What is it that makes it so hard sometimes to determine whither we will walk? I believe that there is a subtle magnetism in Nature, which if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright. It is not indifferent to us which way we walk. There is a right way; but we are very liable from heedlessness and stupidity to take the wrong one.

- Henry David Thoreau, “Walking”

Dan Gottsegen has been influenced by a series of writers who trace their lineage to Thoreau, including Wendell Berry, Aldo Leopold and most notably the work of Gary Snyder who has had a profound effect on this artist. Thoreau’s commitment to walking as articulated in the essay “Walking” connects to the artist’s own lifelong practice. An avid hiker and naturalist his paintings weave together images from still photography and video. The images in the larger painting link his experiences exploring the landscapes of Northern California and New England. A Winter Walk slips together views that recall Thoreau’s descriptions of his winter explorations. Gottsegen develops a composition that allows for combining and compressing different moments, in the way that the mind wanders when walking in the woods.

Dan Gottsegen focuses on landscape and nature based on his own experience of diverse landscapes. For instance his expertise handling raptors led to a series of paintings about hawk migration while he was affiliated with the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory in California’s Marin Headlands. Recent solo exhibitions have been presented at The Feick Art Center, Green Mountain College, Poultney, VT; Karpeles Museum, Santa Barbara, CA; Sylvia Perkins Gallery, Striar Jewish Community Center, Stoughton, MA; and the Parker Gallery, Whistler House Museum of Art, Lowell, MA. He was recently commissioned for the South Burlington, VT Art in City Center’s Gateway Public Art Project. He is a recipient of a University Teaching Excellence Award, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA; and a Faculty Development Grant from the California College of Arts and Crafts. Gottsegen earned his BA from Brown University, Providence, RI and his MFA from California College of the Arts, Oakland & San Francisco, CA. For more information: www.dangottsegen.com