Don Patty grew up on the family farm near Bradford, Ohio and attended the Dayton Art Institute’s four-year program majoring in Industrial Design and minoring in Sculpture. Don worked as a clay modeler at the General Motors Styling Center in Warren, Michigan from 1967 to 1969. While visiting Stuttgart, Germany he worked as a clay modeler at the Porsche Design studios in Zuffenhaussen in 1971. He returned to the family farm and was a full-time grain farmer until 2009, when he retired to spend more time exploring photography and exhibiting in regional galleries.