DAN BUCHANAN

We at Smoke and Mirrors Publishing and Smokinart.com were saddened to hear about the passing of Dan Buchanan. We first met Dan at the Buckhorn Wildlife Art Festival several years ago and since that time we have become much more involved in the promotion of his many Artistic talents and his career.

Over this time we became devout admirers of his extremely unique sculptures and best of all we became friends. It is sad to lose "In our opinion", a Canadian national treasure, especially one of Dan's calibre and his dedication to being an Artist's Artist.

Smoke and Mirrors Publishing is looking forward to helping Dan's family to not only document but also publish a retrospective of the history of all his creations. Check back in the near future for further details on this endeavour, which we feel he greatly deserves.

Daniel Paul Buchanan, born on October 23rd 1960. A cusp baby who never stopped denying the taint of Libra flowing in his Oh So Scorpio veins. Sigh, Alas, His head was enormous and his poor mother probably never forgave him. She certainly declined to provide him a sister or brother. So, poor little Danny grew up as an only child in Elora. Born to two artists, he learned to see the beauty of nature and try to express it on paper, in sculpture, poetry, a look, a touch. His rare but incredible smile. He spent his youth climbing around the gorge, meditating in nocks and crannies. Picking up rocks, talking to tree spirits, watching. Always watching. He became an excellent observer of life.

Dan was an odd boy from the start. He didn't fit in with other children easily, his over protective family might have contributed to his awkwardness but really I think it was because Dan carried more memory into this incarnation and insight than most of us develop over a hundred years.

Dans mom developed an interest in Show Dogs so Dan became one of the dogs to fit in. Shortly after we were married Dan had a serious bike accident that landed him in hospital with brain injuries. I came in to the emergency room to find him on all fours on the gernie, his butt bare to the wind, his hair wild and road rash covering most of his face, growelling and barking at any who would come near him. I walked up to him and he grabbed and sniffed my arm and started licking me and settled down whimpering in my arms. It took three days for him to regain knowledge of my identity. All this is to say that Dan is a mixture of his up bringing, his spirit, his memories .... something so raw and primitive and animal like and something so refined and God like that he was unlike anyone I had ever met before or think I will meet again.

You all know what a great artist and multy talented fellow he was/is so I choose not to go into that aspect of his life. Suffice it to say, Dan always marched to the beat of his own drum. He was TRUE to his art always often alarming would be patrons by presenting a completely different finished product than had been commissioned and usually only about a year late too.

Dan lived in his studio like old Relic of the Beach Combers and in his head like a King himself would live in his palace. This palace was like a fun house to me. Some of it was genuine and priceless, some of it was invented, some corriders were spartan and other corriders were heeped with luxury. Some rooms related to here and others were collected from outer space and other planes. The trick for me was to know which mirror was giving me a true reflection and which making fun of my shape. Danny made me laugh and cry. Love and hate him. I never felt "nothing" for him.

In the end, I sang him our lullaby and he fell asleep like a child held in love. So old and so young he is.

We entered into the Craft of the Wise together, otherwise known as WICCA. He was my High Priest. We were each others best friends for twelve years in this lifetime. After his death he came to me the night he was creamated. He woke me from a sound sleep at 4 am. His image was brilliant and very REAL! He uttered these words before I woke, "This Is Fantastic".

He never achieved even the slightest bit of recognition in his life time but his works shall live on and he most certainly won't be forgotten by any who had the priviledge to know him.

Dan, You are with us always!

Dan's Bio

I am a mostly self-taught multi-media artist of 27 years professional experience. I specialise in sculpture involving fine woods and stone, as well as fine airbrush painting. I have designed and created the product prototypes for various figurine manufacturers, as well as two ornamental glassware companies once in my area, including their respective advertising and catalogues; my first love in art was in acrylic painting, and applied advertising design & typography.

Using a combination of brush and airbrush techniques in acrylic painting, I have had years of great success in imparting views with a certain sense of depth and validity to an otherwise flat canvas surface, from smaller works to large wall murals, on such subjects as forest and garden scenes, to architectural and formal figure studies, surrealism and fantasy art. My works in this regard are to be found in various local businesses (such as the noteworthy Belwood Schoolhouse Restaurant, Belwood, Ont.), as well as in the homes of many private collectors, and the occasional music album cover.

I have 25 years experience in most every aspect of the fabrication processes involving gold & silver smithy, gem carving and setting, mold making and casting as well as the relative applied industrial design work. I have my own lost wax/vacuum casting process for items in bronzes, silver, and many alloys of gold. I do period classical sculpture in various types of stone, most recently in Brazilian steatite, and fine jade.

I practice detailed high realism in my works, and my subject matter is strongly influenced by the myths and legends of many cultures, notably Asian and early European. I was one of the six founding artists that started the Elora-Salem Fine Arts Guild in 1975, that has now become the Elora-Fergus Arts Guild, with the popular Studio Tour, an annual event showcasing local artisans. My work has been shown at various arts venues in Elora in the 1980s, the Wellington County Museum in 1996, and ongoing at the Buckhorn Wildlife Art Festival from 1997 to the present. I have been involved with museum restorative works as well as for private conservators, and in 1998 was commissioned by H.E. Sir Peter Robson Kt. St. Gm., Ambassador to Canada for the Royal House of Stewart (Scotland), to create in sterling silver the Knights' ducal badge & pendant of the Order.

I grew up in the then arts-rich small town of Elora in the 1960s & 70s, by artist parents, among such contemporaries as Corbett Gray, Ken Danby and Josef Drenters, and at 14 was apprenticed with the silversmith Franklin Xavier Phillips; in all, they each inspired me to seek great heights in my art, if not also the discipline to do it well.

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