March 20th – September 13th, 2026
Cascadia Art Museum presents Eternal Forms: The Sculpture of Everett DuPen, exploring the life and work of master sculptor Everett DuPen (1912-2005). DuPen’s remarkable career as a sculptor and educator spanned nearly eight decades. DuPen began his formal art studies at the University of Southern California (USC) in 1932. He spent time studying architecture at Harvard before he later transferred to Yale, graduating with a BFA in 1937. In addition, he spent a year studying the old masters at the American Academy of Art in Rome. Later in his career, he took sabbaticals to study bronze casting in Florence, Italy and art in India, Nepal, and Egypt.
DuPen and his family relocated to Seattle in 1945, where he settled into a 38-year career at the University of Washington (UW). In his time as a professor, he played a major role in building the UW’s Sculpture Division into a nationally and internationally known group. Besides his popular sculpture courses, he was well known for his life drawing classes.
DuPen participated in numerous galleries and museum exhibits nationwide, including the Seattle Art Museum, the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington, the Frye Art Museum of Seattle, the San Francisco Museum and the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC. He was most well-known for his beautiful figurative pieces in terra cotta, stone, wood, and bronze. He taught, influenced, and was a friend and mentor to generations of national and local Seattle-area artists.
Today, Everett Dupen’s sculptures can be found in many public parks and buildings, as well as in numerous museums and private collections. Among his most notable public works are the DuPen Fountain at the Seattle Center and the fountain on the grounds of the Joel Pritchard Building at the Washington State Capitol in Olympia.
An accompanying publication, Eternal Forms: The Sculpture of Everett DuPen by curator David F. Martin, will be nationally distributed by the University of Washington Press.
Image Credits:
- Everett DuPen (1865-1940), Upheaval, circa 1971. Bronze. Estate of Seiri Novelle DuPen.
- Everett DuPen at the University of Southern California (USC), circa 1933.