Wavelength Diptych by Calie Durant

Acrylic on canvas
30" h x 62" w - unframed (30" x 30" each)

Calie Durant is an abstract painter whose work bridges a lifelong dedication to visual communication with a sustained commitment to a practice shaped through layered inquiry and revision. She studied graphic design in art school before earning her BFA with a major in painting. Raised in Hawai‘i, she was drawn early to the relationships between color, form, and atmosphere, sensitivities that would later inform both her design career and her studio practice.

Before turning fully toward painting, Calie worked in branding and advertising as an art director, designer, and strategist in New York and San Francisco. She led creative teams and crafted cohesive visual systems across web, mobile, and print. During this time, she partnered with renowned clients including Pottery Barn, Williams-Sonoma, Ogilvy & Mather, and Landor Associates. This background refined her approach to composition, structure, and visual clarity, elements that now underpin the disciplined yet expansive nature of her abstract work.

In 2021, Calie moved back to O‘ahu with her husband and two children. She now paints from her home studio in Honolulu, where a sense of rhythm, openness, and spatial awareness informs the ongoing evolution of her practice.

The ocean has long been a source of quiet fascination for me. It is at once familiar and unknowable, constantly shifting and revealing something different with each encounter. Wavelength began with that sense of movement and change, but as the paintings developed, they revealed another layer of meaning.

While the work remains rooted in the rhythm and energy of the sea, it also reflects the uncertainty that accompanies change. The layered marks and shifting forms speak to those moments when we move forward without knowing exactly what lies ahead, learning to trust the process rather than the outcome. Like the ocean itself, Wavelength holds both calm and movement, familiarity and mystery, inviting each viewer to find their own connection within its evolving surface.  - Calie Durant