BACKSTREET GALLERY

Don Munshower

 

Although born in San Diego I grew up in the State of Washington. After graduation from high school I enlisted in the Marine Corps for a 4-year commitment. Within a year of discharge I enrolled in Fresno City College (FCC) and four years later graduated from Fresno State with a Social Science major and Art minor. I completed an elementary teaching credential and taught 4-8th grades in Helm, California. I completed a Master of Arts in Counseling at California State University, Fresno and worked as a counselor at Fresno City College for 30 years.

 

I have always had a strong interest in art as well as taking on other challenges and a willingness to experiment. An art teacher when I was in high school told me to
“do something different”. That statement has had a significant impact on my work and approach to problem solving and is demonstrated in my mobiles which are all unique.

 

Some additional areas of interest are welding, wood working, gardening, fishing, golf and many other athletic activities.

 

My wife, Carol, and I met in art classes at Fresno State and married in 1968. We have three children, Caron who gave us five grandchildren, Donny, a counselor at Mira Costa College with 2 Yorkies, and Joy, a well-known flamework glass artist in Florence, Oregon who has Noodle, her rescue pup.

 

Carol and I enjoy visiting galleries and studios, we appreciate the quality of the American Craft Council shows and are always enriched by seeing others’ creative efforts. I have been pleased to share my work through various venues. Most recently at the Scarab Creative Arts gallery in Fresno, California in a 2022 show with Carol, a weaver, entitled “Balancing Act”, twice from the rafters of the Siuslaw Public Library summer 2019 and fall 2024, Mixed Messages Art in Sanger, California and Florence Regional Arts Alliance and I have just joined Backstreet Gallery in Florence, Oregon.