UWS Feb 2020 Member Meeting: Gunther Haidenthaller

Günther Haidenthaller emigrated with his family from Austria as a child, and grew up drawing and painting.

He remembers growing up watching his father struggle with watercolor (Dad called it aquarelle), and his fascination with the mysteries, the sometimes-fickle spontaneity, and vibrancy of this “difficult” medium has never left him.

His interest in art continued through junior high and high school, and he majored in illustration and advertising design at Utah State University. After 2 years back home in Austria, he spent the next 27 years in advertising graphic design and art direction, with occasional illustration projects to keep things interesting.

Günther left full time employment in 2015 to pursue his passion for painting. He says, “Being Austrian, I am haunted by the ethereal, dreamlike quality of light in the moisture-laden European atmosphere. I strive to express that longing in every image I create, and hope that the viewer will feel my vision. Art is all about passion, and this is mine.”

His other passions include soccer, ski mountaineering, ice climbing, skydiving, and whitewater kayaking. He has studied with a number of prominent, well-known artists including Randall Sexton, Joshua Clare, Carl Purcell, Kathryn Stats, Stephen Stauffer, Colley Whisson, Lyn Boyer, and Doug Braithwaite. He also counts John Pike, Ian Ramsey, Frank Frazetta, Bernie Fuchs, Bart Forbes, and John Harris as artistic heroes. Gunther has won a number of awards for his art over the last few years. He is currently on the Board of the Utah Watercolor Society, the Intermountain Society of Artists (as Vice President), and a member of the Midway Art Association, Utah Valley Artist Guild, Highland Friends of Art, Oil Painters of America and the American Impressionist Society