The art of Dan Christ is an expression of his love for the outdoors — the natural world. It is a love resulting from a life-long 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.

Dan in action

A nice buck taken by Dan on his property

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 heavenly vision. Even though indoctrinated into the 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.

The wild turkey is one of Dan’s favorite subjects to paint. He won the National Wild Turkey Federation art contest in 1998 with “Commanding Attention”. The painting was printed as the 25th anniversary print. This recognition opened the door for the Pennsylvania State chapter NWTF to commission Dan to do their 25th anniversary print for 2000. This resulted with the print "Morning Glory" and is currently almost sold out.

In 1999 Dan ventured into new territory with his “Tracks of the Past” print. His hometown of Kempton was celebrating its 125th anniversary. Dan painted downtown Kempton the way it looked in 1920 with the steam train and horse drawn wagons. This print was so popular Dan did a follow up historical print entitled Trexler Station. Trexler Station is a small town with historically registered buildings located outside of Kempton.

Dan & daugher Laura
hunted these birds

Dan's Home and Art Gallery

Dan’s latest series features wildlife crossing train tracks. It includes Turkey Tracks, Deer Tracks and Bear Tracks each featuring an authentic Reading Railroad Steamer. Dan's latest addition to this series is 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. Throretically a Nittany Lion could have still been prowling the area at that time.

Dan recently began producing the new giclee prints on canvas. These prints 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 museum quality products that have always been used.

Check Dan’s show schedule to see his display or call and stop by his gallery sometime soon.