rubbed against each other, subtly informing each other, and have created a poignant, complete body of work.
Register for the closing reception
About the artist
Don Vogl taught painting at the University of Notre Dame for 31 years. He has exhibited works in five Chicago galleries, received 32 awards, including five “best of show”, and has had work in 50 local shows and galleries since moving to Fort Collins in 2003. Don’s art is on display in permanent collections at Notre Dame’s Snite Museum of Art, Indianapolis Museum, Midwest Museum of American Art-Elkhart, Haggerty Museum of Marquette University Milwaukee, Brauer Museum at Valparaiso University, Blank Center for the Arts in Michigan City, and South Bend Regional Museum of Art. He’s listed in Who’s Who in American Art 1988-2010. –learn more at donvogl.com
DONALD G. VOGL
Associate Professor of Art Emeritus 1994
University of Notre Dame
Curriculum vitae (Microsoft Word)
About the curator
Growing up in Chicago, Kroutel attended The Art Institute of Chicago for studio art courses in painting and drawing and The University of Chicago for academic courses.
After an unsatisfying two year stint teaching Art and English in an area high school, he was motivated to move to Ann Arbor where he earned an MFA in painting at The University of Michigan. He then taught in Detroit for three years at Marygrove College and at The Society of Arts and Crafts, a professional art school.
In 1966 he took a position at Ohio University where he eventually became chair of painting, drawing and foundations for many years. Nationally and internationally exhibited with over 39 solo exhibitions, Kroutel has been awarded three Ohio Arts Council Fellowships, an Arts Midwest NEA Fellowship and numerous prizes and awards. His work most recently has appeared in the book International Painting Annual 1, published by Manifest Gallery.
As a professor at Ohio University, he had the good fortune to teach in a considerable number of Education Abroad programs in London, Prague and Florence. These experiences profoundly influenced his teaching and his art practice. More recently he finished teaching in Ohio University’s London Education Abroad program starting in the summer of the year 2000.
Early in 2018, Kroutel was honored with a retrospective exhibition at the Kennedy Museum of Art in Athens, Ohio entitled “50 Year Journey: Ron Kroutel Paintings.” Taking up the entire museum, the exhibition followed the 50 year developmental trajectory of his work while teaching at Ohio University and working in Athens. Curated by the internationally recognized film maker Rajko Grlic, a 100 page book in color was published by the museum.
He and his wife, Patrice Wolf, a recognized painter herself, now work in their studios in Old Town, Fort Collins, CO where they moved in 2016. Since relocating to Fort Collins, he has exhibited his work in a solo exhibition at the Museum of Art Fort Collins, a duo exhibition at the University of Wyoming Art Museum and in galleries in Denver and locally.
His journey continues.
Support for the museum’s exhibitions and programming is generously provided by the City of Fort Collins Fort Fund, the FUNd Endowment at CSU, and Colorado Creative Industries. CCI and its activities are made possible through an annual appropriation from the Colorado General Assembly and federal funds from the National Endowment for the arts.
