“Dan is a special designer with inordinate talents, ethics, and wisdom. He has a magical way and is blessed with inordinate abilities to share his thoughts about the ideas and efficacy of what’s possible - a unique form of magic.” - Gene Bressler, FASLA, Professor Emeritus and former Department Head Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning College of Design, NC State University
SELECTED PROJECTS
ACKLAND ART MUSEUM / UNC Chapel Hill: Advised the Ackland’s director and staff on facility programming and design of a multi-phase vision to replace its current building, renew its campus presence, expand curatorial capacity, and create a special destination within the urban fabric of historic Chapel Hill.
GLENWOOD PLACE, RALEIGH: Designed a public-facing park infused with art as a new destination on on the Capital Area Greenway system. Created a 38 series of changing art banners and sculptural seating encircling a central roundabout.
NORTH CAROLINA MUSEUM OF ART (1990-2020): Chief Designer, Director of Planning and Design. My creative work ranged from exhibition design to environmental placemaking to expand a traditional art museum to today’s 164-acre multi-faceted campus through architecture, art in the landscape, and environmental sustainability. It is now a well-established regional / national destination that expresses art into the landscape.
Collaborating with architects, landscape architects, environmental scientists and artists was the hallmark of decades creating the Museum Park at NCMA.
The first site-specific project in the landscape was an amphitheater (1997) - an amalgam of art, architecture, and landscape comprising a series of letter forms spelling PICTURE THIS, with artist Barbara Kruger and architects Smth-Miller+Hawkinson, it hosts a popular summer performance program.
From 2000 - 2010, I worked with architect Thomas Phifer & Partners to design the West Building for NCMA’s permanent collection. Phifer’s concept was to connect the exceptional permanent collection with daylight and landscape in as pure a form as possible. Here’s an excerpt from an exhibition I organized for NCMA in 2020, West Building and the Architecture of Light… Light shifts in these galleries with each passing cloud, change of season, and time of day. Daylight is elemental to the sense of transparency felt throughout its interior, divided by a rhythm of display walls. No gallery has four corners, encouraging connections with art across time and cultures. The building’s five courtyards interject deeply into the galleries, creating a meandering route from Ancient to modern with garden views. Beyond the courtyards, the building sits quietly within a formal landscape that rolls toward the greater informality of the Museum Park.
DOWN HOME AND VIOLINS OF HOPE: These two projects are separate, yet connected through culture. Down Home brought the relatively obscure history of Jewish life in North Carolina to light. I designed a traveling exhibition for artifacts chosen to illuminate this story and form the basis of community conversation. I designed Violins of Hope as a multi-faceted project organized by UNC-Charlotte faculty and renowned Tel Aviv luthier who’s collection of violins were performed on by Jews in Europe’s concentration camps.
MINT MUSEUM OF ART (1984-1990): As Head of Exhibition Design, I initiated the Museum’s first design department, establishing a house style. I designed more than 100 exhibitions at the Mint, including Rameses the Great, which drew more than 600,000 visitors.
SAN DIEGO MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY (1980-1984): My first museum gig, I was hired to build displays, but quickly moved toward design, beginning my 40-year passion for public museums. Working with curators of zoology, botany, entomology, etc… led me to visual communication and education through design.
