About > Bio

	Bread and Wine, Oil on Panel, 1992

Daan Hoekstra  is an American artist living in Sonora, Mexico. A classically trained painter of landscapes, still lifes and figurative work, he has exhibited widely in the United States and Mexico. Also known as a muralist, he has been commissioned to work in commercial, residential and religious settings.

Hoekstra began doing art at a young age, encouraged by an aunt who was a professional artist. He studied printmaking and liberal arts at the University of Dallas, and especially appreciated the art history courses given by Lyle Novinski and Christian Norberg-Schulz. Hoekstra visited the Uffizi, Vatican, Prado and Louvre museums during a University of Dallas Rome semester program.

Hoekstra received his artistic education in the traditional atelier system of training under artist Richard Lack. This makes him part of a master-pupil lineage that can be traced back to 19th century masters such as Jacques Louis David.

During his years at Atelier Lack, Hoekstra also worked as a buon fresco assistant for his Atelier Lack colleague Mark Balma, a student of Pietro Annigoni as well. Daan assisted Balma on all phases of the fresco project at St. Mary's College, from slaking lime and grinding pigments to actual plastering and painting.

Hoekstra was the founding editor of a journal for practicing traditional painters, Classical Realism Quarterly, serving from 1984-1987. Now he serves as a regional editor for Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine, covering art news in northern Mexico.

He began his own mural company in 1992, and has been painting murals professionally ever since.

Hoekstra is founder and director of Atelier Sonorense, a studio-school of fine art.

Solo Exhibitions:

• 2005  Inaugural Exhibition for the Festival Cultural General Alvaro Obregón. Museo Alvaro Obregón with the Instituto de Seguro Social, Huatabampo, Sonora, Mexico.
• 2004  Daan Hoekstra: Selections from 25 Years of Art. Tecnological Institute of Sonora (ITSON), Navojoa and Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico.
• 2004  Love in the Time of Globalization: 25 Valentines and selections from 25 years of artwork by Daan Hoekstra. Museo Costumbrista de Sonora, Alamos, Sonora, Mexico. 
• 2003  16 Landscapes.Terracota, Alamos, Sonora, Mexico.
• 1999  The Civic. Cleveland Heights, OH.

Recent Group Exhibitions:

• 2006 Recorriendo la Piel de Norte al Sur, Casa de Cultura, Irapuato, Gto., Mexico, Salamanca, Gto., and Morelia, Michoacan.
• 2006 Festival de la Calaca, Dia de Los Muertos, Alamos, Sonora.
• 2006 10th Encuentro de Plastica del Mayo, Museo Costumbrista, Alamos andf ITSON, Navojoa.
• 2006   Atenea Gallery, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato.
• 2005   Atenea Gallery, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato.
• 2005   Terracota, Alamos, Sonora.
• 2005   Daan Hoekstra and Students. La Tienda, Alamos.
• 2004   Atenea Gallery, San Miguel de Allende.
• 2004   Montana Trails Gallery, Bozeman, MT.
• 2004   Terracota, Alamos
• 2004   Artwalk. Dr. Alfonso Ortiz Tirado Cultural Festival, Alamos, Sonora.
• 2004   6th and 7th Encuentro de Plastica del Mayo. Museo Costumbrista, Alamos and ITSON, Navojoa.
• 2003   4th and 5th Encuentro de Plastica del Mayo. Museo Costumbrista, Alamos and ITSON, Navojoa.
• 2003   Montana Trails Gallery, Bozeman, MT.
• 2003   Artwalk. Dr. Alfonso Ortiz Tirado Cultural Festival, Alamos.
• 2003   Libros y Mas, Ciudad Obregón, Sonora.
• 2003   Dia Internacional de Museos, Museo Costumbrista, Alamos.
• 2003   Viernes de Dolores. Museo Costumbrista, Alamos.
• 2003   Mujer...Inspiración y la Vida, Museo Alvaro Obregón, Huatabampo, Sonora.
• 2003   Global Arts Gallery, Patagonia, Arizona.
• 2002   Terracota, Alamos, Sonora.
• 2002   Artwalk. Dr. Alfonso Ortiz Tirado Cultural Festival, Alamos.
• 2002   La Puerta Roja, Alamos.
• 2001   Greenville Museum of Art, Greenville, NC. Still Life Exhibition.
  

   

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