Artist, and Suffolk University Professor
[Text Contributed by the Artist, September 2006]

Dan Sankowsky’s paintings displayed on the fourth floor are a representative sample of about 2000 works produced by the artist between 1970 and 2006.  Unconventional media highlight this portfolio, beginning with permanent marker on 4” x 6” memo paper and culminating in computer program interactions.  Technology plays a role throughout: the earlier pieces are photographically enlarged while the latter ones are generated entirely by software.  Specifically, Dan uses two programs in tandem, always concluding with Microsoft Photo Editor.  He seeks to express interactions between people-like forms, relying on various color blending techniques in the process.  Some of his works seem fairly abstract, but there generally are “little creatures” somewhere in them.

Dan Sankowsky’s connection to Suffolk is long-standing and well established prior to this donation of paintings.  Recently retired, he is a professor emeritus of management, a department he chaired for 10 years (1990 – 2000) out of the 26 he taught in the Sawyer School at Suffolk University.  Although an accomplished researcher, he is best known for demystifying and taking the fear out of quantitative methods courses, on both undergraduate and graduate levels.  He won the Deans’ Service Award and the Teaching Award twice.

Dan received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and his doctorate in mathematics from the University of California.  In addition, he learned the art of counseling at a psychiatric clinic in Los Angeles.  His various interests are chronicled on his website, www.sankowsky.com, where a fuller range of his artwork is available, along with essays and articles on counseling, art, leadership, and education.

Art Work by Dan Sankowsky in the Sawyer Library

The worm (1974)
Permanent markers on paper
HISTORY: An early experiment in layering of color and superimposing a new painting over a blotter to get the mottled effect with the pastels.

Repeated magenta figures (1970)
Permanent markers on paper with photographic copies
HISTORY: When I would go into a department store and see many TVs all tuned to the same station, I liked the effect and tried to duplicate it here.

Planet 17 (1971)
Permanent markers on paper photographically enlarged
HISTORY: Focusing just on some circles arbitrarily placed to begin with, I made one larger than the rest; and the others fell into place as background.

Magenta Interior (1970)
Permanent markers on paper photographically enlarged
HISTORY: I was experimenting with different color combinations and with negative space when this came together as a composition.

The Dancers (1978)
Permanent markers on paper
HISTORY: I rarely started a painting with definite forms in mind, but this one just came to me as a whole.

Chaos IV (2006) (above)
Microsoft paint and photo editor programs with photocopy enlargement
HISTORY: I used a simple picture from the Paint program as input and then applied various effects from Microsoft Photo Editor.

Zanzibar (2006)
Marker on 3 x 5 card scanned to computer; Microsoft photo editor effects with photocopy enlargement

Times Two (2006) (above)
Marker on 3 x 5 card, scanned to computer; Microsoft photo editor effects followed by photocopy enlargement
HISTORY: The original on the 3 x 5 just had two red lumps on the bottom of the page and some purples and reds around it. After scanning, I used the negative effect and smudging to get the green background.

Good Cholesterol (2006)
Microsoft paint and photo editor programs with photocopy enlargement
HISTORY: The Paint program input had a lot of arbitrary stick figure brushstrokes which I blended in with the rest of the painting, using Photo Editor.