Donald R Ricker was born 6/5/53 to Edmund & Doris Ricker in Trenton, NJ.   After the death of his mother in 1955 his father remarried (to Marjorie Wheeler Stevens)   and Don was raised  in a family of seven in Harrisburg, PA.  "I have been blessed with the urge to create, to evoke thought and to share knowledge. It's a human thing. ‘To live was more than just to survive...’"

A fter four years working in New England for commercial clients, Ricker worked his way across country to Alaska by painting signs. Since arriving in Anchorage in 1978, he has continued to serve a broad base of commercial clients with graphics and signs.

D uring the nineties, Don returned to painting and sculpture as a release from the demands and repetitive nature of commercial work. His paintings were large in the living room, but modest compared to signs. His subjects generally include nudes as participants. Luxuriously saturated with color and unconflicted by any disdain for the pictorial, each painting is the result of many hours of research, studies, and paint handling. The effort is to fill his paintings with a visual power that can compete successfully for attention with video.

I n May 1997, Don suffered an ischemic stroke and partial brain damage from which he has since mostly recovered. "Death Loses Concentration," a drawing made at that time, traveled with the VSAW No Boundaries VII exhibit.

I n December 1999, Don was a participant in the second Biennale Internazionale dell’Arte Contemporanea in Florence, Italy. He was awarded a 5° Premio Lorenzo il Magnifico in Painting for the painting "Portrait Battle". This wonderful convocation of 500 artists from more than 30 countries was exhiliarating and inspirational. It was an honor to be recognised among this group by a six member jury representing five nationalities.

S ince that time, he has exhibited at the Orensanz Foundation in NYC, via the internet at the Whitney Biennial 2000, and other local and regional venues.