County artist shows new direction at Houlton’s Visions Gallery

    HOULTON — County artist William Lloyd Duncan is now showing a dozen of his mixed media art works at Visions Gallery on Main Street in Houlton. In his current series of works, he makes digitally printed photographs and paints on them with oil pastel or chalk pastel.
    Duncan identifies himself as a regional artist working with subjects, themes, and issues specific to Aroostook area. “Rather than being called a painter or photographer, I see myself as a County artist and free to pursue any work that has meaning for myself, friends, family, and neighbors. I hope my work will make connections among myself and the viewers.”
    By mixing different media, Duncan believes he is, in a way, transgressing against his past photography work and art world expectations. “I like to imagine myself as defiant of the modern art trend to strictly categorize art by media,” says Duncan. “Even my professor called the work ‘cheating’ although he was kidding — I think.”
    His current paintings are local landscapes. He explains his mixed-media technique: “The underlying image is either a straight photograph or a PhotoShop-manipulated photograph made to look painterly. I print the image on paper or canvas using a pigment inkjet printer. Then I color over the printed image with the pastels — sometimes obscuring the printed image completely and sometimes letting it show through.”
    “Oil pastels are similar to crayons but made with the same pigments used in artist’s oil paint for purity of color and permanence. Likewise pastels could be compared to intensely colored chalk,” says Duncan.
    Duncan has worked with digital art for almost 25 years since he got his first Macintosh computer. “The camera and digital tools I have tried to master have been important to my creative work.” Duncan says, “However for some time I have wanted to return to drawing from life. I recently took a drawing class from Ann Kittredge at UMPI and a pastel workshop at the University of Maine at Fort Kent. It got my hand-drawing juices flowing again. But instead of giving up the computer, my process is growing to include drawing and painting. Right now I’m sort of stuck in the middle but I like the uncertainty, it goads me on.”
    Duncan is originally from Caribou and has attended the University of Maine at Gorham, Presque Isle, and Fort Kent. In 2002 he earned a Master of Fine Arts in Visual Art from Vermont College. He works fulltime as a painter, photographer, webmaster, and graphic artist. He has been a member of the Visions Gallery for several years.
    Duncan worked as photographer and graphic artist at UMPI for many years. Duncan also volunteers with the Maine Swedish Colony on historical and cultural projects and considers this part of his art practice. One of Duncan’s paintings of Stockholm is on the cover of the current Echoes Magazine. Duncan is also showing work at Morning Star Art and Framing on Main Street in Presque Isle.
    Duncan’s grandmother Marion Dow grew up in Houlton. Her parents, Nevers Dow and Jennie Hazelett lived on the corner of Chandler and Brook Street.
    Duncan can be reached at Bill@WilliamLDuncan.com.