PSWC Magazine Summer 2023

Dug Waggoner Looks Back on a Career as a Working Artist

by Dug Waggoner

This is a flashback and forth to my very early, innocent attempts, along with some images from my professional career and a few of my latest fine art pastel paintings.

From the beginning I always knew there was something to this ability to put down on paper a thought of an image using whatever medium was available, pencil, crayons, watercolor or clay. Thinking back to the realization of my artistic skills there was no one in my immediate family who had any artistic ability or demonstrated any talent for drawing. Or so I thought.

A few years ago, a question came up regarding my early interest as an artist that led to a professional career as a graphic designer, art director and an illustrator. I set out to design a self-published book just for my family members and a few friends. It showed the evolution of my artistic journey. In doing some research, we came across some notes my mother made describing her family’s depression era road trip as they left Missouri when she was just sixteen. Her skill in rendering leaves and flowers and the descriptions of flora found along the way was to me a revelation. Mom never had the opportunity to display her skills while managing a rural household and raising two children. Somehow that artistic ability found its way into the genetic thread we see in my work today, albeit 85 years later.

If there was any art training at all it started with my high school art teacher, Dean Gibson. When I met Sonja and our ultimate marriage in 1958, we decided that if I was serious about an art career it was time to make the leap and go for it. We moved to the Bay Area and worked hard for 3 years which rendered a B.F.A .degree in Advertising Design from the art school, California College of the Arts in Oakland, California. After 35 years in the advertising center of San Francisco and the East Bay I made the change to creating fine art, not to retire but to continue learning more and becoming a better artist. The work continues and the hours and the commute are more conducive to my time at the easel.

This smattering of images included here have collected the dust from the last century, graced the pages and promotions of many advertising campaigns, and finally found award-winning spaces on gallery walls. A journey that over time has been punctuated with frustration, left over oven roasted Spam and the satisfaction of fulfilling an artistic passion and newfound recognition. Thank you, Mom!

Art Life: Flashback!

In the spirit of seeking “benefits of membership” Bonnie Griffith, Secretary of the PSWC, proposed launching a live interview series with distinguished artists, gallerists and others in the art world who would share informative and helpful information to the PSWC membership. The PSWC board embraced the idea, and the first “test” interview was done in 2022 with Dug Waggoner. This was then repeated in January of this year for the membership as the inaugural launch of the program.

The interviews run about an hour via Zoom, are recorded for members who can’t attend the live presentation, and are scheduled at least on a quarterly basis. The schedule of We Talk Art is posted on your PSWC website calendar as well as the We Talk Art page under the Programs tab. The Zoom link to each interview is sent to all members via email, and is posted on the PSWC Facebook page. The link to the recording is shared in the same way. Scott Christensen, Natasha Isenhour and Clark Mitchell are just a few of the artists who will join us for these informative chats about all things art. The goal is to also interview artist/educators who will be offering workshops so membership can be introduced to them and hopefully generate interest to then enroll in that person’s workshop.

The PSWC board encourages members to watch and learn from these interviews. Interaction and questions for the guest are created in the “chat” during the interview. All questions posted are answered as time permits!

Please join Bonnie and her guests on We Talk Art. These interviews are generally held at noon Pacific Time Zone, on Sundays, quarterly. The next interview is scheduled with award winning artist Clark Mitchell in early October. Watch for announcements and details to log into these chats in your email and on the Facebook members page.