Don Dernovich attended the University of Wyoming and Fort Hays State University, Kansas, earning the BA, MA, and MFA degrees. He has participated in many invitational, group, national and international juried exhibitions including:

• Buffalo Bill Art Show and Sale
• Oil Painters of America
• National Watercolor Society
• National Academy of Design
• The American Watercolor Society
• C. M. Russell Auction
• University of Wyoming Art Museum Benefit
• Museum of Nebraska Art Spirit of the Great Plains Invitational
• Phippen Museum Western Art Show
• Arts For The Parks Exhibitions
  
  
  Recent Awards include:
• Best watercolor, Platte River Valley Western Art Show, Saratoga, Wyoming; 2004.
• Finalist in the Landscape Category, 2003 Artists Magazine Competition.
• Award of Merit, 2003, Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters, Estes Park, Colorado.
• First Place in oil, 2002; and Second and Third Place in watercolor in 1999, 2003 and 2004; Phippen Museum Western Art Show and Sale, Prescott, Arizona.
• Best Watercolor, Western Spirits Art Show and Sale in 1994, 1996, and 1998; Old West Museum, Cheyenne, Wyoming.
• Best of Show Purchase Award in the First Juried Prairie Lights Art Showcase, and the Artists Favorite Award, Spirit of the Great Plains Invitational 2002; Museum of Nebraska Art, Kearney, Nebraska.
• Doc Smith Award, 1997, and the Silver Award for oil, 2000; Blackfoot Valley Art Auction, Lincoln, Montana.
• Peoples Favorite Award and Artists Favorite Award, 2000; Platte River Valley Western Art Show, Saratoga, Wyoming.
  
  Memberships:
• Signature Member of the National Watercolor Society
• Signature Member of the American Watercolor Society
• Signature Member of the Kansas Watercolor Society