Focus on Art
By Irma J. Ashley (for Jackie Hodges)

Don Niederlitz and his wife, Jeanne gave up a summer and winter home permanently or temporarily to move to Mexico where they are happily taking on the challenge of remodelling a home with purple garage doors and naming it Casita De Poco Loco.

Don already has painted a huge mural on a brick wall with features that look suspiciously like his builder. The mural is arresting and blends in with the bricks. What is different about it is that it is winking at you. Even in the throes of doing a complete overhaul; Don and Jeanne have a terrific sense of humor.

Don was registered at Dartmouth to learn to become a cog in the corporate world whenWorld War ll came along. He enlisted in the airforce later, becoming a pilot. While he was waiting for his papers to be processed, he took a couple of courses in drawing to kill the time.

After the war ended , he decided to bag the corporate world in favor of being an artist. With no formal training except for the short courses on industrial design he drew up some sketches and trotted around to the different ad agencies in new York City. No one wanted him because he had no proven track record.. Finally, one ad agency took him on when he said he would work for peanuts if they would just let him get some experience. After two years worth of experience he left the agency and struck out on his own to free lance.

It didn't take long before he was in demand For 35 years he did work from his studio in New York for every top ad agency , drew ads for cream-of-the-crop magazines, department stores such as Bloomingdales, Abraham and Straus, Lord and Taylor and numerous others. Major corporations called on him asking him to design and draw their ads. He had so many offers he could afford to become selective.

When his wife died at the young age of forty, he took on the full responsibility of raising his two girls until he met Jeanne, five years later.. They married and combined families ending up with a bustling household of four girls and a boy; all teen-agers.

Jeanne went from being a teacher to writing plays, producing them and collaborating on musicals for children's theater. Some of them appeared on the stage of the Lincoln Center in New York. Setting up "Acting By Children" as a non-profit organization she next turned to managing children for theater work, movies and T.V.

One of her most notable charges was Jason Alexander, who most of us remember as the manipulating member of the popular T.V. series, "Seinfeld."

As more and more ads were done with photography, Don decided to retire. That didn't last long. Soon, he became fascinated with the thought of restoring run-down buildings from various historical eras. During this phase, he bought seven of them in the New York area and restored them to their original beauty.

With the children grown, Don and Jeanne traveled extensively and he drew wherever they went. They spent months in Africa and Don drew the animals. He drew churches everywhere they traveled. He felt the church represented the heart of the city or village they were exploring.

Don does not confine himself to one style of painting. He uses every medium and every painting is an adventure. He loves to do portraits of the people of Mexico. In his opinion there are more artisans in Mexico than anywhere in the world.

At their winter place on St. Simons Island, Georgia, Don has a gallery where his paintings and drawings are displayed. Even with no advertising they sell quite well. In the summer they migrate to their home in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. In the middle of one of these forays, Jeanne came across the Lakeside region on the Internet.

Being such an adventurous pair they came to Lakeside in April, looked around and liked what they saw.and bought a house. When the interview took place in August, they had been in residence six weeks.

The house and grounds needed a lot of work, but that was right up their alley. The plans call for a second story on the casita, .which will be Don's studio, a swimming pool in the process of completion, a fountain, and extensive work in the main house. It will be a showplace when the work is finished.

In the middle of stacks of bricks, and bags of cement sits a coffee table and it is covered with drawings. Niederlitz would like to ship forty or so of his paintings to Lakeside providing there is not too much red tape to wade through.

Don and Jeanne are a welcome addition to the community. Jeanne says it was meant to be since the home they bought and are renovating is on the 16th of Septembre, which happens to be her birthday. . .