"My paintings reflect respect for and attachment to Michigan's waterways and landscapes. Its islands and bays are paradises. Capturing out-of-the-way areas in watercolor is a small way of distributing beauty to other people with the hope of renewing interest in Great Lakes clean water."
At fourteen, Douglas Chambers crewed a 36 foot yawl for Lyle Slaybaugh, out of Saugatuck, Michigan. It was there that he learned to appreciate the art of sailing and all that it encompasses, especially the beauty and the power of the Great Lakes. After two years of military service as a military policeman, Vietnam era, he enrolled in art school at Kendall College of Art and Design where he earned a B.F.A. in illustration. He worked as a cartoonist and illustrator for several northern Michigan newspapers and was the illustrator of Great Lakes Ships for a Saturday historical magazine, "The Broadside". He subsequently earned a B.S. in teaching and an M.A. in reading. He taught for more than twenty years in the Benton Harbor Area Schools where he was awarded, Teacher of the Year in 1994. After moving to the Gifted and Talented program in Fairplain he taught both guitar and painting to gifted students in the sixth grade.
His paintings won the Best of Show Award from the Beaver Island Watercolor Society in 2000, 2001 and 2007. He has displayed his work at several juried shows in Michigan and has had three one-man shows. Douglas has had numerous paintings selected by the Kalamazoo Institue of Art for showing in the Corportate Arts Program. In 2009 he received honorable mention in Escanaba at the show "Northern Lights". In 2010 he did a 54 piece show at the Alberta House in Sault Sainte Marie where his show titled "Blue Ice and Fire" was held. His current show along with five other artists is at the Cancer Center in Kalamazoo until December 2011.
http://www.douglaschambers.org