About DENNY

Denny was born in Akron, Ohio in 1953. Always drawing, he would draw along with Jon Gnagy's television show starting in 1958. In 1961 he briefly studied with Helen Van Wyk at Ridgewood Art Center in Ridgewood, New Jersey. His father Bill Doran sold industrial rubber products and the family moved several times during Denny's childhood. In 1965 the family was back in Ohio in Sylvania, bordering Toledo. Denny's mother Rita sought out the noted watecolorist Walter H. Chapman and convinced him to take Denny as a student in what was primarily an adult class. Denny worked in Walter's studio producing drawings and paintings from draped models weekly from 1965 to 1971. Denny proceeded to drop in and out of Notre Dame University for 7 years, finally earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and winning the John Carroll Award in 1977. Denny worked with the painters and printmakers Douglas Kinsey and Donald Vogel at Notre Dame. From 1978 to 1981 Denny participated in the Master's program at the University of Kansas and taught drawing for six semesters, graduating with a Master's degree in Fine Arts in 1981. Denny's Thesis Commitee included the realist artist Thomas Klavercamp, the pop artist Roger Shimamura and commitee chairman the painter Richard Schira. A resident of Texas since 1983, Denny lives and works in Irving, Texas.