D. L. Houseman was born and raised in Southern Minnesota in the town of Mantorville.   Mantorville is the county seat of Dodge County and is situated on the south branch of the Zumbro River.    Don attributes much of his interests in art, architecture and history to this small former stagecoach town.   “As a young boy, it was full of exciting places to explore”. Mantorville has many limestone stores and buildings, railroad beds and quarries,  a river and an abandoned brewery all of which created opportunities for adventure for a young mind.  In 2006, after teaching for 34 years at Blackduck High School, Don retired.  He has now turned his attention to full time artwork.

Don is a 1972 graduate of Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota,    “I was extremely fortunate to have great instructors at Concordia, such as Cyrus Running, Dean Bowman, Orlande Rourke and Elizabeth Strand”.  Over the past two years, Don has had two one-man shows, one at the Tin Pan Gallery in Blackduck the other at Dunn Bros. Coffee in Bemidji.  Both shows displayed his talent in wood cut printing.  “I really enjoy the process of cutting, printing and the overall reduction of the block”.  Don’s woodcuts include color as well as standard black and white studies.  “The contrasts of the white against black and the converse  intrigue me”.

Recently the artist has begun working on a series of acrylic paintings entitled “Barns Are Noble”.   This series explores the artist’s fascination with the landscapes,  the architecture and stories surrounding these marvelous buildings. “I just can’t seem to exhaust the infinite surfaces, textures and atmospheres that I discover with each barn I paint.  I guess it must be a latent rural desire to record my past”, states the artist.  In July. the MacRostie Art Gallery in Grand Rapids has scheduled the artist for a showing of his barn paintings.  Don lives with wife Janet, and their black lab Daisy, on Gull Lake just west of Tenstrike, Minnesota.