Welcome to Douwe Studios, home of the sculpture artwork of Douwe Blumberg

About the Artist

Douwe Blumberg, (Dow, a Dutch name) came to his art career by a rather circuitous route.

Born in Los Angeles of two amateur artists, his artistic gifts were evident early on. During a childhood that was almost a continual art education, he spent some formative years in Europe being exposed to western artistic traditions. Later he attended the University of Southern California's prestigious Idyllwild School of the Arts and Music. This was followed up with four years of sculpture/metal working education during which he won many national awards. His education was capped by an apprenticeship at a CA art foundry where he mastered the many facets of creating bronzes.

Upon graduation however, he did not immediately pursue an art career. Instead, he became a professional horse trainer, a career he pursued for 18 years at his ranch outside of L.A. Gradually, however, he started sculpting again, albeit part time, and began accepting commissions. As demand for his work grew, he was forced to choose between the two careers, his lifelong passion of sculpting won out. Closing his barn in 2000, he relocated to centrally located Kentucky where he recently built a new studio and home north of Lexington.

Douwe has completed well over 200 private and public commissions to date. His private works include pieces for The Budweiser corporation, Mr. William Shatner, Ms. Elisabeth Goth, the Wrigley corporation, and the ambassador of Bahrain to name a few. Douwes design was selected as a semi-finalist for the Ground Zero monument. He has numerous awards and worldwide private and corporate collectors to his credit. Recent achievements include: The Leonard J. Meiselman award in sculpture from the American Academy of Equine Artists, The Palm Beach sculpture biennale peoples choice award, the Loveland sculpture invitational, the 2003 ADEX design award and selection for both the city of Wellington and the city of Boynton Beachs public arts programs in Florida. 2008 marked his selection for the prestigious artist residency program in Breckenridge, CO.

Some recent public projects include; a 17 foot tall flock of birds for the Intertex corporation of Los Angeles, a life-size herd of wild horses for the city of Aurora, CO, a large outdoor musical piece for the performing arts center in Lebanon, KY and the new entryway monument for the Vance Brand Airport in Longmont, CO. In 2008 alone, he has installed or is completing six large outdoor pieces for cities across the country. The last few years have seen the installation of a life-size commission for Mr. and Mrs. William Shatner, the unveiling of a life-size monument for the KY State Exposition Center and the inauguration of his Pegasus on the lead float in the Kentucky Derby Parade and the installation of De Oppresso Liber at the JFK Special Warfare Museum. He is currently working on the NJ Fallen Soldiers monument to be placed at Picatinny Arsenal in NJ. He has been tapped by the Special Operations Association, the Special Forces Association and the Foundation for U.S. Historical Monuments to sculpt the new U.S. Army Special Forces Monument, a life-and-a-half scale monument to be placed at Ft. Bragg, NC and Washington DC. Douwes studio also designs and sculpts a line of custom bronze furniture for the prominent Helene Aumont Collection.