David J. Pavlak was born in Munschweiler, Germany, while his parents were stationed there with the Army. After returning to Ohio, David frequently spent time with his paternal grandparents in the small mining town of Cokeburg, Pennsylvania.

David’s grandmother often gave him drawing materials to occupy him while she cleaned the town’s one room wooden schoolhouse. He taught himself to paint in oils by the age of 11. His parents were quick to realize his talent and gave him every opportunity to develop his skills. Landscapes, seascapes, still life, and animal art were his primary subjects as his realistic style blossomed. At the age of 12 he sold his first painting to a neighbor for $3.00.

After high school, he worked at U.S. Steel in Lorain, Ohio. He continued to paint and exhibit in local competitions. His first one man show was in 1980 at Alice’s Frame Shop and Gallery in Amherst, Ohio. David has since shown work in many galleries around Northern Ohio. In 1982, David was laid off from U.S. Steel. He taught art classes in Vermilion, Ohio and began exhibiting his work at the Lynn Kottler and Keane-Mason galleries in New York City. Later the same year, David began exhibiting equine art at The Collector’s Gallery in Lexington, Kentucky.

Throughout the 1980’s he did numerous magazine covers for the horse racing industry.  Publications such as Hoofbeats Magazine, Trot, Harness Horse, The Thoroughbred Record, and Canadian Trot magazine all spotlighted David’s work to a national audience. Commissions from owners of race horses and trainers quickly followed. In 1986 David was asked to contribute 5 illustrations by Sports Illustrated for an article on harness racing.

During the 1980’s David also became a licensed horse trainer. He trained horses at the local fairgrounds and raced his horses at Northfield Park in Cleveland, Ohio. He purchased an old Victorian House in Elyria, Ohio which he set to restoring. He was the first to spearhead the reclamation of this neighborhood, which is now on The National Registry as a Historic District.

In 1990 two of his paintings were selected for inclusion in an anthology titled “Racing in Art”, written by John Fairley.

In 1992 David moved to Wakeman, Ohio and helped start a standardbred horse breeding farm where he lived for 4 years before moving back to Elyria, Ohio. David worked for the Wellington Vet Clinic as an Embryo transfer technician for 22+ years, working with dairy and beef cattle.

He is a founding member of The Elyria Arts Council and teaches oil painting classes at EAC. He was asked to design and supervise the painting of Elyria’s Bicentennial Murals in 2016. David did much of the painting of this largescale project. More murals were added years later and David designed them again and did much of the painting. In 2020 he started painting “The Quarantine Series” of work depicting the portraits of many people affected or playing a part in The Covid-19 pandemic.  He continues to do Quarantine paintings and commission work from his home studio in Elyria.