Driesbach set off to the University of Illinois in 1940, but his schooling was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II. He would go on to enlist in the Marine Corps First Division, and was sent to the South Pacific, where he served from 1942-1945. Due to his keen sense of direction and artistic abilities, he was tapped as a scout, who would seek out enemy encampments, and return to headquarters to draw the war map for the officers in charge. He returned to the United States on Thanksgiving Day, 1945, having lost one brother in the Navy. He recalled every soldier on board ship weeping when they crossed under the Golden Gate Bridge, seeing their home country again at long last.
Shortly after the war, David and Doris "Maggie" were married on December 21, 1946, and five children followed soon after. He continued his education under the G.I. Bill, studying with Mauricio Lasansky and Stanley William Hayter at Atelier 17 in New York and in France in 1969. Driesbach attended Beloit College from 1946 to 1947, the University of Wisconsin summer term of 1946, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts from 1947 to 1948, and the University of Iowa between the years 1948 and 1951, receiving his BFA and MFA. He went on to teach as an art professor at several colleges and universities, before ending his illustrious career at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois.
David Driesbach was an extremely prolific artist, creating hundreds, if not thousands of artworks throughout his life. Up to the end of his life, he enjoyed drawing and painting at Wynscape. He was an innovator in the development of new printmaking techniques, and was featured in multiple national and international exhibitions. In his later years, he traveled the country giving workshops at colleges on color viscosity printmaking, a technique he learned while on sabbatical in Paris.
Driesbach received the Printmaker Emeritus Award from the Southern Graphic Council International in 2012.. He attended the University of Illinois between 1940 and 1941. During World War II, he worked in war plants in Illinois and California until June 1942, when he enlisted in the U.S. Marines. He served in the South Pacific Theater for three years when he was discharged in 1945. He continued his education under the G.I. Bill, studying with Mauricio Lasansky and Stanley William Hayter at Atelier 17 in New York and in France in 1969. Driesbach attended Beloit College from 1946 to 1947, the University of Wisconsin summer term of 1946, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts from 1947 to 1948, and the University of Iowa between the years 1948 and 1951, receiving his BFA and MFA.
Driesbach’s teaching experience includes Hendrix College, Conway, Arkansas; Iowa State Teachers College, Cedar Falls, Iowa 1953-1954; Millikin University, Decatur, Illinois 1954-1959; Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 1959-1964; and fianlly at Northern Illinois University Dekalb. Driesbach retired from teaching in 1992. His work is represented in the collections of he Seattle Art Museum, Dayton Art Institute, Columbus Gallery of Fine Art and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
David Driesbach died on November 17, 2019 in Wheaton, Illinois at the age of 97.
The Annex Galleries. 2019, https://www.annexgalleries.com/artists/biography/616/Driesbach/David. Accessed 8 Aug. 2023.
