Don King, a native of the Southwest who now makes his home in North Carolina, has been a student of the lettering arts for more than two decades. Since enrolling in his first beginning level workshop he has studied with some of the world's most respected calligraphers. He has also maintained an active membership in, and is a past-President of, both the Carolina Lettering Arts Society and the Triangle Calligraphers' Guild. Additionally, Don is an active member of the Association for the Calligraphic Arts, an international organization of artists in calligraphy-related disciplines.

Though Don began as many calligraphers do, by offering services such as certificate and envelope enscription, he presently focuses on the creation of commissioned pieces for an extensive list of individual and corporate clients. His one-of-a-kind works can be found throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan and South Africa.

"The art of calligraphy is unique in that it expresses emotion in different contexts simultaneously. There's the verbal aspect, as words and phrases are spelled out in appropriately-formed letters, and there's the visual aspect, as the impact of composition, color and artistic expression magnify the text into a unified whole. Together these stir the soul of the viewer." -Don King

There is a tangible difference between calligraphy and calligraphic art, and it's all in the approach. The calligrapher is, in some key ways, an engineer; someone working within a prescribed formula, carefully planning everything that will be done before the first pen or brush stroke is ever applied. Don can work within such a framework, and still usually does in the creation of his more traditional works. His commissioned work is almost always based upon texts selected by his clients. The approach he takes is to use design, illustration and color to "serve the words". This is a concept that has become a hallmark of calligraphic design over the past century. All the elements that go into an image or set of images are integrated into the design so that the meaning and power of the text is magnified. The goal is to have the aesthetic effect and emotional impact upon the viewer amount to more than a simple sum of all the parts.