Early Life, Family and Training

Duane Slick’s identity is rooted in a specific lineage that informs the weight of his visual language. Born in 1961 in Waterloo, Iowa, he grew up navigating the intersection of two distinct traditions: a Meskwaki father and a Ho-Chunk mother. This dual heritage is not a mere biographical footnote; it is the foundation upon which his entire practice is built. His upbringing involved a careful navigation of cultural boundaries, shaped by the necessity of protecting tribal knowledge from external scrutiny.

His formal training followed a rigorous academic path that grounded his cultural perspective in technical proficiency. Slick earned a BFA in painting and a BA in Art Education from the University of Northern Iowa in 1986. This dual focus on both the creation and the instruction of art would define his subsequent professional life. He later moved to the West Coast to refine his practice, completing an MFA in painting from the University of California, Davis, in 1990. Under the mentorship of George Longfish, Slick transitioned from a student of tradition to a sophisticated practitioner of contemporary abstraction.

Academic Career and Teaching

Slick’s influence extends into the classroom, where his practice as a painter and printmaker informs his pedagogical approach. Since 1995, he has held a position at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Providence, Rhode Island. As a professor of painting and printmaking, he has maintained a long-term presence within the institution, shaping the technical and conceptual development of his students through a focus on both medium and materiality.

His teaching career began in earnest in the early 1990s. Between 1992 and 1995, he served as a professor of painting at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This period established his ability to navigate academic environments while maintaining a connection to his specific cultural perspectives. Beyond these primary institutional roles, he has lectured at various colleges and universities across the United States, contributing to the broader discourse on contemporary painting and printmaking.

Technique and Artistic Style

Slick’s practice operates through a tension between the physical and the metaphysical. He utilizes black-and-white photo-realist paintings on linen and glass to create works that feel window-like and ghostly. These pieces often manifest as atmospheric abstractions set against a darkened or black field. His approach is not merely about representation; it is about the use of shadow and light to navigate spiritual territory. By depicting a coyote’s shadow, he attempts to reclaim the autonomy of folk art objects from the reductive effects of capitalism.

His formal language shifts between the highly controlled and the expansive. He produces hard-edge graphic black and white paintings alongside large stripe-landscape-abstractions. This range allows him to move from minimalistic, stripped-back compositions to more complex, layered visual structures. His technical repertoire also extends into the digital realm through the creation of three-dimensional scanned animations of objects. This integration of traditional painting and modern technology reinforces his ability to communicate through nuanced, ambiguous imagery.

Key Works and Themes

Slick’s practice centers on the coyote, a figure that functions as both a demi-god and a trickster in indigenous mythology. This motif is not a mere subject but a signature leitmotif, often appearing as a head or a shadow. By projecting the coyote’s persona through these forms, he addresses the tension between traditional storytelling and the modern world. His first solo museum exhibition, The Coyote Makes the Sunset Better, solidified this focus, presenting a body of work that uses the animal to navigate the complexities of identity and cultural survival.

The work often operates through a tension between the physical and the metaphysical. He uses the coyote to reclaim autonomy for indigenous symbols that have been stripped of their original intent by external forces. This approach is visible in his ability to communicate through visual ambiguity, allowing him to speak to his Meskwaki and Ho-Chunk roots without falling into the trap of superficial representation. His paintings often lean toward the atmospheric, utilizing dark fields to create a sense of the spiritual rather than the purely physical.

• Oration at Dawn (about 2005)
• Field Mouse Goes to War (2010)
• Duplicating Multiplicities (2021)

Where to See the Works Today

Slick’s presence in major institutional collections confirms the weight of his visual language. His work is held by the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution and the National Museum of the American Indian in New York City. These placements ensure his specific interrogation of Native American narratives remains part of the permanent historical record. In the Midwest, his pieces are found in the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Chazen Museum of Art, and the Des Moines Art Center. These locations provide a physical anchor for his exploration of Meskwaki and Ho-Chunk identity within the American landscape.

The reach of his practice extends through several other significant repositories. The Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis and the Danforth Art Museum maintain his work within their permanent holdings. In New England, the De Cordova Museum in Lincoln, MA, also houses his pieces. These collections represent a broad geographic distribution of his output, moving from the academic centers of the Midwest to the established galleries of the East Coast. His work exists in these spaces not as mere artifacts, but as active components of contemporary art discourse.