Dan Gottlieb (b. New York City, 1953) studied art and biology (SUNY Buffalo, a Regents Scholar) before relocating to California where he lived for ten years as a student (SDSU, art and environmental design), cabinetmaker, and artist. It was there that Dan began experiments with alternative photographic processes and a 40-year career in museum design (at the San Diego Museum of Natural History).

Dan moved to North Carolina in 1984 to direct exhibition design at the Mint Museum in Charlotte (1984-1990) before appointment as director of planning and design for the North Carolina Museum of Art (1990-2020) where he oversaw the Museum’s architectural and environmental transformation for which he was honored with numerous state and national awards for design and environmental accomplishments.

Throughout his museum career, Dan maintained an active studio practice, developing a unique method of printing with a process of his own design, combining archivally printed photographs with multiple layers of paint and laborious finishing.