We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alison Duncan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Alison, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
This is an interesting question to consider because I have always had a strong work ethic, which I consider a gift. As a young girl, I suppose my work ethic was innate, but certainly I observed and modeled after my parents’ strong example. I was a straight-A student and a competitive gymnast, among other things, which took a great deal of hard work and years of dedication. Although I consider myself fairly intelligent and athletic to a degree, I’m not extraordinarily gifted in those areas. I do remember from an early age the gratification I felt in putting in hard work to learn something–whether it be a subject or a skill–and what it felt like to finally master it. The natural reward of accomplishing something I’d poured work into felt really good. I made that correlation from an early age and I suppose it just became a part of me. My parents also worked really hard inside and outside of the home, so it was just natural to work alongside them and not be idle.
Later, beginning as a fifteen year-old, I consistently had a job (or jobs). I worked throughout high school, college and law school, and whether I was waiting tables, working at a law firm, or changing diapers as a stay-at-home mom, I try to do my best (some days my “best” looks different than others). Some of my jobs were (are) not so glamorous, so being diligent and doing my best and maintaining a strong work ethic, becomes a choice. The call to work hard and with integrity are described throughout scripture, but a verse that’s always stuck with me is 1 Corinthians 10:31, which says, “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” I believe that work is a gift and every aspect of my life has purpose and should be done the best I can and with a cheerful heart. I do my best to honor that.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I’m an artist and I paint abstracted figures. I began exploring figures several years ago when I committed to an exercise where I painted every day for 100 days. It was so freeing to experiment with mediums and ideas in my head and I had so much fun with it. After some time, there was one style that really spoke to me and I continued to paint smaller figures on paper in that style. Then last year in 2023 I really wanted to explore it more and go big with it! For me, creating these figures is a celebration of femininity of sorts. I love using color combinations, layers, brush strokes and mark-making to create multidimensional pieces that celebrate the uniqueness, as well as the similarities, with which we are created. I want to embrace our beauty, imperfections, and life experiences in an interesting way.
For that reason, I LOVE commission work. Hearing what clients are drawn to in my work and what they want to capture and communicate in their own space makes collaborating on a custom piece truly a pleasure. It can sound intimidating to reach out to an artist to inquire about a commission, but I try to keep it as accessible as possible and make it a conversation.
I have a show and new representation this year, which I’m so excited about! I am thrilled to be part of Shain Gallery’s Up and Coming Invitational this summer in Charlotte. And in the fall, I have a release with Jenner McGinn Studio, who has already been a joy to work with!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Well, everyone certainly has a different journey he or she is on. I think it’s most helpful to first identify your journey, or what season of life you are in right now, and then prioritize and operate from there. For me, my journey as an artist is inseparable from and comes secondary to my journey as a wife and mom. I feel extremely fortunate that I am able to stay at home and raise my four girls, which is my top priority right now for me and my family. I also feel very fortunate that I have slowly grown my small business as an artist–and as my kids have grown, so has my ability to invest more time into my work and create more and more with each year. When I find myself frustrated or stressed about this area, it’s more often than not because my priorities are out of whack and I need to align my actions with my priorities. I’ve also found this goes for pretty much all areas of life!
Secondly, I’ve learned that as humans, the more we know about something, the more our affection for that thing increases. So, to increase our love for something, we should pursue knowledge and learn more about it. I think that maybe that seems obvious and something we can do naturally with some things, but forget about with others. Becoming a student of different types of art and the business of art through lessons, or books, or podcasts, etc., has deepened my love for creating and how I’m wired as a creative person.
Finally, creativity begets creativity. If I’m in a creative rut or feeling pressure to make everything I do my best work ever, I have to stop and try something new–a new subject, a new medium, and just play. For me it sparks new ideas, makes things fun and fresh and takes any pressure off! If I’m in the studio and feeling like I don’t have the freedom to make mistakes and everything I create has to be incredible, then I’m in my head and not enjoying much of anything I create. Sometimes the best use of the limited time I have is to take a step back, get some breathing room from what my focus currently is, and have fun with something else before returning to it.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
I would love to increase the amount I work with designers and do more commission work for their clients. It’s so fun and to be incorporated into a designer’s vision and someone’s home.
Outside of my traditional art, I have an interest in pattern design for textiles or wallpaper that I’d really like to at least start to explore…I know I don’t have the bandwidth right now to do that on my own, which is why I think a collaboration with someone already existing in that space would be really incredible.
Anyone who would like to reach out about working together can email me at [email protected].
Contact Info:
- Website: www.AlisonKDuncanArt.com
- Instagram: @AlisonDuncanArt
- Facebook: Alison Duncan Art
Image Credits
Laura Torbert Interiors (small figure installation above bed) Jessica Quinones from Jessica Jane Photography (headshots)
