About

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.

CV

EXHIBITIONS

2024
  • Gallery Sausalito, group show, Sausalito, CA
  • Sausalito Center for the Arts, “Pride, Not Prejudice” group show, Sausalito, CA
  • 2358 MRKT, “KINDRED”, group show, San Francisco, CA
  • Radian Gallery, “I AM A BARN”, solo show, San Francisco, CA
  • 1890 Bryant Open Studios, San Francisco, CA
  • The Passdoor, Sonoma, CA
  • LA Art Show, Los Angeles, CA
2023
  • The Passdoor, Sonoma, CA
  • Red Dot Miami, Miami, FL
  • CONTEXT Art Miami, Miami, FL
  • Salomon Arts Gallery, “The Art of Code Switching”, solo show, New York, NY
  • ArtSpan’s 2023 SF Open Studios Exhibition, San Francisco, CA
  • Art for AIDS Auction 2023, San Francisco, CA
  • MvVO Art/Ad Art Show 2023, Brooklyn, NY
  • 2358MRKT Gallery, “Visible”, group show, San Francisco, CA
  • Helvella Art, “Pride Is Not A Crime”, group show, Oakland, CA
  • Radian Gallery, “Moda Botanica”, group show, San Francisco, CA
  • 1890 Bryant Open Studios, San Francisco, CA
  • ArtSpan Juried Benefit Art Show & Auction, San Francisco, CA
  • Studio 401 Gallerie, ‘Is, Was, and Always Will Be’, San Francisco, CA
2022
  • Miami Art Week, Red Dot Art Fair, Miami, FL
  • Haegeumgang Theme Museum, “We Are One: equilibrium”, group show, Geoje, South Korea
  • Arc Gallery, “Voyage”, group show, San Francisco, CA
  • Art Love Gallery, “Sexuality and Shadows”, solo show, Provincetown, MA
  • MvVO ART/AD ART SHOW 2022, group show, New York, NY
  • Art Works Downtown’s Gallery 1337, “Contemporary Botanicals”, group show, San Rafael, CA
  • 1890 Bryant Open Studios, San Francisco, CA
  • Art Love Gallery, group show, Plano, TX
  • Palm Springs Modern Design Expo, “Modernism Show + Sale Week” group show, Palm Springs, CA
2021
  • Salomon Arts Gallery, “Under The Influence- Donald and Victor” solo show, New York, NY
  • Radian Gallery, “Botanicals”, group show, San Francisco, CA 1890 Bryant Open Studios, San Francisco, CA
2020
  • de Young Muesum, “de Young Open” group show, San Francisco, CA
  • 1890 Bryant Open Studios, San Francisco, CA
  • Salomon Arts Gallery, group show, New York, NY
2013
    Lifvendahl Gallery, solo show, Guernville, CA
2008
    SF Public Library, group show, San Francisco, CA
2005
    Galleria Diners, group show, Bogata, Colombia
2003
    Grers Tousandart Gallery, group show, San Francisco, CA
2001
    Bradford-Campbel Gallery, group show, San Francisco, CA
2000
    Spectrum Gallery, group show, San Francisco, CA

EDUCATION

  • 1972 – 1976 SUNY Buffalo – BA Pre-med bioscience/Psychology Cum Laude
  • 1976 – 1980 California College of Podiatric Medicine / UCSF – Doctor of Podiatric Medicine D.P.M.
  • 1980 – 1983 Surgical residency Foot and Ankle- Westchester General Hospital
  • 1992 – Current Board certification – Fellow, American Board of Podiatric Surgery
  • 1992 – Current Board certification – Fellow, American College of Foot and Ankle Surgery