As a young boy, Dusty struggled with school but found creative outlets through art when a high school art teacher noticed his potential. After graduation, he drifted from job to job. Miserable and depressed, he rarely used his creative abilities. After a life-changing event, heturned back to art and began painting seriously, first in acrylics, then in oils, developing his own unique style.
Influenced by modern masters like Modigliani, Picasso, Soutine and Van Gogh, he studied their work and continued to craft an atmosphere of solitude and somberness in his paintings. Precise placement of simple yet expressive brush strokes and beautiful layers of thin glazing bring whatever subject matter he paints to life. His portraits and figure paintings evoke sadness and pain, yet through their color and form they signify hope and determination.
A typical motif in Dustin's work is the clown or "face painter" as he likes to call it. "I use this as a metaphor for people to self-reflect on their emotional and social state," he says. "Painting is a way to promote human welfare and the reduction of suffering. I believe that an artist's purpose is to make the intangible tangible and to share this gift with the world."
Art exhibit hours are 8:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Fridays. The HACC campus is located at 731 Old Harrisburg Road. For more information, call 337-3855.