Making Art Like Breathing Air: Winlock Artist Unveils Latest Work

Neil White’s office inside the Centralia Square building was once part of an open-air porch of the historic Elks Lodge.

When it was framed in to create an indoor space, the old window seating created a unique nook on the back wall of the room. Ever since buying the property in 2013, White said he knew exactly what he wanted to fill that space.

Or, perhaps more importantly, who he wanted to fill that space.

Last week, Winlock area sculptor Michael D. Duquette unveiled his life-sized sculpture of Atlas White commissioned to fill the space in his Centralia Square office. White said the sculpture has personal meaning for him and his wife, Jodi. First, they love to travel, and second, because he said they almost always seem to have a project in the works. Centralia Square was the fourth property in downtown Centralia the couple purchased and renovated. Recently, they dove into their fifth such project after purchasing the building next door to Centralia Square, being vacated by Dr. Paul Williams.

“We love to take so much on and sometimes it seems like the weight of these properties can just crush you,” White said with a laugh.

White said he planned from the very start that the space in the office would have an Atlas sculpture and it would be created by Duquette. He said his love of Duquette’s work goes back to 2001 when he was searching for an artist to create some pieces for the Flying Tiger Martial Arts Studio. They were introduced through a mutual friend, and Duquette has been part of the team that has helped the Whites make their vision for each property a reality.

“Michael is a huge part of what we do,” White said. “He and Trent Mason do most of the design work for our properties.”

Duquette calls himself a stone carver by trade but his artwork speaks of a more rounded artistic career. Many of his pieces are carved stone while others, like the Atlas, are carved out of a composite material and painted to look like metal. A self-proclaimed “science geek,” Duquette also dabbles in science-fiction and steam-punk inspired sculptures such as his “Europa Probe,” which was created for a science fiction convention art contest celebrating the NASA Europa mission. Many of his more recent sculptures are created heavily from upcycled and recycled materials.

“Instead of taking things from the Earth I’m now recycling and reusing to do something to help the environment,” Duquette said.

Duquette is originally from Kent. His artistic talent was first recognized at about the age of 12 when he created a Play-Doh underwater scene for a school art show. The middle child in a large family, Duquette recalls having to entertain himself much of the time, and so he chose to create artistic things out of what he found around him.

“It’s like breathing,” Duquette said of art. “I never made a conscious choice to do it. My mom says I was always creating something out of nothing.”

After high school, Duquette studied art at Centralia College and said instructor Penny Martindale had a profound influence on him. After college, he created his own business offering site-specific art in addition to his own unique creations. Some of his handiwork can be seen in commercial signs around Winlock as well as an original piece of artwork near the Winlock Post Office. His artwork can also be seen in the city of Kent as well as the South Hill Library in Puyallup.

“I guess everything,” Duquette said. “I’m not really making a conscious choice. An artist is who I am.”

Julia VanPaepeghem was one of Duquette’s supporters on hand during last week’s unveiling of the Atlas sculpture. She first met Duquette when they worked together on the 1999 production of the locally-shot movie “The Immigrant Garden.” VanPaepeghem and her husband, Steve, opened Wildtrout Gallery in 2007. Duquette was one of the artists who had pieces in the downtown Chehalis space.

“He loves science and art and I think he has the ability to bring to the two together in a way that’s not only creative but also unusual,” VanPaepeghem said of what she loves about Duquette’s work.

For Duquette, art is a way of living. He said he is constantly creating and thinking about new creations and never knows when inspiration will strike him. He said it is one of his dreams to someday be able to create a monumental piece of artwork for the Centralia College campus as an homage to the impact the institution had on his life and artwork.

“This idea I have is something to draw people into the community. A reason for people to stop, come off the freeway and come into the downtown and see our town,” Duquette said. “The dissemination of knowledge there is so important. I feel really fortunate we have that here.”