By: Jonathan Colson
David Knoecklein is a unique man with an interesting story. He taught art, humanities and communication at Milligan from 1985 to 1991.
He now dedicates his time to painting and this past week displayed his art in the Milligan College Art Gallery in the lower level of Derthick Hall.
“Milligan is very important to me and it is important for me to keep the relationships I have here,” said Kneocklein.
Knoecklein has a very unique style of painting in that he does not conform himself to only one style. When he was a student at Milligan he had mastered Impressionism, Expressionism and several other styles of painting.
A viewer of the show, Res Schauer Augestine, said her favorite is his “Madonnas” while Robert Shields was impressed with his realistic landscapes.
Eric Vines described his landscapes to be so real they are soothing and relaxing to look at.
Knoecklein also said, just like he does not have one style he prefers over the others, there is no one painting he is more proud of than the others.
“Each has a unique truth,” Knoecklein said. “Just because I spend more time with one painting and less on another does not make the truth of the other less important.”
An aspect of Knoecklein’s life inspires this “truth” in each painting he talked about. Whether the paintings are portraits, landscapes, or abstract, each is inspired by his life story.
His daughter who began to have seizures at a young age inspired some of his paintings. The seizures began to occur daily but eventually became as often as every 10 or 15 minutes. He and his wife spent many long nights holding their daughter and comforting her. Thankfully she is alive and well, and this too has been an inspiration for his art.
His paintings were for sale with prices ranging from $50 for the smaller paintings to $2500 for the larger paintings.
Knoecklein has not made plans for another art show at Milligan but says he is open to the idea in the future.
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