Don Novak studied studio art and art history at various schools in Toronto: Central Technical School and the Ontario College of Art among others. He was mentored by artists such as David John Shaw, Maxine Shacker and Doug Purdon.
It is physically, emotionally and technically demanding for Don to produce a work of art that is authentic and compelling, and that also takes the viewer by surprise. The challenge begins with the confrontation of the monolith of the blank white canvas. Beyond the physical and creative effort of painting is the great pleasure and immense personal fulfillment upon completion.
Don sees the world in all its raw beauty, and his creative genius demands a response. The paint starts to flow, sometimes with an image in mind and at the other times with an expression of mindful wanderings in colour and shape.
“After sleeping through a hundred million centuries we have finally opened our eyes on a sumptuous planet, sparkling with colour, bountiful with life. Within decades we must close our eyes again. Isn’t it a noble, an enlightened way of spending our brief time in the sun, to work at understanding the universe and how we have come to wake up in it? This is how I answer when I am asked why I bother to get up in the mornings.”
