Eleanor DuQuoin

Eleanor Jane Powlesson DuQuoin was born in the small town of Davenport, Iowa, in 1920. She spent time studying at several institutions before earning a bachelor's of fine arts in sculpture from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1943. That same year she married fellow artist Wayne DuQuoin, a commercial and graphic designer.

After graduation, she and her husband were immediately hired by the Art Institute to fill empty roles left by faculty drafted for military service during World War II. Eleanor DuQuoin initially taught courses in ceramics, then pivoted toward first-year design, helping to shape the Foundations curriculum along with colleagues Mildred Welsh Hammond, Wilbur Niewald and others. She also worked as an academic counselor during the twenty-two years she remained on the faculty.

In 1963, DuQuoin represented the Art Institute at the Seventh Biennial Conference of the National Art Education Association and gave a demonstration on craft education.

Alongside her busy career as an educator, Eleanor DuQuoin maintained her own rigorous artistic practice. She contributed work frequently to regional exhibitions and local competitions. She used both ceramic and metal to create sculptures that ranged from traditional pottery to modern abstract works.

In 1965, DuQuoin moved with her husband to Lawrence, Kansas, and took a teaching position at the University of Kansas. She won the Outstanding Teacher award in 1976 for her work developing an interdisciplinary program between the art and physics departments and her innovative approach to teaching. Eleanor DuQuoin died an accomplished artist and educator at age seventy-two.