Duane K. McCullough / A Brief Biography

I was born in Miami, Florida in ’52 to Gilbert and Christine as the second of three sons. My father was a career United States Air Force technician and my mother a skillful artist. While traveling with my family, a full range of geographical environs across the nation and overseas provided a wide variety of growth experiences. Military bases in Florida, New York, Illinois, New Mexico and Michigan – including the Bahamas and Japan, were home sites during my early years.

After obtaining an Associate in Arts degree from Miami-Dade Community College in ’74, a two-year position as a graphic designer for a company called T.I.F. Instruments in Miami provided experience in the art of commercial photography and page design.

Late in ’75, I spent considerable effort in trying to market myself to the major television networks and record companies as a program director in the filming of entertaining music projects now known as “music videos”.  It was my hope that a new medium would be developed which would use cinema technology to reveal the literature within many popular songs and create short entertaining movies.

However, the lure of the sea and the climate of the Florida Keys became more important than a filming career in Los Angeles or New York. In
’76, I acquired a 37′ Chesapeake sailboat in need of repair and moved to Key Largo where I began a simple and economical lifestyle living off-shore. Because of this unique lifestyle opportunity, I found the time to pursue a vocation in the creation of acrylic driftwood paintings
and silk screen printing illustrations that depict nearby marine scenery.

My marriage to Cynthia Coles of Bristol, England in ’90 presented a travel opportunity to experience and record on film many scenic sites throughout England, Western Europe and the Caribbean. We have also collected colorful images from places in the western United States
and from the mountains of Western North Carolina.  We currently live near the town of Brevard in North Carolina where I update my studio work when I can.