Todd Doney

The creative process has always fascinated Todd Doney, Associate Professor, Visual Arts, at County College of Morris (CCM).

“You start out with a blank canvas. When you’re done putting this bunch of goo on there – that’s what paint is – the shapes and colors come together to form something beautiful.”

Doney began his education at a community college and went on to attend the prestigious American Academy of Art in Chicago. Shortly after graduation, he obtained his first commission – a football illustration for Playboy magazine. During the next 25 years, he created artwork for book covers, sports teams and advertising agencies.

Switching from illustration to gallery work, Doney’s resume includes one person shows at the Morris Museum in Morristown, NJ., Broadfoot & Broadfoot, Soho, NY, Gallery MacEgan, Morristown, NJ, the College of Saint Elizabeth, Morristown, NJ, New Jersey City University, and at the Brickton Art Gallery, Park Ridge, Illinois. His paintings have also been exhibited at the Paterson Museum in Paterson, NJ, The Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, and Paderewski Fine Art in Colorado.

He has long wanted to teach art full-time. In 2011, he achieved that ambition when he joined CCM as a full-time professor teaching drawing, painting, and portfolio and presentation classes.

“It’s rewarding when somebody learns from you,” he says, “and students provide you with fresh artistic perspectives as well.”

He has encouraged his own children to paint having learned early on that some artistic boundaries need to be established.

“My son was goofing around with my paints and I was not in the room. I came in a little while later and found that he was adding his artistic touch to one of my paintings,” he recalls.

Apparently, the goo-that-is-paint had also drawn his son’s fascination. Doney gave the painting to his mother.

“Mom liked it all the more because her grandson had added his mark to it.”

Such is art.