Horsham Exhibit to Highlight Illustration Career of Local Artist

By Naila Francis

Over the course of his illustration career, Dan Fione has lent his artistic talents to many fields: He’s done product and medical drawing, worked in advertising and publishing, produced art for manufacturing and design, illustrated textbooks and painted murals.

Now the Harleysville illustrator will showcase some of his best work spanning more than 30 years as a freelance illustrator with a solo exhibit opening Aug. 26 at the Scatter Joy Center for the Arts in Horsham.

“The Art and Illustration of Dan Fione” will feature a selection of paintings and illustrations in color, pen and ink, pen and ink with color washes and mixed media. The show marks Fione’s return to the art center following his participation in last summer’s Military Veterans Exhibit. After serving in the U.S. Army, he got his first job as a staff illustrator for Philco Ford. He has since created artwork for National Geographic, TV Guide Magazine, Goya Foods and Merck, among others.

“I really had zero knowledge of the profession before I went to art school,” says Fione, who majored in illustration at both the York Academy of Arts and Philadelphia College of Art. “But I decided very quickly that being an illustrator means having an excellent ability to draw and render while telling a story with the picture you created.”

He acknowledges that being a freelance illustrator means long hours working under the pressure of tight deadlines. But none of it ever feels like work.

“I like the challenge of drawing and painting and that is exactly what illustration lets me do,” he says. “At least for me, the most satisfaction comes from the eternal frustration of knowing there are always things in a drawing or painting that could have been done better. I know that sounds like an epic conundrum, but it actually is the driving force that makes you a better illustrator today than you were yesterday.”

Commercial illustration still occupies much of his time, but he has increasingly been pursuing projects in a more fine arts vein. Those include several portrait commissions and a 25-foot mural for the Philadelphia chapter of the American Gold Star Mothers (he also painted a mural in conjunction with the Scatter Joy Center at College Settlement Camp in Horsham last summer).

A major goal is to complete three large-scale paintings of the ancient Roman legions. Inspired by the writings of Julius Caesar, they will depict Roman centurions and rivals Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo (made famous in HBO’s “Rome”) saving each other in battle.

“If you read about the life and times of the illustrators who worked during the golden age of illustration, most of them talk about creating easel paintings,” says Fione of his shifting focus. “All illustrators have that desire to create some work that does not fit into the commercial category. I would like to create something that reflects in some small way my life and times.”

Fione's opening night reception runs from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Friday (the exhibit closes on Sept. 21). The Scatter Joy Center for the Arts is located at 305 Horsham Road, Horsham, Pa.

For more on Fione, visit his website or read more of his story on the Scatter Joy Center for the Arts blog: www.danfione.com or www.scatterjoyarts.org/blog/

Image courtesy Dan Fione and Scatter Joy.