Justin Duffus was born and raised in Pasadena California, where he spent as much time as possible surfing and appreciating the coastline. His full appreciation for the coast began as he was introduced to his father's plein-air painting group. As he began painting seriously in his 20s, capturing the landscape's light, atmosphere and color relationships rapidly became an obsession. When the landscape wasn't available, his interest migrated to painting still lives of old rusty floor polishers, the 1970s wall paper in his bathroom and inevitably the figure. This path led him to attending the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where he graduated in 2006 and received the Cresson Travel Scholarship. He has been painting and showing in Seattle since 2011. Balancing the steady work of a house painter, art teacher, and working artist since 2009, he is very excited about his recent teaching position at the Gage Academy and is working towards his third solo show at Linda Hodges in March 2020.

Website:  http://www.justinduffus.com/
Instagram:  @justinduffus

Artwork by Justin Duffus

Gage Academy of Art acknowledges the Coast Salish Peoples as the original inhabitants of this area and connecting waterways. We understand the land that Gage occupies is unceded territory and that today many Indigenous peoples live here and without their stewardship, we would not have access to this space. We honor the Coast Salish Peoples’ sovereignty, rights to self-determination, culture and ways of life. Since time immemorial, Indigenous peoples have called this territory their sacred land. We commit to learning, educating others and repairing the legacy of historically harmful relationships between non-Native and Native peoples in King County. In doing so, we will be honest, and recognize the experiences of Native peoples to include genocide, forced relocation, forced assimilation, and land theft. We also acknowledge Native peoples are survivors, present in today’s world, thriving. We encourage everyone here today to ask themselves: what can I do to support Indigenous communities?

In an effort to be transparent, Gage is contemplating this call to action and re-working how to best support Indigenous communities.

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