DWIGHT WILLIAM DUKE

LIKE A PUZZLE…every person, experience and emotion in our lives illuminates the one before and hints at the next to come.  This puzzle of life is what I aspire to reveal in my art.  My works do not tell a single story, but rather, reveal a process of change or state of being.  Each piece invites the viewer to consider their relationship to nature, art, time and space.

My works might best be characterized as an attempt to provide some context to the precariousness of our existence.  The Earth is often represented in my work, teetering on the edge, mirroring our individual struggle to develop and maintain a degree of balance in our lives.  Survival is only achieved through a series of complex processes and interactions. The process of creating the sculpture itself serves as a metaphor for those experiences.  Through the application and removal of multiple layers I can reveal to the viewer not only the struggle of the creative process, but of life itself.  When we direct the process, we may for a time satisfy our desire for certainty and control.  But we must simultaneously confront the fact that we remain subject to the arbitrary and unexplainable.  Although many pieces of the puzzle remain unconnected, there is a stunning and undeniable beauty in what already exists in our individual and collective potential.  Ultimately, we are called upon to devote ourselves to the acknowledgment and pursuit of that beauty.

BORN:
1972 – Salt Lake City, Utah

RESIDES:
Orcas Island, Washington

EDUCATION:
Bachelor of Fine Arts degree – Oregon State University, Oregon
Pre-major studies in Biology & Pre-Med – Ohlone College, California

EXHIBITIONS:

San Juan Islands Museum of Art Sculpture Park, Roche Harbor, WA 2001-2011
Orcas Island Pottery, Orcas Island, WA 2008-2011
Gallery San Juan, Friday Harbor, WA 2010
Orcas Center, Eastsound, WA 2009
Christina’s, Solo Exhibition, Eastsound, WA 2009
Sculpture in the Park, Loveland, CO 2007
Gallery at Utsalady Bay, Camano Island, WA 2007
Sculpture in the Park, Loveland, CO 2006
Marin Art Festival, San Rafael, CA 2006
Orcas Center, Pieces Past & Present Solo Exhibition, Eastsound, WA 2005
Loveland Invitational, Loveland, CO 2005
Marin Art Festival, Mari San Rafael, CA 2005
Gallery at Utsalady Bay, Camano Island, WA 2005
The Crucible Gallery Norman, OK 2004-2005
Gallery at Utsalady Bay, Camano Island, WA 2004
Patrick Caswell Gallery, Troutdale OR 2004
Loveland Invitational, Loveland, CO 2004
Port Townsend Jazz & Art Festival, Port Townsend, WA 2003
Bella Vetri Gallery, Kapalua Maui, HI 2002-2003
Stark Images Gallery, Orcas Island, WA 2002
Orcas Center, Eastsound, WA 2002
The Living Room Gallery, Orcas Island, WA 2002
Howe Gallery, Orcas Island, WA 2002
Serendipity Fine Arts, La Conner, WA 2002
Elizabeth Doyle Gallery, Kapalua Maui, HI  2001-2002
Artworks Fine Art, Orcas Island, WA 1999
Artworks Fine Art, Orcas Island, WA 1998
Blackfish Gallery, Portland, OR 1997
Giustina Gallery, Corvallis, OR 1997
Fairbanks West Gallery, Solo Exhibition, Corvallis, OR 1997

COLLECTIONS:

Lambiel Museum, Orcas Island, WA
Orcas Historical Museum, Orcas Island, WA
San Juan Islands Museum of Art Sculpture Park, Roche Harbor, WA
Polk Museum of Art,  Lakeland, FL
Orcas Center, Eastsound, WA
The Bell Group, Monterey, CA
Ralph & Kay Hemingway, Palm Desert, CA
Cherie Lindholm, Eastsound, WA
MILA Mortgage Investment Lenders Associates, Mountlake Terrace, WA
Destiny Leasing LLC
Richard Donner , Hollywood, CA

PUBLIC COMMISSIONS:

Leonard Berkowitz Memorial Park Compass Rose, Eastsound, WA 2006

PUBLICATIONS:

Guild, LLC 2005
The Eerie Art of Sculpting Bronze, Ted Grossman, The Sounder,
April 20 2001

Full Circle, Jennifer Evans, The Benton Chronicle, May 16 1997
Excavation of 365 Days Work, Joy Estimada, The Daily Barometer,
May 20 1997

Surfaces, Josh Rich, The Prizm,
May 1996