INTERVIEW: Dustan Knight | Ogunquit Art Association (OAA) Showcase Artist

Dustan Knight is an Ogunquit Art Association member-artist (Painter) and one of our 6 Showcase Artists at Barn Gallery for the 2023 Season.

Knight’s Showcase at Barn Gallery will run from May 24th – June 24th, 2023 with an Opening Reception on Saturday, May 27th (from 4PM – 7:30PM) and a Gallery Talk (along with Sculptor, Antoinette Prien Schultze) on Thursday, June 8, at 6 PM.

Learn more about the Barn Gallery 2023 Schedule: barngallery.org/2023-season

featured image above: Dustan Knight; Hockey Pond (detail); 36 x 36″; acrylic on canvas.

Continue reading below for some excerpts from a discussion we had with Dustan Knight about her background and work.

What is the theme of the body of work will you be exhibiting in your showcase?

“In Nature Released.” The paintings in this exhibition are about looking outwards both physically and emotionally. Far horizon lines, edges between sea and sky, cloudscapes and wind, starlight and the sun’s setting rays carry the viewer out into those moments of oneness with the surrounding natural world. Based on memories and imaginations this series is light, airy, and dreamy and is intended to make the viewer a bit nostalgic and also happy looking ahead to future moments of oneness with a beautiful natural world.

Can you talk a little bit about your process?

My process is exploratory – encouraging the artwork to unfold as I make it. I start with a memory: a place, a time, a feeling; like walking on a wide beach early when bits of dawn color are reflected in rivulets of falling tide. Maybe it was a cold morning and I kept my shoes on and pulled my sweatshirt hood up over my ears. I keep those ideas as I choose colors and techniques, working until it feels absolutely right; much more what I remember then a photo could ever capture.

I have been painting for a long time, at least forty years, and I am familiar with my materials. I enjoy letting the mediums move and interact without preconceived parameters. In other words I like to tilt and jiggle the surface, using monoprinting, drawing, incising and scraping techniques, all in a desire to make something that looks and feels fresh and surprising to me.

What other details can you share with us about the work in your OAA Showcase?

I love the moment when I recognize the artwork I have made as being exactly right. There is an invitation in these paintings for the viewer to join their memories of nature with mine and allow these paintings to be part of their experience.

And where can people learn more about you and the work you create?

They can check out my website Dustanknight.com for cv and a more complete artist bio.

Photos of Work by Dustan Knight.

ARTIST BIO: Dustan Knight

Dustan Knight is a professional artist, educator, and art writer.

She earned her Masters in Fine Art from Pratt Institute in NYC and her MA in Art History from Boston University. She is a recipient of a NH State Fellowship for the Arts, a MacDowell Colony residency, and a past Cummington Artist Colony resident. Dustan is represented by galleries across the US, including Art Three in Manchester, the Ogunquit Art Association in Maine. She’s a contributing writer to Art New England, a frequent juror, and gives demonstrations and workshops in watercolor, art business, and art history. Her work has appeared in Watercolor Magazine, Daniel Smith, Cheap Joe’s and Ampersand Insider Newsletters. Dustan’s work is in many private and public collections, including Macy’s, Acme and Oracles as well as numerous hospitals and New Hampshire public buildings.

Artist Statement

“I work in long series that share a common theme. Often these themes are drawn from my personal experiences. Time not in the studio is usually spend walking, riding, gardening or boating – and these images reoccur frequently. Snow, ice, wind-blown island gardens, light reflecting on water, raw granite ledges, meandering trails among sparse trees with glimpses of sun dazzling ocean beyond, reappear more, but usually less, literally. The surface of my paintings is important to me, and I take great delight in the transitions from bare canvas to thick impasto and foreign materials. The rhythm and energy of the marks and shapes is rigorously determined – varying to create musical passages. The palettes are simplified and fundamental to the mood of each painting. I like the viewer to look longer at my paintings. I invite my audience to connect and participate in creating the artwork’s meaning.”

LEARN MORE: dustanknight.com