Isaac Duncan, BFA ‘97
Isaac Duncan III, a Brooklyn, New York native and Afro-Cuban descendant, received a BFA degree in 1997 from Notre Dame, and a certification of secondary art education from St. Mary's College. In 2004, he completed his Masters of Fine Arts in Sculpture at the University of Kentucky.
Since then, Duncan has risen in his field to complete many accomplishments in the community. He has taught elementary/middle school art in Michigan and university courses in Kentucky and Tennessee. He has been artist-in-residence for Gallery 37/Archi-Treasures, Illinois, the Richard Hunt Studio Center, Michigan, and the Association of Visual Artist, Tennessee. Duncan was also nominated for the prestigious Joan Mitchell Foundation Sculpture Fellowship and NIKE private proposals, and was a recipient of the Tennessee Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship in 2017.
Duncan is the former president of Mid-South Sculpture Alliance (MSA), a national non-profit organization that promotes a supportive environment for sculptures and sculptors. He sits on various artboards and committees: Sculpture Fields at Montague Park, ArtsBuild, and the Tennessee Arts Commission: Arts Education Funds for At-Risk Youth/Arts Education Learning
Committee. Most recently, Duncan joined the board for the International Sculpture Center (ISC), a member-supported, nonprofit organization founded in 1960 to champion the creation and understanding of sculpture and its unique, vital contribution to society.
Duncan worked for John Henry Sculptor, Inc. for three years, where he was the crew supervisor, heavy equipment operator, and assistant to internationally renowned sculptor John Henry. In mid-2008, Duncan purchased a warehouse and opened a Tennessee studio, Duncan Sculpture & Services, to create large scale sculptures and fabrication projects. Other renowned artists that have contracted Duncan Sculpture and Services include Robert Stackhouse and Carol Mickett, Marlborough Artists Jonah Freeman and Justin Lowe, Chakaia Booker, and Mexican sculptor Victor Contreras.
Duncan’s large-scale sculptures are in many public and private collections. They include the Georgia Institute of Technology, Lexington Diagnostic Center, African-American Heritage Center, Columbia State College, City of Chattanooga, Erlanger Children’s Hospital Kennedy Outpatient Center, and Le Domaine Forget.
Originally published by at artdept.nd.edu on February 17, 2021.