Don W. Emery. Oil on board, 19 34 by 31 12 inches.

Don W. Emery. Oil on board, 19 34 by 31 12 inches.

 

Don Woodruff Emery carried on the artistic tradition brought to Daytona Beach by his father in 1922. *Emery was born in Daytona in 1925, educated at South Ridgewood Elementary School, Mainland Junior High School, Seabreeze Private School, and Deerfield (Mass.) Academy. He served in World War II and later graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelors degree in Fine Art. He attended the Students Art League in New York City. Emery was widely known as a combination of artist, teacher and community planner.

As an artist, Emery described himself, in a 1985 interview for the Daytona Beach Sunday New Journal as, “An unrepentant realist who tried to paint pictures that would be an enjoyable, thoughtful record of the world around me.” His teaching of art was built on that principle. Never compelled to work in contemporary styles, Emery did admit a debt to some of his favorite 20th Century painters, Hopper, Wyeth, Benton and Homer. For years he taught classes in drawing from life, portrait, and landscape painting at the Daytona Beach Art Center and at other art centers in Florida. He also taught at the Crystal Lake Art Center in Frankfort, Michigan. Emery’s aesthetic principles formed part of the philosophy he brought to community planning as a long time member and chairman of the Daytona Beach Planning Board, which he served from 1953 to 1960, from 1963 to 1977, and as chairman from 1977 to 1980.

Emery was active in the Daytona Beach Little Theater as an actor and scene painter in the 1940’s and 50’s. Don W. worked with his father on a series of six murals for the Florida Bank and Trust Company. These beautiful murals of the Daytona Beach area can be seen today at the Halifax Historical Society. A few days after Don W. passed away, on June 10, 1992, a note in the Sunday News Journal read, “May Don Emery…keep painting our skies blue and our future rainbow happy. And may he organize that ‘Heavenly Playhouse’ for he truly was a star.” *Excerpted from Don W. Emery obituary, The Daytona Beach News Journal, June 11, 1992.

Born: 1925, Daytona Beach.
Died: June 10, 1992, Daytona Beach.
Education: University of Florida, BA, 1951; Art Students League, NYC; with Fletcher Martin; John Taylor.
Membership: Daytona Beach Art League; Florida Federation of Art; Florida Artist Group.
Exhibits: Daytona Beach Art League Annual, 1948, honorable mention, landscape, 1st prize, marine; Daytona Beach Art League, 18th Annual, February 1950, Negro Girl; Murals-Daytona Beach Florida Bank and Trust, 1950; Florida Bank and Trust Company, Daytona Beach, commission for murals, 1951. (See Don W. Emery.) Florida Artist Group, 6th Annual Circuit, Palm Beach Art League, April 1955, House on 2nd Avenue; Art Club of St. Petersburg, October 1955; Daytona Beach Art League, 24th Annual Exhibit of Members’ Work, January-February 1956, landscape, oil, Birches-Ephraim- Wisconsin, oil, Vermont Graveyard, figure composition, King of the Track; Daytona Beach Art League, 27th Annual Members’ Exhibit, January 1959, blue ribbon, portrait, Mr. Joyce, Patty; Daytona Beach Art League, 28th Annual, January 1960; Daytona Beach Museum of Arts and Sciences, one man exhibit, The Traditional Man, April-May 1978, oil, Ponce Inlet Lighthouse, pencil, Young Girl, Prestudy Model, Karen, oil, Fishing Camp-Little Talbot Island, pen, ink, watercolor, Old Boat House, watercolor, Mrs. Reed’s Cottage, oil, Sunday Afternoon-Brunswick-Georgia, oil, Green Key-B.V.I., oil, Dead Tree at Bulow Creek, oil, North Carolina Farm, oil, Dead Man Chest-B.V.I, oil, Walker-In-The-Hill, oil, Downtown Balsam, oil, Alice and Viki, oil, Lady in Red, oil, Flowered Hat, oil, Summer Hat, watercolor, Vermont Barn, watercolor, Fishing Dock-New Smyrna, watercolor, Lighthouse, watercolor, Sneed’s Cabin, watercolor, British Virgin Islands, watercolor, Yacht Basin, pen, ink, watercolor, Garden of Hope, pen, ink, watercolor, Waterfront Pilings, conte crayon, Study of Teresa, conte crayon, Blue Nude, pencil, Danny, pencil, Billy, pencil, Mrs. Oliver, oil, Red Hat, oil, Blue Sweater.

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