Joel T. Dugan was born in Indiana, Pennsylvania, in 1980. When he was young, his family relocated to South Florida, where he attended a performing arts elementary and high school. Joel received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from The College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan, in 2002. In 2011, he received his MFA from The Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Art at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. Joel is an accomplished visual artist and works primarily as a painter. He has an active national exhibition record of solo and group shows. Joel has completed numerous public and corporate art commissions for intuitions such as The Ford Motor Company and the State of Michigan. Joel also works to cultivate community interest in public art and community projects throughout the regions he has called home. Influenced by the Regionalist Movement, George Tooker’s paintings, and Lucian Freud’s art, Joel is drawn to artists who document the human condition. His work inspires him from his life experiences and interactions with exciting people. Joel lives with his family in Fairmont, West Virginia, where he serves as the Department of Architecture Art and Design Chair, and is a full professor in Studio Art.