Dan Sundell grew up surrounded by artists with mother, father, and all siblings engaging in the visual arts   During Dan's early years in Idaho, weekends were often spent in the outdoors, fostering a life-long appreciation of nature - a continuing theme in his paintings.  

Dan received a scholarship to study art at Boise State University and later transferred into the study of Landscape Architecture at the University of Idaho and the University of Oregon. Though he did continue to study art in college (print making, photography, painting, and drawing) as schedule permitted, fine art took a back seat as he pursued a long career as a landscape architect and land use planner settling in the Buffalo, New York area.
 

While winding down his career in Landscape Architecture, Dan and his wife JoAnne opened Dark Forest Chocolate in the historic Village of Lancaster, New York.  Dark Forest was the first, and now, the only small batch chocolate maker in Western New York and has won numerous awards, both national and international, for their chocolate that is crafted directly from cacao beans in their shop.

In recent years Dan has renewed his interest in the visual arts and has spent the last few years privately working on his painting skills, getting to know the colors, and developing his style.  He has now accumulated a body of work and in 2025, showed at the 100 Craftsman show at the Kenan Center in Lockport, NY, the Roycroft Campus Art and Antique Show, and at the Crafts Alliance Fine Crafts and Art Show at the Chautauqua Institute.

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I am honored to be one of the Juried Artists of The Arts and Craftsmen Guild on the Historic Roycroft Campus in East Aurora, New York.