Patricia DuBose Duncan
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Patricia DuBose Duncan (born 1932) is an artist living in
Topsham, Maine Topsham () is a town in Sagadahoc County, Maine, United States. The population was 9,560 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Portland– South Portland–Biddeford, Maine metropolitan statistical area. The town is home to the annual Topsha ...
. She is best known for her work to gain support for designating some of the last remaining
tall grass prairie The tallgrass prairie is an ecosystem native to central North America. Historically, natural and anthropogenic fire, as well as grazing by large mammals (primarily bison) provided periodic disturbances to these ecosystems, limiting the encroac ...
land in the American Midwest, as the
Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve is a United States National Preserve located in the Flint Hills region of Kansas, north of Strong City. The preserve protects a nationally significant example of the once vast tallgrass prairie ecosystem. O ...
. This land was publicized in a Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition (S.I.T.E.S.) in 1976-86 as a Bicentennial Exhibition. The exhibit has been digitally preserved by Kansas State University's
Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art The Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art is an art museum on the Kansas State University campus, located near Aggieville. Admission is free to the general public. The museum houses KSU's permanent art collection of Kansas and regional artists, ...
. Duncan has paintings and photographs hanging in museums across the country, including the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, the
Farnsworth Art Museum The Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine, United States, is an art museum that specializes in American art. Its permanent collection includes works by such artists as Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Sully, Thomas Eakins, Eastman Johnson, Fitz Henry Lan ...
in Rockland, Maine, the
Spencer Museum of Art The Spencer Museum of Art is an art museum operated by the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the Spencer Museum seeks to "...present its collection as a living archive that motivates object-c ...
in Lawrence, Kansas, the
Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art The Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art is an art museum on the Kansas State University campus, located near Aggieville. Admission is free to the general public. The museum houses KSU's permanent art collection of Kansas and regional artists, ...
in Manhattan, KS, and the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art in St. Joseph, MO. Missouri.


Early life

Duncan was born in 1932 in Nashville, Tn. Duncan lived with her family in El Dorado, Arkansas and then Roanoke, Virginia until 1944 when the family relocated to
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
. In Philadelphia, Duncan attended the Philadelphia Museum School on a scholarship. Her family moved again, and she went to high school in
St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
. From 1950 to 1954, she attended St. Louis School of Fine Arts at
Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...
where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree focused on painting and printmaking. Duncan married another graduate of the Washington University, Herb Duncan. He joined the Navy soon after the Korean War draft was enacted, and during his service, he was stationed in Newport, Rhode Island and Long Beach California. While in Long Beach, Duncan was invited "into a group show at the Long Beach Art Museum". Herb was stationed in Sasebo Japan in 1956. While there, Duncan studied woodblock printing and other artforms, with a focus on exploring Japanese aesthetics. This work led to her first one-person show, and exhibit in Sasebo, Japan in 1956. Returning to the states in 1957, Duncan studied at the
Kansas City Art Institute of Art Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the we ...
.


Career


Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve

Much of Duncan's work during the 1970s focused on the interests of the environmental movement. The
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
, with additional support from the
Hallmark Corporation A hallmark is an official mark or series of marks struck on items made of metal, mostly to certify the content of noble metals—such as platinum, gold, silver and in some nations, palladium. In a more general sense, the term ''hallmark'' can als ...
, commissioned Duncan to create a large traveling exhibit as part of their
Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded o ...
: "The Tallgrass Prairie: An American Landscape." This show traveled across the United States from 1976 to 1986 and visited 300 venues in all 50 states. The exhibit was largely responsible for creating public interest in the
Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve is a United States National Preserve located in the Flint Hills region of Kansas, north of Strong City. The preserve protects a nationally significant example of the once vast tallgrass prairie ecosystem. O ...
in Kansas. Without Duncan's creation of the exhibit, and active lobbying of artists, journalists, public figures, and politicians the preserve likely would not have been created.Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve
National Park Service.
Notably, she recruited noted photographer and Kansas native, Gordon Parks, to help her with the campaign. She also published a book of writings and photographs: ''Tallgrass Prairie: The Inland Sea''.


Maine

Following a residency at the
Maine Photographic Workshops The Maine Media Workshops (formerly the Maine Photographic Workshops) in Rockport, Maine is an international non-profit educational organization offering year-round workshops for photographers, filmmakers, and media artists. Students from acros ...
, she moved to Maine in 1986 and established a studio in Belfast Maine. There she continued to work on photography and painting.


Art collections

The personal papers of Patricia DuBose Duncan are housed in the Kenneth Spencer Research Library at the
University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...
. Kansas State University's Marianna Kistler Beach Museum also contains 98 works by Duncan. The Beach Museum of Art published a collection of her art, ''Taking Root: the Art of Patricia Dubose Duncan''. The Beach Museum of Art also preserved the Smithsonian Traveling exhibit that helped create public support for the creating
Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve is a United States National Preserve located in the Flint Hills region of Kansas, north of Strong City. The preserve protects a nationally significant example of the once vast tallgrass prairie ecosystem. O ...
.


References


Further reading

*''Tallgrass Prairie: The Inland Sea''. Lowell Press, 1978.


External links


Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:DuBose Duncan, Patricia American artists 1932 births Living people Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts alumni