Duke Sundt, Advisory Board member
Sculptor
Duke grew up an "army brat," and his family lived in a number of places. However, the last station of his father's duty was to have the greatest influence on Duke and his future career as a sculptor. Between the ages of nine to thirteen, his family made their home in Copenhagen, Denmark. Duke's exposure to museums, art galleries, and outdoor monumental bronze sculpture in every city park left a lasting impression which, he firmly believes, led him to pursue a career as an artist specializing in bronze sculpture.
At the age of thirteen, the Sundt family left Europe and moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico, where his older brother, Chuck was attending New Mexico State University. The southwest, rodeo cowboys and Chuck's "guidance" moved Duke into a new phase of his life he refers to as "the rodeo years." For the next seven years, Duke traveled the rodeo circuit, riding bareback broncs, saddle broncs, and bulls, finding encouragement to continue with an occasional trip to the pay window.
Duke has had a dual career in art and ranching since graduating from college in 1973. Managing several different ranches on the outskirts of Las Vegas, New Mexico for thirty-five years has supplied him with a wealth of stories to tell in three-dimensional sculpture. Since those early years, he has also created numerous monumental commissions, with life-size and larger-than-life-size subjects ranging from southwestern to military themed sculptures. Throughout his 45-year career as an artist, Duke has continued to depict the American cowboy and wildlife of the southwest in his smaller limited edition bronzes.
Some of his work includes the Vietnam Veterans Monument at the Texas state capital in Austin, the Gold Star Mothers Monument at the New Mexico Veterans Memorial, the Texas Longhorn at the UT-Austin Main Campus, The Traders at New Mexico State University, and many sculptures of cowboy life and wildlife.
Website: dukesundt.com