Dolan Geiman, Chicago

Born in 1977 in Hermitage, Virginia, Dolan Geiman grew up among the rolling hills and pastoral expanses of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Raised by a motivated farmer-turned-schoolteacher (Dad) and an entrepreneurial artist (Mom), Dolan spent his formative years rummaging through abandoned houses, exploring his native surroundings, and accompanying his parents on their agrarian and artistic endeavors. Through these explorations, Geiman’s fascination with nature, rural America, and the discarded was born.

Graduating in 2001 with a BFA from James Madison University (Harrisonburg, VA), where he specialized in printmaking, sculpture, and biology, Geiman worked as an Interpretive Naturalist for the USDA Forest Service before moving to Chicago in 2002. Soon meeting his present day wife and business partner Ali Marie, the two briefly ran an alternative art space called Hockshop before deciding to exclusively focus on Geiman’s career as a professional artist. Launching a comprehensive website and online store in 2005, the duo have since turned Geiman’s prolific art production into a thriving company.

Today, Dolan and Ali Marie continue to work together from a studio location in the Chicago Sustainable Manufacturing Center, the first sustainably renovated structure in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood. While most days are spent in the studio or on the road with fairs and events, Dolan and Ali Marie take a break from the city whenever possible, pack some sweet tea, and head straight to the nearest river.