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Don Hershman leads a dual life of accomplished podiatric surgeon and fine art painter. As a child, Don Hershman was profoundly influenced by his field trips to the world-class museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He fantasized about becoming an artist, drawing incessantly, creating sketchbooks, and experimenting with color well into high school. When it came time to choose a career, he felt compelled to lock in a secure path that pointed toward medicine.
During medical school and surgical residency, he continued to draw, enabling him to better conceptualize the intricate spatial relationships between anatomical structures. As with a scalpel, he began to perfect his command of the pencil and paintbrush.
Donald went on to receive his BA in premed with psychology from State University of New York at Buffalo and trained in podiatry at California college of Podiatric Medicine in San Francisco before establishing his own private practice there in the early 1980s. As he was building his medical practice, Don was also evolving a body of artwork, exploring various media in the form of drawings and paintings, and finding his voice as an artist.
While hosting a party in 1992, with many of his new artworks hanging in his home, Donald was invited by a guest, a curator at the Spectrum Gallery, to participate in a group show she was organizing. To his surprise, all of his pieces in that show sold, giving Donald the confidence and inspiration he needed to push on more seriously with his art.
Hershman’s work is exhibited in solo and group shows nationally and internationally, and is included in private collections. In 2020, one of Hershman’s pieces was jury selected for a group show at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco. In May 2021, he had a successful show, Under the Influence: Donald and Victor, at Salomon Arts Gallery in New York.
In 2022, Hershman had a solo exhibition in Provincetown, MA during Bear Week and will be exhibiting regularly in SF and nationally. He is currently working on his new Barn series, exploring old structures at 2 times the size he normally paints in.
