Dan's Papers - May 16, 2008 - Honoring the Artist: Douglas Zider

In an age of pervasive technology, cover artist Doug Zider is a purist. Although he's made a career working with such technology as a graphic artist for NBC, he has a penchant for the "good old days" when he learned his craft without computer aid. It was at NBC, Mr. Zider says, that he learned "the real way to do things." Mr. Zider is a purist in other ways; his love of nature is a lifelong passion as is his attempt to capture it in his paintings. Most important, perhaps, is his recognition that life has been good to him and his family and for that he is always grateful.

Q: To extend the idea that you like "the good old days," you have a love of history and particularly old boats. How did your interest in ships come about?

A: Maybe it was when I worked at the Long Island Maritime Museum as a kid. I did all the dirty work, things like sanding.

Q: Speaking of things from the past, you said you also like old movies, like Treasure Island and The Civil War. I grew up around the Civil War battlefields myself.

A: I remember as a Boy Scout going to Gettysburg and sleeping on the battlefield. We tried to find bullets, whatever, but we didn't find any.

Q: Kids don't join the Scouts any more.

A: No, but hopefully our values can trickle down to our kids,

Q: How about digital technology? Do you believe in passing that down to your children even though you are a purist?

A: I digitalize everything I do so I can have a permanent record for my children.

Q: There's the past again, your wanting to save memories. Any other use of digital technology you are interested in?

A: I want to do a table-top book featuring Long Island imagery. I like books, something tangible. I loved going through a pile of old photographs. It was a "gas."

Q: If you weren't doing what you're doing now, what would you want to do?

A: Go sailing from New York to Bermuda, although I can't sail. Maybe be an art teacher when kids are still pure.

Q: Tell us about your art. You have a great ability to describe the senses, both in conversations and in your work.

A: I like to communicate the senses. I like to go walking through Bryant Park in New York and smell the flowers. I like historic storytelling, too. I'm thinking of doing a painting from "Rumrunners of Montauk."

Q: You have a good sense of local color and settings as well.

A: A man who had lived in Amityville during the 1950s and 1960s but is now in Wisconsin e-mailed me. He had seen my images of the area and said it brought back such good memories from his childhood. That meant a lot to me.