Red Danielson: Painting Kurt Vonnegut

I look into your shadows, Kurt. I am blessed by everything I see.

Portrait of Kurt Vonnegut, acrylic, oil and tempera on canvas, Red Danielson (2025)

By Red Danielson

When Paul Engle invited Kurt Vonnegut to teach at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 1965, Kurt was a former car salesman who had no college degree and held no prestige in the publishing world. I suppose he felt a bit out of place.

I was released from the Johnson County jail the evening of my 19th birthday and decided I should be a writer. By 19 I was neither an accomplished criminal nor a law-abiding citizen. Wherever I fell between the two equated to spending time in jail every so often. Upon my release I walked down to the Iowa River to figure out what direction I wanted to take my life. By sunrise I figured the only thing I’d loved in life was writing, and so that’s what I would do.

I walked back to my apartment and researched how to become a professional writer. Though I read constantly, I’d never taken academia seriously. In fact, I failed my senior year English class and hardly graduated…