INSTRUCTORS

DAVE PERSELL

A baby-boomer, born in the north-central rural community of Trenton, Missouri, Dave Persell was raised on a small family farm that gave him the rich experience of the wonders of nature.  Art and music were important pursuits during his formative years.  His professional career as a minister of music gave him the opportunity to live in various parts of the country.  Even though his art was an avocation, he employed it frequently in his work and his hobbies.  He has produced numerous portraits that are now owned by friends, family and collectors across many states.  It had always been a dream for Dave to spend his retirement years in pursuing his art. 

In 2015 he began taking classes at Arkansas State University as a studio art major with a split focus on painting, sculpture and ceramics.  He completed his bachelor of fine arts in the summer of 2018 with a 4.0 GPA. He and his wife moved to Florida in 2019 to be near their grandsons. Dave is an active member in Santa Rosa Art Association, the Art Study Club as well as other local artists groups. He is always exploring opportunities to express his creativity through new and sometimes unusual media, however his first media of choice is pastels. He has discovered through the use of the right substrate, tools, and the wide variety of pastels, that this media can rival painting in oils.