David Behlke Hometown: Faribault, MN Current Home: Ewa Beach, Hawaii Major: Art Additional Education: MFA, Bowling Green University, Bowling Green, Ohio Email: drbehlke@gmail.com I am an artist, the Director of the Koa Fine Art Gallery, and a professor of Art and Humanities at Kapi‘olani Community College on the back slopes of Diamond Head overlooking Waikiki. I have been the Koa Art Director for over twenty years and am also a private art curator/exhibit designer. As an artist, I work in traditional stained glass, watercolor and mixed media. I was recently awarded a private commission by Arcadia Health, Inc. to design and manufacture a large stained glass mural for the new 15 Craigside Senior Living Condominium in Nu‘uanu Valley on Oahu. The glass mural is 58' wide and 8' in height and depicts the Hawaiian Creation motif. I have my MFA from Bowling Green University in Ohio, and graduate art history credits from Rutgers University in New Jersey. Additionally, I studied at the Stained Glass School of America, as well as advanced drawing and color theory classes at Banff Center for Visual and Performing Art. I am represented in the State of Hawaii permanent collection and have work in private and corporate collections in Hawaii and throughout the Mainland. My stained glass work can be seen in San Diego, the greater Los Angeles area, Arizona and Hawaii. I have been in higher education the majority of my professional life, while maintaining my love for professional art-making and incorporating my own iconographic visual vocabulary in my work. I have taught in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, the Plains of North Dakota (Valley City State), National University in California, and Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. I moved to Hawaii in the early 90s with my wife, Joan. I run Kapiolani Community College Art gallery. I also teach a variety of classes on the back slopes of Diamond Head Crater including watercolor, water-based media and gallery design. I have been active curating fine art shows featuring contemporary artists of Hawaii in select corporate buildings in downtown Honolulu. I consider the education I received at Concordia College to be pivotal to my understanding of designing large scale work. Working with Cy Running on the Christmas murals had always been a highlight in my ability to work large scale art projects. The art education we art majors received while in the tutelage of Professors Running, Galsrud, Strand and Bowman set the bar as we developed our own set of skills. Rule one, never denigrate young artists, and it helps if you can be genuinely enthusiastic while giving critiques. These mentors allowed me to make my fair share of mistakes while learning the ropes.
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