Chance Dunlap
Artist Statement - then and now
Chance Dunlap, Cortez, 2011
I was born in Lubbock, TX in 1984, and for a time lived on the edge of huge cotton fields that stretched on for miles, until my family moved into the outskirts of a nearby small town. We moved to northeast Texas while I was in high school, and it is there that I discovered art.
All my life my family had been involved in making things and using tools, but we never thought about art really. A year after I graduated high school I, for whatever reason, chose one day to dig my Dad’s old welder out of the barn and make a piece of art for my parents yard. Needless to say, my Mom thought I gone out of my mind. Well, I did, art took me over, and I kept on making stuff with a fiery tenacity. I checked out some books from the library, and the very first art book I ever looked at was Rosalind Krauss special survey of David Smith’s career titled Terminal Iron Works: The Sculpture of David Smith. That was a life changing experience. I was taking college courses in horticulture at the local community college, but was really uncertain of what I wanted out of it, so in a time of needing a course to fulfill financial aid requirements I enrolled in their most basic design course and felt I finally found my place! A short time later I ran into, Bobbie, who would become my wife, and who would most certainly be the most important figure in my life.
After community college, I moved to Oklahoma and attended a regional university called Southeastern Oklahoma State University. It became the place where I was set loose and allowed to explore my creative endeavors. I became more interested in professional art practices, developed solid bodies of work, and decided that I was interested in teaching. I wanted to attend a graduate school where my sensibilities could be encouraged, and that was not about the trendiness of the art market. I discovered a solid answer much nearer than expected at the University of North Texas in Denton. I am very grateful for the galleries, jurors, teachers, heroes, artists, and my family, especially Bobbie who supports me whole-heartedly and gives me the reigns to my personal vision.
All my life my family had been involved in making things and using tools, but we never thought about art really. A year after I graduated high school I, for whatever reason, chose one day to dig my Dad’s old welder out of the barn and make a piece of art for my parents yard. Needless to say, my Mom thought I gone out of my mind. Well, I did, art took me over, and I kept on making stuff with a fiery tenacity. I checked out some books from the library, and the very first art book I ever looked at was Rosalind Krauss special survey of David Smith’s career titled Terminal Iron Works: The Sculpture of David Smith. That was a life changing experience. I was taking college courses in horticulture at the local community college, but was really uncertain of what I wanted out of it, so in a time of needing a course to fulfill financial aid requirements I enrolled in their most basic design course and felt I finally found my place! A short time later I ran into, Bobbie, who would become my wife, and who would most certainly be the most important figure in my life.
After community college, I moved to Oklahoma and attended a regional university called Southeastern Oklahoma State University. It became the place where I was set loose and allowed to explore my creative endeavors. I became more interested in professional art practices, developed solid bodies of work, and decided that I was interested in teaching. I wanted to attend a graduate school where my sensibilities could be encouraged, and that was not about the trendiness of the art market. I discovered a solid answer much nearer than expected at the University of North Texas in Denton. I am very grateful for the galleries, jurors, teachers, heroes, artists, and my family, especially Bobbie who supports me whole-heartedly and gives me the reigns to my personal vision.