Alaska’s Scott McDaniel

Otis Scott McDaniel (1926-2012)

Otis "Scott" McDaniel was born in New Lebanon, Ohio in 1926, and raised on the shore of California. In 1942 he enlisted in the US Navy. He earned two bronze stars for his service on the USS Duxbury Bay, a seaplane tender, in the Pacific Theater. After the war, he married, did recreational painting, and studied cosmetology - a trade he had learned during his service.

McDaniel and his wife Maxine were soon inspired to homestead in Alaska, eventually establishing there permanently. He began selling his paintings on the side to supplement his hairdressing business; finding success and attaining popularity, he was able to focus all his energy on painting by 1969. Scott McDaniel won may awards over his career as a painter, including five ribbons from the Veterans Creative Arts Festival. He passed away in 2012 at the age of 86.

Scott McDaniel painted primarily in oils with many of his pieces on board. He is known to have produced prints, posters, and calendars of his work. He exhibited widely across Alaska, at the Anchorage Fur Rendezvous (Fur Rondy), and Veterans Creative Arts Festival. Some of his original oils and prints were sold at Arctic Rose Gallery, now closed. Scott McDaniel's work is reminiscent of other Alaskan artists like Sydney Laurence, Eustace Ziegler, and Ted Lambert.