1986	One-man exhibition at Ben Mangel Gallery, Philadelphia, PA One-man exhibition at Feature Gallery, Chicago, IL Studies Zazen meditation in Soho Zendo with Roshi Kyodu Nakagawa. Practices Zazen daily for next thirteen years. Moves into apartment in Astoria Queens with Mary Jickling. 30-08 36th Avenue. Visiting Artist at Middlebury College, VT Installs "LAKESIDE TROUT" (45' x 22' aluminum sculpture) floats in lake bedside 12 story office complex in Atlanta, GA. Installs "GAMEBIRDS" (18' x 11' steel sculpture) in lobby of AT&T office complex, Linclay Corporation, St. Louis, MO.
1987	Visits Boulder, CO, to work with master printer Bud Shark on lithographs "PLANETA" and "FAME" Visits Santa Fe, NM to cast "SEAT" Visits Stony Creek, CT to create granite pedestal for "SEAT." Meets actress Katherine Hepburn. Marries Mary Jickling Saunders. Honeymoon in Paris, FRANCE. Solo exhibition at Grace Borgenicht Gallery, NY Installs "SEAT" (8'-6" x 11' x 8' granite and bronze) in Owen F. Dolen Park in the Bronx, NY. Commissioned by the Public Art Fund and the Rudin Foundation. Awarded the NYC Art Commission's Award for Excellence in Design for the public sculpture "SEAT", permamnently installed in Owen F. Dolen Park in the Bronx, NY. Award presented at City Hall by Mayor Edward I. Koch and Susan Freedman, Director of the Public Art Fund.
1988	Daughter is born, Zoe Elizabeth Saunders. Installs "FIREHAT" on exterior wall of Fire Station Engine Company 41, Bronx, NY. Installs "MAGPIES" in Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO. Prints lithographs "WILD TURKEY" and "L.S.D." with master printer Bud Shark in Boulder, CO. Invited to be member for three year term of the Artist Advisory Board for the New Museum of Contemporary Art, NY . Solo exhibition at Locus Gallery, St. Louis, MO.
1989	Father dies of Emphysema on March 7. Moves to Westhampton Beach, NY. Builds art studio. Visiting Artist at Yale School of Art, New Haven CT Invited by the Pheonix Art Commission to be artist jurist for $11,000,000 art project to redevelop Pheonix Airport, AZ. Meets Joe Segura and Luis Jimenez. Solo exhibition at Center For Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
1990	Solo exhibition at Grace Borgenicht Gallery, NY Solo exhibition at Center For Conetmporary Art, Chicago, IL Solo exhibition at Gallery Nadeau, Philadelphia, PA Visiting Artist at Anderson Ranch, Snowmass, CO Works with master printer, Bud Shark to create lithographic suite "SONG BIRDS" Commissioned to design and build "FEDERAL EAGLES" for Post Office Square development project, Boston, MA
1991	Visits Antigua, GUATAMALA. Teaches Painting and Drawing classes at Oberlin College as Adjunct Assistant professor of Art. Visits with Ellen H. Johnson.
1992	Solo exhibition at Grace Borgenicht Gallery, NY Teaches Painting and Drawing classes at Oberlin College as Assistant Professor of Art. Ellen H. Johnson dies. Commemorative publication includes final essay on "David Saunders at Oberlin" Son is born, Joseph Cornell Saunders. Commissioned by NYC School Construction Authority to design and build "SCHOOL NOTEBOOK-BINDER GATES" for P.S.171 in Brooklyn, NY Installs "CONDUCTOR'S WATCH & KEY CHAIN" for the NYC MTA Arts For Transit program, in Westbury LIRR train station.
1993	Installs "APPLE FENCE" at LaGauardia Airport Central Terminal. Assists Red Grooms to install "RUCKUS MANHATTAN" in Nagoya Museum of Art, Nagoya, JAPAN. Roshi Kyodu Nakagawa is appointed Abbott of Ryutaku-ji Zen Monastery in Shizuoka, Japan. Visits Zen monastery in Shizuoka Japan to live and work with monks. Visits Madrid and Barcelona, SPAIN. Works with Bud Shark in Boulder CO to produce several lithographs.
1994	Solo exhibition at Gallery A, Chicago, IL Solo exhibition at the Free Library Gallery, Westhampton Beach, NY Invited to lecture on public art at a design conference in Tokyo Japan for Kotobuki Town Art. Visits Italy with wife Mary. Rome and Florence. Meets Richard Maury and Dan Graves. Returns to JAPAN to install "RUCKUS MANHATTAN" in Mitsukoshi Museum of Art, Shinjuko, Tokyo, JAPAN. Collaborates to paint a public street-car for the Museum of Art, Kochi, JAPAN. Commissioned to paint "APPLE MURAL" in LaGuardia Airport Central Terminal. Solo exhibitiin at Grace Borgenicht Gallery, NY
1995	Visits Korea to select artists for SIX ARTISTS FROM KOREA. Exhibition held at Grace Borgenicht Gallery. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY buys one piece by each artist, creating the museums first contemporary Korean art collection. Exhibition travels to the Walker Hill Art Center, Seoul Korea. Attends opening and visits International Art Biennial at Inchon, Korea. Visiting Artist at Duk-Sung Women's University, Seoul, Korea Grace Borgenicht Gallery closes. Organizes final exhibition which is a collaborative commemorative artwork by twenty two atists who each contribute one artwork representing one letter, which together spell out - "GRACE BORGENICHT GALLERY." David Beitzel Gallery, NY, represents work for one-year trail period. Meets Martin Mull and Julie Heffenan.