Dan Christ Gallery
Wildlife Artist
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About Dan |
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The art of Dan Christ is an expression of
his love for the outdoors – the natural world. It is a love resulting
from a lifelong pursuit of exploring nature. Raised on a Berks County
dairy farm at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Dan was a hunter,
bird watcher, and nature photographer since a teenager. He was educated
in Forestry at Penn State University. Dan also had a natural artistic
talent for which he received recognition in high school and college, but
which lay dormant while he pursued his forestry career. |
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A nice buck taken
by Dan.
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However, budget cuts eliminated his
position with the United States Forest Service and while unemployed and
searching for the meaning of life, he discovered God. Though raised in a
church-going family, Dan had never committed his life to God until he
became an adult. He recognized that God’s Son Jesus Christ died to pay
the penalty for his sins. By repenting of his sins and believing and
trusting in Jesus as his Savior, he began a personal relationship with
God, received the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, and a guaranteed
residence in heaven. This new relationship changed Dan’s life, and one
result was a rebirth of his artistic talent now expressing the beauty of
creation through a |
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heavenly vision. Even though indoctrinated into
evolutionary theory throughout his educational pursuits, there were always
doubts about it because of its impossibility. There was a lack of any factual
evidence and a twisting of facts with the elimination of all data that didn’t
fit. Consequently, when educated in the creation theory all the facts fit
together and made sense. Understanding and believing in God’s creating
everything to uniquely fit together in perfect harmony gave Dan this heavenly
vision for the beauty of the natural world.
Most of Dan’s paintings are a result of his
hunting and hiking experiences. They often begin with actual settings that
depict perfect habitat for his subjects. The wildlife is blended into the scene
to capture the thrill of a wildlife encounter anyone can appreciate. |
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For some years now Dan has become known
as “the guy who paints on turkey tail feathers.” He began this venture
by painting the obvious, a turkey, on a tail feather. Then deer and bear
were added, and now he paints a variety of almost any kind of wildlife
on a feather. These are all framed according to the size of the feather.
The average framed piece is 6 1/2” by 18”. These are all hand painted
original pieces, framed and selling for $155. On request he frames a
painted feather with a print. Dan's latest venture is painting an entire
fantail with a different animal on each of the 18 feathers.
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Dan’s Train Tracks Series features wildlife
crossing train tracks. It includes Turkey Tracks, Deer Tracks and
Bear Tracks each featuring an authentic Reading Railroad Steamer. The fourth
print in this series was Lion Tracks. Using a different approach Dan
uses a rock ledge view of a Shay engine hauling logs crossing Penn’s
Creek just below Coburn in the 1880’s. Theoretically a Nittany Lion
could have still been prowling the area at that time. Spring Turkey
Tracks is the fifth in this series. By not incorporating a train Dan
has removed the tension caused with the train bearing down on the
wildlife, and thus allowing for a casual crossing of the tracks.
Number six depicts a deer in a colorful fall setting with the Berksey
Train coming round the bend entitled Fall Deer Tracks.
In 2010 the newest train-wildlife print, Winter Turkey Tracks
was released. View this winter gathering of a turkey flock on the
WK&S railroad outside of Kempton. Here they gather under the oak trees
to fill up on the acorns. Among them you'll find the smoke gray, color
aberration turkey being accepted and feeding among the flock.
Giclee prints on canvas are done on an ink-jet printer using six colors,
improving the quality over the traditional lithograph print. The canvas
print is varnished and is framed similar to the original oil painting,
eliminating the need for mat and glass. It is the closest thing to
hanging the original. The paper prints are framed and matted with the
museum quality products that have always been used.
The 2009 Corporate Conservation Award was received by Dan in recognition
of his print donations and support on behalf of the PA Chapter National
Wild Turkey Federation.
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23 Spitzenberg
Lane Kempton, PA 19529 (610)
756-6342 |