Bio
Dustin Shores is an artist and creative collaborator. His art practice shares common threads of creative collaboration, imaging the familiar and exploring mediated photographic experiences through exhibitions, installations, and artist books. Shores’ unwavering commitment to photographic education, accessibility to the arts, and community collaborations have manifest in many forms throughout his career. His pedagogy focuses on image literacy and visual self-expression.
He received his MFA in Photography from The University of Arizona, in 2018 and his BFA in Fine Arts Photography from Winthrop University, in 2009. His work has been seen in museums and galleries across the United States, such as the Museum of Contemporary Art Tucson and the University of Arizona Museum of Art. His work has been shared internationally and featured in publications.
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Shores’ recent exhibitions, publications, and accomplishments include:
In 2021, Shores completed a Professional Certificate in Diversity and Inclusion Training at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA. He was a part of the group exhibition Portfolio 2021, at Atlanta Photography Group, in Atlanta, GA. He also co-led the workshop on How to Build Your Portfolio at The Light Factory in Charlotte, NC.
In 2020, Shores started teaching photography at Old Dominion University, where he was awarded the Reign On Faculty Recognition Award for “helping students succeed academically, professionally, and personally inside and outside the classroom.” He had a solo exhibition from Leaving Alice at Carteret Community College in Morehead City, NC, where he was also a visiting artist and gave an artist talk. He was a part of the group exhibition Tone at the Cabarrus Arts Council, Concord, NC, where he exhibited his newest body of work, One-Year. Work from Year-Two (work in progress) was selected and shared in two online exhibitions Time to Play, and A Remedy for Difficult Times in the guest-curated galleries at Six Feet. In the summer of 2020, he helped develop, implement, and facilitate Seeing Voices: Community (Un)heard at The Light Factory in Partnership with The School of Good Citizenship. Shores attended the workshop, Safe Space LGBTQIA+ Ally Faculty/Staff Training, through Old Dominion University.
In 2019, Shores started working for the nonprofit photographic organization The Light Factory in Charlotte, NC, as the Director of Community Engagement. He led the development and implementation of two new community engagement programs Self-Discovery Through Photography and Vice Versa. Also, he was a Visiting Artist at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Northern Colorado, where he gave artist talks and taught workshops on photographing long term personal projects. Shores attended two in-depth workshops offered through the Arts & Science Council of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, NC, Self to Systems Race Equity, and Human-Centered Design for Nonprofits and Creative Entrepreneurs. Lastly, he completed a Professional Certificate in the Nonprofit Management Program at Duke University, Durham, NC.
In 2018, he continued his collaborations with Wilson in the installation Monument Valley: America’s Temporal Paradox, as part of the Desert Hollywood: Celebrity Landscapes in Cinema exhibition. They also co-curated, The Myth and The Mirror: Artwork of the American West, He completed his MFA Thesis Exhibition work from Leaving Alice at The University of Arizona, currently ranked as one of the top three graduate programs for photography in the nation in 2020, according to the U.S. News Rankings.
During 2016-2017, the collaborative exhibitions West by Wester, with artist Eric Wilson. The collaborative exhibition Perception // Disconnection, with Art Historian Andy Hayt. Shores attended The Durational Image workshop led by contemporary artist Owen Kydd at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, Colorado, on a competitive tuition scholarship from the center. He was a part of the group exhibition, ByNowWeAreThere, at The Museum of Contemporary Art Tucson.
Photo Credit John Nofs