Albert Dreher
The
Man, The Artist, The Art
The
Man
Although
it was apparent at a young age that Albert Dreher's talents lay
in the arts,
success and its consequent rewards were not handed
to him -
Dreher pursued his every ambition with a dedication
and drive to be rivaled by the masters.
With
only a dream and support of his high school art teacher,
Dreher
enrolled in the then prestigious Colorado Institute of Art,
Denver,
two days after his 1967 graduation from Meritt Hutton
High School, Thornton, Colorado.
Dreher
recalls, "Mary my wife (now of thirty eight years), worked two jobs
then, and I worked graveyard
shift in a psychiatric hospital
to get me through art school. I was determined to become
the
best graphics designer in the country. But in 1969 - just
after receiving my first associates degree in
advertising
design I was drafted into military service and my career was suddenly
put on hold."
After
training in the United States Army as a military Policeman, Dreher was assigned to the
551st Military Police Company,
Fort
Polk, Louisiana. During part of his two-year duty,
Dreher
was engaged in escorting military prisoners from Long Bihn,
Vietnam, to Leavenworth, Kansas.
"One of the most tormenting
experiences of my life happened in Vietnam. "
Dreher
recounts. "My time in the bush was limited to convoy
escort, but during one of those escorts,
my partner and best
friend was killed by Viet Cong gunfire as he was riding next to
me.
The whole experience led me even deeper into my quest to create
and succeed. "
With
his military obligation behind him, Dreher immediately returned
to Denver with his wife and
new son Eric, to reenter in the Colorado Institute
of Art and resumed his studies in mid- 1972.
Dreher
earned his second associates degree in advertising design in less
than a year.
Following six years of additional study and intense
work experience, Dreher was awarded his
Bachelor of Art Degree
in Visual Communications from the University of Colorado.
In
2000 Dreher was awarded an "Open Studio" grant from
the Tucson Pima Arts Council.
Funded by the Benton Foundation. The 12 month grant was to educate and train professional artists
in
the cyber medium. At the conclusion
of the program,
Dreher had designed and proudly launched his web-page
on the world wide web.
Dreher's work throughout his ten year advertising design career earned
him the acclaim he
was seeking, both locally and nationally, from fellow professionals, as well as various prominent
organizations. Numbered among his many achievement awards are 24 Grand
Alphies
from the Advertising Federation;
4 Gold Medals from the New York Art Directors Club;
Best of Show (Westinghouse Telecommunications) from the Publications
Relations Society of America;
2 Mame Awards (Green Valley
Ranch) from the Colorado Real Estate Brokers Associations;
and
special recognition for an environmental theme from the United
Nations.
In
1991, sponsored by his son, Dreher pledged, was initiated and
became an active brother
of the Delta Chi Fraternity at the University
of Northern Colorado.
In
1995 Dreher's son Eric, graduated from the University of Colorado
at Denver
and was awarded a Bachelors Degree in Criminal Justice.
He applied and was accepted by the United States Customs Service. After another year of training
he became a Special Agent and is currently working as a Senior Special
Agent for (ICE) Immigration,
Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland
Security in Las Cruces, New
Mexico.
In
1998 Eric married Tiffany DeMonbrun from Littleton, Colorado. November of 1999, Makayla Dreher
was born. Dreher
recalls, "I cried when my son told me I was a grandfather."
In 2001, Mackenzy Dreher a second granddaughter was born.
The
Artist
As
a Colorado native, Albert Dreher was exposed early to the timeless
beauty of the area's
indigenous landscapes and natural mysteries
of ancient cultures.
His fascination for sacred power places of
the American Indian grew with his increasing desire
to transform
his career from that of advertising designer to fine artist.
"As
time passed," Dreher cites, "I have a vision and a
growing need to translate that vision
through the contemporary arts. The only way I knew to truly accept
and communicate the integrity
of my ideas was through a new medium."
In
1981, Dreher painted and consigned ten original paintings to the former Scharf
Gallery,
Santa Fe, New Mexico, for his first one-man show. These initial works appeared not only to
symbolize humanity's
emergence from one world to the next, but his own as well, since Dreher
took
with him disciplines and
methods he had acquired
throughout the first half of his creative life.
Dreher
quickly became known as a pioneer in oil wash techniques and artist on the leading edge of
contemporary painting. In
ten short years, Dreher has risen to be one of the 20th
Century's most respected
artistic communicators of the nature and values
of collective consciousness of his time.
Rich
in unity Dreher's works bespeak the Indian's ultimate beliefs
in nature of one reality.
Everything in a Dreher painting
flows; space, color, time, art and reality.
The circular sun/moon
symbol seen in nearly all the Dreher's pieces is a constant
symbol of hope
arising out of despair - the light dawning behind
darkness.
Dreher
believes, "If I can evoke any emotion from the viewer - whether
it's happiness, depression,
nostalgia, or spiritual reflection
- I've succeeded. With such success comes the belief that
each painting carries a little piece of his heart."
Today
Dreher's work days are not long enough to supply the demand for
his unusual oil wash paintings,
which can be seen in galleries
throughout the West. His favorite subjects are the power places
of the prehistoric American Indians (The Anasazi) - especially
the ancient kivas and cliff dwellings
he finds hidden in the sacred
mountains and mesas of the Southwest.
Other
popular subjects highlighted in Dreher's unusual paintings
include the American Indian woman,
traditional adobes and
Midwest farmlands.
Dreher
journeys alone to these power places to sketch and paint..."places
of the soul, "
he says, "that are complete with both
lost realities and the hope of newly emerging ones
-
endless cycles of death and rebirth resounds there, both in
spirit and form."
"Kivas," notes Dreher, "are structures
where sacred rituals
took place. "
"The Ancient Ones enjoyed a rich religious life
and made no distinction between reality and fantasy.
In
fact, underground kivas contained a covered hole in the
floor, opposite the fire,
which symbolically represented the entrance
to the Underworld - the place, they believed,
from which people
had originally climbed onto the surface of our present world."
The
Art
His
sought after paintings have attracted the attention of collectors
throughout the world.
Dreher's works hang in such institutional, corporate and private art collections as The Denver Art Museum,
The Albuquerque Art Museum, United States Air Force Academy Vietnam Veterans Association Denver Chapter,
Mobile Oil
Corporation, General Motors Corporation, Ruger International
Firearms,
Geo Sciences Limited, Wood, Ris & Haymes, P.C.,
Kidneigh & Kaufman, P.C., Prince Zuhair Fayez,
McDonald's
Corporation, Sky Harbor International Airport,
Motorola Corporation,
and the actors Brian Pinchot
and Nick Nolte.
Dreher
can be seen at various times during the year at his one-man
shows
throughout the West and Southwest. His paintings are on
view daily at the following galleries:
Toh-Atin Gallery, Durango, Colorado, Joan Cawley Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona.
Terrie Bennett, Gallery,
Taos, New Mexico, Diamond West Gallery, Pinetop, Arizona,
Studio W Gallery, Ruidoso,
New Mexico and Chrystina's Gallery, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Additionally, Dreher is represented
by the Busch Gallery International in Hersbruck Germany.
Joan
Cawley Ltd., Scottsdale, Arizona, recently published 2
new prints plus carries
additional lithographs and posters. 1.480.947.3548
Boulder
Art Tile manufacturers and sells Dreher's works on ceramic tiles.
Boulder Colorado 1.800.574.1718
Albert Dreher
Tucson, Arizona, USA
Studio: 520.325.7557
Cell: 520.419.0939
al@albertdreher.com