The White Wizard of Todd Mission, Texas makes magic with mud in a converted school bus in this thriving artist’s community northwest of Houston.  Sculptor Don E. White first created his clay characters more than 4 decades ago in Dallas. White studied advertising at Northwood Institute, worked in radio, newspaper, and in ad agencies.  Possessed of an energetic intellect he was a student with many areas of interest but had not yet found artistic passion or creative satisfaction.

While studying archaeology and anthropology courses at Richland College, White discovered the art department, where he began his lifelong obsession with sculpting clay.  The first fantasy figures to emerge from the artist’s fertile imagination were replicas of his college professors.  White named them Rumpelstiltskin friends.

Declining an offer to work on a prestigious archaeological dig, which would ultimately make the cover of National Geographic magazine, White made the decision to be a full time sculptor when he discovered the Texas Renaissance Festival.

The rest as they say is history.  The White Wizard Shop debuted at the 5th season of TRF in the fall of 1979.  The White Wizard and his clay creations were instantly recognizable and quickly became perennial favorites among Renn Faire goers in Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Massachusetts, Florida, and Georgia.

White collaborated with the Armadillo Clay in Austin, Texas to develop a blend of earthenware clay designed to his exact specifications. Texture was crucial to the sculpting process, as was malleability, density and moisture content.  They experimented with a variety of formulas finally settling on the one he uses to this day.

In the late 1980s the White Wizard was approached by developers of the Excalibur Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas and invited to exhibit his work at the state of the art entertainment complex, which was the largest in the world at the time.

During his years in Las Vegas the White Wizard became actively involved in his adopted community.  He gave wizard making workshops throughout the Las Vegas public school system, taught Hand Building with Clay classes for the local ceramic supply store, and instructed kids in workshops for a variety of outreach programs.

The White Wizard’s boundless imagination is tireless and rarely still. As the new century began he initiated a series of collaborations with a group of artists from around the country, among them Rick Dodson of Wimberly, Texas, Mark Jaramillo of Durango, Colorado, and Nicholas Smith of Bowie, Maryland.  Dodson, Jaramillo, Smith and White are more than creative colleagues.  They are longtime friends whose work influences and inspires one another to take their collaborations to new and innovative levels of artistic expression.

At the conclusion of the Texas Renaissance Festival in 2015 the White Wizard made a momentous, potentially life changing decision. He sold the booth where he’d been sculpting and exhibiting his artwork for decades.  It was the end of an era. The White Wizard, at one time a denizen of dozens of renaissance fairs around the country now appears only at Sherwood Forest Faire in Texas.

The White Wizard is setting his sight on distant horizons. While he has no plan to vacate his Todd Mission home and studio, he has decided to travel and bring his art to the world.

“I’ve been making white wizards a long time”, the artist explains, “I’ve honed my artistic abilities and technical skills.  I want to take my work further, to explore new realms of expression, and stretch my creative muscles.  It’s time to move on.  I’ve spoken with people in England.  The British have a fondness for and a cultural appreciation of wizards.  I’m investigating venues in the UK now.  If all goes well, I’ll be exhibiting somewhere over there in the next year.  It’s exciting and I’m looking forward to the adventure.”