Artist Don Sahli reflects on his work, exhibit at Crisp Museum

"They called him the 'Russian Bear,'" Don Sahli recalled of his mentor, the late Sergei Bongart, a Russian painter who grew up in the now-besieged city of Kyiv, Ukraine.

Sahli, whose work is currently on exhibit at Southeast Missouri State University's Crisp Museum on the River Campus, said he was Bongart's last apprentice.

Sahli referred to current events in Ukraine as "a lot of meanness," but said he feels no shame to have been inspired by the traditions of Russian art.

"Ukraine hasn't always been its own country, but the tenacity of its people — their pride — that's where my tutelage comes from."

Sahli described his mentor as a "White Russian," a term denoting Russians who opposed communism and lived between present-day Russia and Poland.

Fleeing the rise of Josef Stalin, Bongart's life in America was sponsored by a Lutheran church in Memphis, Tennessee, not far south of where Sahli now runs a Sikeston, Missouri, art studio.

Sahli described Bongart's influence in almost existential terms.

"It was like a music teacher training you to identify notes of music, or a chef teaching a cook about flavors. Sergei did not teach me how to paint; he taught me how to see color," Sahli explained.

For Sahli, tutelage under "the Russian bear" was a spiritual experience, bordering on divine.

"I'm not a very religious person, but I'm a very faithful person," Sahli said. "Being given the opportunity to meet Sergei Bongart was a rudder on my boat, a tacking of the sail to catch his wind and change my direction. I was young and naive enough to let it happen."

Don Sahli paints in the outdoors of Cairo, Illinois.Courtesy of Don Sahli

It was only three years into Sahli's tutelage when Bongart died, at 66, in 1985. But Sahli never felt Bongart's spirit leave him.

"I'm still telling his stories, so he's still in the room. I still hear his footsteps," Sahli said.

Since his mentor's passing, Sahli has been doing double duty — producing and teaching art. Since 1995, Sahli has given Southeast Missouri State University students a window into the artistic process. By virtue of not holding a college degree, Sahli has never been permitted to hold an official teaching position.

"I do not have a degree. I never graduated from college, so I'm not able to teach in the university system. But, you know, I can do workshops and different things, so my students are usually older people." Sahli explained.

Before he reached college age, at age 15, Sahli was already professionally showing his work.

"I was a strange kid," Sahli reflected. "I'm only 59 now, and I consider myself still quite young. But when you start so early, this is what happens."

Yet, it was precisely his experience as an outsider that made Sahli an asset to his students.

"I try to teach another way to make art, another way to see it. I'm a much better painter because I teach. I learn so much in a room of 10 to 12 people who are making mistakes. These students may not be young kids, but throughout their life someone has told them, 'Oh, you can't be an artist,' or, 'Oh, you won't be any good at that, maybe you should be an engineer,'" Sahli said. "I taught a lady in her 80s a few days ago who hadn't painted since she was 19. Yet there she was, squeezing paint and putting brush to canvas. It's like, 'Well, hell. This has to be exciting.' The energy in the classroom is just wonderful," Sahli said.

Sahli thanked his students for making him a better artist and person.

"I'm a much better painter because I teach. ... I used to be very serious about it but now, in my maturity, it's like, 'Let's just have fun.' There's a lot of fear in painting, so I want my students to just jump in," Sahli said. "People want to paint. I just provide the opportunity."

Don Sahli at his exhibit at Crisp Museum on Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus, beside a piece of his art.Courtesy of Don Sahli

Finding beauty in Southeast Missouri

Sahli recalled two Southeast Missourians, Cleda Curtis of Oran and Lynn Lancaster of Sikeston, who he met at a Nashville, Tennessee, workshop. The three became "wonderful friends" and the pair quickly invited Sahli to visit their home state. It so happened to be spring when Sahli arrived, and he was taken by the region's natural splendor.

"[Southeast Missouri's] nature, its outdoors are extremely important. I am a 'plein air' painter so I paint outdoors. It makes me feel good, and it's a beautiful thing to capture that atmosphere and the season," Sahli said.

Sahli chooses to pronounce Missouri as "miz-ur-ah."

He likes how the unusual pronunciation sounds familiar; an honorific for a place that has become a second home rather than a dot on the map.

Although Sahli is particularly fond of Colorado's majestic winters, he was effusive describing Missouri's spring.

"Colorado has very little spring, it lasts about two days," he said, laughing loudly. "But Missouri has such a wonderful spring. The gardens, the daffodils, the jungles of iris. The peonies and the forsythia — blooming in Missouri while it's freezing cold back in Colorado," Sahli said dreamily.

It was the beauty of spring and the good-natured hospitality of Southeast Missourians that pushed Sahli to claim a Sikeston studio.

Before setting up, Sahli said living in Colorado was prohibitively expensive. His studio was "teeny" and left his large inventory "scattered and hidden."

"I found this place in Sikeston, moved all my inventory there and set up shop. It gave me the space to paint the big paintings for the show that's at the Crisp [Museum]," Sahli said. "It was just one thing that led to another."

Sahli's exhibit at the Crisp Museum in Cape Girardeau, called "An Act of Color," is on display until June 19, with no cost for admission. Sahli expressed eagerness to hear feedback about his work from the local community.

"Some paintings are subtle and poetic, but then others will just slap you in the face — loud as you can get. It was fun to develop some paintings where I asked, 'How big can I make it?' where I went just as far as I could," Sahli said.

In a sense, Sahli sees his art as a tribute to the people who have filled his life with joy.

"I'm very fortunate to have met wonderful people on my journey, people who have allowed me to be happy and be joyful," he said. "I wish I could write, and write very well, because then I could tell the story of all these wonderful people that I've met along my way, people who taught me life can be a whole lot of fun; full of joy, happiness and a lot of color."

The colors of the artist's life have been too numerous and swirling to name. When people ask Sahli which color is his favorite to paint with, he has a ready answer.

"All of them."