Don Proch was born in Hamilton, Ontario in 1944. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Education from the University of Manitoba in 1966. In 1972 he held a solo exhibition at the Winnipeg Art Gallery entitled "The Legend of Asessippi" . Proch assembled a team of artists, friends and relatives to help with the massive project. They became known as the Ophthamalia Company of Inglis (Inglis being the small Manitoba town near where Proch grew up). The group 'seeks to enflame the eye of the viewer only to shift his mechanisms of perception, to change the way in which the viewer actually sees' (Colin MacDonald, 1982). Proch has exhibited widely in Canada and abroad, including exhibitions in Paris, Brussels, Chicago and the National Gallery of Canada. His work can be found in collections across Canada, including the National Gallery of Canada, Glenbow Museum (Calgary), Vancouver Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Canada Council Art Bank.