Contact: Whitney Hale

Artist James Duprée surrounded by UK students’ work and his own sample piece.

While assisting a mixed media class, Duprée has worked with students showing them how to better integrate various surfaces and make sense of color and textures in their fiber art pieces, allowing for clearer transitions between different aspects of the work.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 10, 2005) -- The University of Kentucky College of Fine Arts welcomes prominent artist James Duprée to campus for a lecture March 11, as part of the Department of Art’s 2004-05 Visiting Artist Series. Duprée’s one-person exhibitions include works at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia; the Wales National Museum Cardiff in Great Britain; and the Indiana State College Museum in Pennsylvania.

Duprée received his Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Columbus College of Art and Design. He continued his studies at the Skowhegan School for Painting and Sculpture and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. It was at Skowhegan where he feels a turning point occurred in his career due to such influences as meeting internationally renowned artist William T. Williams. Duprée received a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He teaches classes at the University of the Arts, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and at the Fleisher Art Memorial. Duprée is comfortable working in various art mediums, including printmaking, mixed media, painting and drawing. His work has been a part of numerous exhibitions, including ones in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, Copenhagen and Washington, D.C. Duprée’s work will be featured on the TV show “Living it Up with Patti LaBelle.”

Duprée has helped bring his knowledge of the arts to numerous communities, and helped to write legislation in Pennsylvania that provided an artist-in-residence program to its primary and secondary school systems. He further served the public school systems by acting as an artist in residence for the rural community of Elizabethtown, Pa. While working in Elizabethtown, he taught students from elementary to high school age, even working with special education classes on art projects.

He has taught at the exclusive Buck’s Rock Performing and Creative Arts Camp, working with close to 1,000 budding artists over the years. Duprée also served as an artist-in-residence with other institutions, including the Studio Museum of Harlem in New York City; the National Museum in Cardiff, Wales; the Pioneer Arts Organization, also in Cardiff; as a Seagram Award winner at the African American Museum in Philadelphia; and at the Contemporary Arts Center, also located in Philadelphia. He would like to one day organize an adult artists’ retreat for leaders in the art world to come to learn and teach various mediums.

As part of his UK visit, Duprée has worked with art professor Arturo Alonzo Sandoval’s classes. Sandoval invited Duprée to be a part of the Visiting Artist Series at UK. The two met a few years ago when both were teaching art classes at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts.

While assisting a mixed media class, Duprée has worked with students showing them how to better integrate various surfaces and make sense of color and textures in their fiber art pieces, allowing for clearer transitions between different aspects of the work. Duprée stated, “I am helping them to think both of the color and the texture being used and how to bring the two elements together. It is similar to the construction of a symphony.”

He also will be available to the College of Fine Arts students, faculty and staff on various other levels, including critiques. Duprée will present his lecture at noon Friday, March 11, in 118 White Hall Classroom Building. The lecture is free and open to the public.