About

Daven, A US Naval Academy graduate with an MBA from the University of Chicago, a nuclear engineer and submariner with thirty-five years running companies, came late to a full-time art career.  It had been a very occasionally used talent during his naval and business life.  In 2010 it became his passion.  He is self-taught having followed a path of very occasional workshops and much trial and error.  He has painted in all mediums but now works exclusively in oil and watercolor and in a wide range of subject matter. 
​
A long time Chicagoan, Daven moved to St. Louis’ in 2006 and then in 2008 to the city’s historical Lafayette Square neighborhood where he established his studio in the Square’s over 130 year old former blacksmith shop.  Although primarily a studio painter, Daven travels widely, in the US and around the world, capturing subject matter.  Daven is a representational artist and teacher.  He has taught art at the University of Missouri, in workshops around the country and weekly in his studio.  He has exhibited across the US, in China and Taiwan. 

Studio

My studio and gallery are in a 150 year old building in the heart of the Lafayette Square neighborhood and within blocks of nine restaurants.  In its beginning years the first floor of the building, where my studio and gallery reside today, was a blacksmith shop owned by Mr. Albert Hall.  

The horses and carriages would enter the shop through a wide double door fronting 18th street and, after the work was completed, would exit though double doors at the rear.  It was a ‘drive through’ blacksmith shop.

Today it serves as my studio where I paint and teach oil and watercolor watercolor classes.  My classes are limited to a maximum of 8 students so that each will receive the attention he or she deserves and needs.  The space contains everything needed for a fully functioning studio art classroom including a double basin antique sink from the Illinois State capital building in Springfield.

The space also serves as my gallery and where I hold receptions to introduce new work to the public.  I also offer the gallery to not-for-profits and others for fundraisers and receptions.

Preserving Nautical History

The Inland Waterway Project

His largest body of work is his series of sixty-five paintings on our nation’s navigable waters: THE RIVERS: A Celebration of Life and Work on America’s Waterways. 

His ‘Rivers’ paintings carry the viewer to the very banks of America’s greatest waterways and beyond, into shipyards, onto docks, aboard ships, and on our swift broad currents. Daven earned special access by virtue of his status as a US Coast Guard artist, a graduate of the US Naval Academy and, formerly, as the Managing Director of the American Society of Marine Artists.  As such, he was uniquely qualified to reveal the might and majesty of America’s waterways through his art. 

The series was exhibited in seven US Museums over four years and was supported by a 144 page full color exhibition catalog.  The introduction to the catalog was written by the former President of the Port of New Orleans.   
  
Daven and his River series was honored on March 24, 2017 when he received the prestigious Donald T. Wright Award.    The Award is presented biennially by the Herman T. Pott National Inland Waterway Collection of the St. Louis Mercantile Library and Art Museum in recognition of a body of work that contributes significantly to a better understanding of the American inland waterways.  

​The Wright Award was first bestowed in 1975 and is named for Captain Donald T. Wright who served as editor and publisher of the WATERWAYS JOURNAL for 43 years.  Past recipients have included National Book Award Nominee and two Pulitzer Prize winners.