“Welcome to the very last exhibition of new works by Don Osborn. I stress the term new, this is the last art exploration by Don. It is not odds and ends swept up from around the edges of a long productive career, this work was undertaken to follow through on what he had always threatened to do, a series of drawings separate and distinct from sculpture.”- Mike Hartung

The Smoky Valley Arts and Folklife Center, 105 N. Main, Lindsborg, is honored to present the Don Osborn’s Drawings (2019-2020) an exhibition of the final works of the artist. Osborn (1943-2020), first and foremost, a sculptor. In this last body of work, he explored drawing using a medium he had seldom used before. 

To flesh out an overview of Osborn’s career there will be some sculpture and paintings documenting the sweep and scope of his long career and provide a preface for the new work.

Osborn was hired as an instructor at Bethany College, Lindsborg, in the fall of 1971. In the nine years at Bethany, he was a vital member of the faculty, even serving as the Department Chair during his tenure. His real strength lay in his empathy for students and many blossomed from his guidance and interest in their work.

In the fall of 1980, he left Bethany for the University of Arkansas for a short stint then move up to New York State University in Plattsburg until his retirement in 2004.

Don Osborn grew up in a rural environment in Oklahoma and that attachment to the land never left him. His first stay in Lindsborg included finding and buying a rural home south of town. After 24 years away he chose to retire back in Lindsborg. He found a nice spot east of Lindsborg with lots of space, a creek and land to walk, and built a home and studio. 

In the past Osborn, had threatened, on more than one occasion, to concentrate on a series of drawings. He always had a good feel for drawing and painting and did many one-offs to complement his sculpture. His favored medium was enamel and spray paint with an automotive pallet. A nod to his early work experience in an auto body shop. 

In the new work, he deals with the softness of pastels, body, and color, that led him up paths not pursued before.