Meet the Artist

Dusty Kinman

Dusty Kinman was an ordinary kid growing up in a small Oregon town on Lost Creek near the Middle Fork of the Willamette River, a few miles south of Eugene. The Willamette Highway runs through town bringing city folk to the Dexter Reservoir and State Recreation Area. Dexter kids go the Pleasant Hill High School, a ten minute drive by car – a bit longer by school bus.

Dusty’s dad, Kerry Kinman, drilled wells for a living. He could fabricate most anything in steel. And he played the fiddle. In the early 1980’s times turned hard. Kerry loaded up the family and headed for grandma’s house in Cave Junction for an extended visit.

A Family of Artists

Florence Sackett was an accomplished artist with a unique style that set her apart from her contemporaries. She sold her first painting at age sixteen for $150, a princely sum in 1943. After her marriage and family years with Rocky Kinman, Florence married Ernie Sackett who encouraged her to focus on her art.

Florence saw potential in her son and encouraged Kerry and his wife, Linda Lee, to consider art. She taught them the techniques of painting with palette knives. Of the five sons of Kerry Kinman, one displayed aptitude for creating with paint. Dusty’s first painting sold at age twelve, but sports and the concerns of a teenage boy took precedence. Kerry and Linda Lee, however, began making a name for themselves selling art.

Dusty graduated from high school in 1993 and was offered a job selling business machines. Dusty’s dad had another idea. He challenged Dusty to paint for the La Quinta Art Festival in the southern California desert town. Dusty took seventeen paintings with him to the festival and sold out in four days. The deal was sealed. Dusty would be a professional artist!

The Professional Artist

Dusty has traveled from Oregon to Arizona, exhibiting at art shows and teaching art classes for all ages and different learning levels, including special needs kids. He has been a featured artist in several art galleries and shows including the Indian Wells Art Festival, the Mainview Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ, and the Circle of Art Gallery in Borrego Springs, California.

After the death of his parents in 2008 and 2014, Dusty moved to Wickenburg, Arizona in 2018. He opened a studio with the help of a patron, enjoying immediate success. After a COVID hiatus, he is on track to reopen in the fall of 2022.

And in case you are wondering, Dusty has four kids. They are all artists. Son Aadan sold his first painting at age five!