Robert Dunning

Professor of Art

Contact Information

  • rdunning@unca.edu
  • 828.251.6879
  • 220 Owen Hall

Robert Dunning is a Professor of Art at the University of North Carolina Asheville. Since 1987 he has been teaching all levels of Printmaking, Two dimensional Design and Foundation Drawing. In addition, he was Art and Art History Department Chair from 2004 - 2009. In 2019 he was named Ruth and Leon Feldman Professor for Outstanding Service and Scholarship to the University.

He earned his MFA in Printmaking from Indiana University Bloomington, and his BFA in Painting and Drawing from East Carolina University. Robert Dunning’s artwork has been exhibited internationally and nationally, particularly throughout the southeast. It is included in the permanent collections of the Asheville Art Museum, The Kansas City Art Institute, The Southern Graphics Council (University of Mississippi), McNeese State University, The University of Kansas, Indiana University, and Wachovia Bank, University of Tennessee and the Knoxville Art Museum.

His artwork uses printmaking, painting, drawing and mixed media processes to construct multi- layered mixed media compositions that are meant to be seen as illusionistic windows into a three dimensional imaginary space. The processes used to create these pieces (construction and deconstruction of multiple layers of overlapping prints) is meant to visually describe pieces of memory constantly overlapping and weathered by the passage of time. Playful, recognizable objects are drawn and then painted into these abstract compositions to further define the space for the viewer. These spaces can be seen as dream spaces where control and logic intermingle with mystery.

Visit Dunning's website to view his work.