Biography

Perrin Clore Duncan was born and raised in Edmond, Oklahoma, U.S.A. and grew up alongside her two siblings, James and Emma Duncan. Her parents, Walt and Ann-Clore Duncan continue to live in Edmond. In May of 2017, Perrin graduated Cum Laude from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Studio Art (Majors) and Spanish (Minor). She has deep affinity for her college community and served as a member of DePauw's Board of Trustees from May 2017-2020.

Perrin received her Master of Fine Arts in 2019 from the Burren College of Art in County Clare, Ireland. She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally and has been published in various international online and print publications. In June of 2019, she traded her quiet and misty life on the Atlantic coast for one in the noisy and bustling city of Bangkok, Thailand. While in Southeast Asia, she was in a Marketing and Communications role at The JUMP! Foundation, a non-profit that facilitates global citizenship education through on and off-campus programs.

Perrin is an avid cyclist and runner, always on the hunt for a good read, and given the choice, she’d rather spend all of her days outdoors. She completed a thru-hike of the Colorado Trail in September 2020, which was a pleasant reminder of the goodness of life--at its simplest. Routine is an important part of Perrin’s daily life. She enjoys the practice of writing first thing each morning before heading out on a peaceful run.

Beyond any other career or personal motivation, Perrin is passionate about pursuing a life of purpose and deeply believes in the value of education for all.

Artist Statement

I fear the disconnect. Fast-paced western culture generates a separation between people and place. Daily actions are increasingly detached from the conscious mind. Weakened interpersonal relationships undermine the strength of communities. Life becomes a conveyor-belt of disengaged experience we passively flow through.

These circumstances unsettle me as I nearly constantly consider the future.

When I paint, the harrowing feelings subside. I am aware of the impact each of my gestures has on my evolving images. In beginning a new work, I initiate a thoughtful interaction. The inanimate materials I manipulate are given life as we engage in silent conversation. I arrange compositions in an exploration of relationships and use a wide range of colors, surfaces, and paint applications to work through my ideas with illustrative purpose. I emphasize connections by layering forms that vary in viscosity, tone, and hue. These forms touch and overlap, occasionally resting on top of each other. Sometimes I separate them as I question the oddity I find in the act of isolating the strikingly similar. I wonder why we choose to separate people and things that could be left in a collective state; we can simultaneously honor uniqueness and remain connected.

I believe in the profound effect that relationships have on how an individual is shaped. In Interaction of Color Josef Albers explains that any one color is understood in relation to all other colors. This idea translates to humans as identities constantly fluctuate in response to an individual’s surrounding influences. We build our identity in comparing ourselves to parents, siblings, peers, heroes, and acquaintances. We exist not in isolation but within the world, inseparably. As we encounter artworks collectively, relationships form between individuals, their communities, and the world. Art’s purpose may serve a critical role in reminding us of the basic merit of human experience.