Sculpture became a consuming passion for me relatively late in life, after archaeological fieldwork in Mexico, ethnographic fieldwork in NYC, work in Student Affairs and disability services at the University of Michigan, and tutoring at the Washtenaw County Jail. In classes and workshops I learned much from Daniel Altshuler, Eugene Daub, Lincoln Fox, Anthony Frudakis and Norma Penchansky-Glasser. I am also grateful for the critiques and encouragement I have received from Marshall M. Fredericks, Walker Hancock, Enrique Moreiro, Robert A. Weinman and Wesley Wofford, as well as the encouragement I’ve received from family, friends and passing acquaintances. I believe that love sees wondrously and hope that my medals, portraits and figures reflect the ineffable beauty of the human face, form and spirit. I agree with Rabindranath Tagore, the Bengali poet, who wrote “When I go from hence let this be my parting word, that what I have seen is unsurpassable.” For me sculpture is a way of giving thanks.
Exhibited at:
Kalamazoo Institute of the Arts; Cobo Hall (Detroit); Illinois Wesleyan University; the National Sculpture Society Gallery (New York); the American Numismatic Association Museum (Colorado Springs); the Newark Museum; the American Numismatic Society (New York); Pennsylvania State University; the Forest Lawn Museum (California); the Municipal Museum of the City of Wroclaw (Poland); 30th Congress of the Federation Internationale de la Medaille d’Art (FIDEM / International Art Medal Federation) in Colorado Springs (2007 juried exhibition); the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum 2008 Regional Biennial Juried Sculpture Exhibition; the 31st Congress of FIDEM in the Tampere (Finland) Art Museum (2010 juried exhibition); National Sculpture Society: Recent Works online exhibition (2011); Medialia: Rack and Hamper Gallery (New York); Riverside Gallery (Ypsilanti, MI); The Art Medal: Past and Present exhibit (2011) at Brookgreen Gardens (South Carolina); the Bellevue Arts Museum (2012, Bellevue, Washington); the American Medallic Sculpture Association’s 30th Anniversary Exhibition (2013) at Brookgreen Gardens (South Carolina); the World Art Medal exhibition in the Archaeological Museum during the 33rd Congress of FIDEM in Sofia, Bulgaria (2014 juried exhibition); the 92nd Annual All Media Exhibition at the Ann Arbor Art Center (2014); North Gallery in Edmonds, Washington (2016); the International Exhibition of Contemporary Art Medals as part of the FIDEM/International Art Medal Federation’s 34th Congress in Gent (Ghent), Belgium in the Rectorate of the Hogeschool Gent (2016 juried exhibition); the Provincial Museum of Ancient Arts of Namur, Belgium (10/2016-1/2017); Le 40ème (40th) salon d’art FORMES & COULEURS à la Collégiale Saint André de Chartres in Chartres, France (Sept. 1 – 10, 2017); FIDEM/International Art Medal Federation’s 35th Congress in Ottawa at the Canadian Museum of Nature (2018 juried exhibition); National Sculpture Society 86th Annual Awards Exhibition at Brookgreen Gardens, SC (August 10 – October 27, 2019); Works In Progress: Sculpture Created in Self-Isolation (National Sculpture Society – Online Exhibition, 2020); The Associates Online Invitational (National Sculpture Society – Online Exhibition, 2021); Las Laguna Art Gallery The 2nd Half: 50 and Over online show (July 2021); University of Detroit Mercy (2021); FIDEM XXXVI Congress, Tokyo 2021 Exhibition, Hayakudan Kaidan (2021); The Medal in America invitational exhibition at the American Numismatic Association Money Museum in Colorado Springs (closes in March 2025); The Way I’m Wired: Artist Reflections on Neurodiversity exhibition, Western Carolina University Fine Art Museum, Cullowhee, NC, Aug. 16 – May 12, 2023; Invitation to Inspiration invitational exhibit, PARC (Plymouth Arts and Recreation Complex) Art Gallery, Plymouth, MI, Oct. 1 – Dec. 2, 2022; Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum Regional Biennial Juried Sculpture Exhibition at the museum in Saginaw, MI, June 10 – July 29, 2023 (Awarded Juror’s Merit); Exhibition at the XXXVII Congress of the International Art Medal Federation/Fédération Internationale de la Médaille d’Art ( FIDEM), Oct. 12 – Nov. 9, 2023, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze in Florence, Italy.
Medals created for the American Civil Liberties Union, the Great Lakes Bioregional Land Conservancy, the Land Stewardship Center, Michigan State University School of Labor and Industrial Relations, and the Old West Side Association, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Medals or relief sculpture in the permanent collections of the American Numismatic Association Museum (Colorado Springs), the Haiderzad Museum of Modern Art in the Academy of Sciences in Kabul, Afghanistan, in the Matthaei Botanical Gardens and the Yuri Kochiyama Multicultural Lounge at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, at the Michigan State University School of Labor and Industrial Relations, and in private collections in India, Israel, Scotland and the United States.
Served on the three-person jury of awards for the 80th Annual Awards Exhibition of the National Sculpture Society (2013).
Treasurer (formerly Vice President and member of the Board of Directors), American Medallic Sculpture Association; member, Federation Internationale de la Medaille d’Art (FIDEM – International Art Medal Federation); Professional Member, Portrait Sculptors Society of the Americas; Associate member, National Sculpture Society. Listed in Medal Artists: Who’s Who Among American Medallists, The Artists of Our Country’s Coins and Medals 1652 to Date by D. Wayne Johnson.
Visit my web pages on the web sites of the Portrait Sculptors Society of the Americas and the American Medallic Sculpture Association at http://portraitsculptors.org and http://amsamedals.org. If you have interest in commissioning a portrait or other sculptural piece, please contact me at dkwhite@umich.edu or 734-846-6018. Commissions for relief portraits, based on photographs, are welcome. We can discuss details either on the phone or via email.
Portrait in progress
Cornejo – bronze medal with ferric nitrate patina in honor of Herman Cornejo, Principal Dancer with the American Ballet Theatre
Herman Cornejo with medal Photo credit: María José Lavandera
William Bolcom – American Musician medal
Tyler: Life size bust; cast bronze with silver nitrate patina, on exhibit in the 86th Annual Awards Exhibition of the National Sculpture Society at Brookgreen Gardens in 2019.
Tyler in the plastilene
Tyler (detail) in bronze with silver nitrate patina
Davie Donaldson – Scottish Traveller Activist medal, FIDEM XXXVI Tokyo 2020 Exhibition (postponed until December, 2021)
Davie Donaldson medal in the plastilene
Angel of Despised Love — for the victims of Orlando / Ange de L’amour Méprisé — pour les victimes d’Orlando / Ángel del amor despreciado — para las víctimas de Orlando on exhibit in the Collégiale Saint André de Chartres in Chartres, France in 2017.
Half-life size bust in progress
Two Sides of the Same Soul – Side 1. Cast bronze; 5 1/4″ X 4 3/4″ 2016. Available for $300.
Wesley with portrait bust of himself at his grandparents’ house
Wesley bust (profile)
Old West Side Citizen Award – 2014
Matt Nowka – Exhibited at FIDEM Congress at Sofia, Bulgaria in 2014
Head of a Young Man
John Leonard
Caitlin O’Toole
Kyle
The Gods Walk Among Us
Tom
Lost in Thought
The Gods Walk Among Us (detail)
Jerome Strong Civil Liberties Award
Will at 15
Matt
Katrina White at 14 Speaks Truth to Power — exhibited at FIDEM/International Art Medal Federation’s 35th Congress in Ottawa at the Canadian Museum of Nature (June 2018)
Jeremy Shelton – Portrait medal – Bronze – Exhibited at FIDEM (International Art Medal Federation) Congress at Colorado Springs in 2007.
Michael L. Moore Endowed Scholarship (not the film director)
Bronze plaque in the Yuri Kochiyama Multicultural Lounge in South Quadrangle, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
The Juggler of Notre Dame – painting by Glyn Philpot, early 20th century British portraitist/painter. Le Jongleur de Notre Dame is a religious miracle story by the French author Anatole France, based on an old medieval legend. It tells the story of a juggler who has no gift to offer a statue of the Virgin Mary except for his ability to juggle very well. Upon doing so, he is accused of blasphemy by the monks, but the statue comes to life and blesses the juggler. Though I am not Catholic, I have a lot of sympathy for and empathy with the juggler in this story, which has a great spiritual truth to it. As Howard Thurman wrote, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” I hope to do a sculpture of the Juggler of Notre Dame, based on this painting.
westhuronsculptors.com 
I met the man, Douglas White, before I met the sculptor. We sat next to each other at the Mozart Requiem performance at Hill Auditorium “Requiem for Orlando”. I can see now, when I look at his work a day later why his work touches people. Douglas has compassion, sensitivity and a openness to other human beings.
He listened intently about my son, Holden, when I wanted to show him his picture. He didn’t hesitate to connect with me, a stranger. I will be following his work from now on.
Agreed! That is the Doug White I worked for back in my U of M residence hall days and continue to love and respect. He has always connected on a personal level, listening with compassion and a memory beyond belief! Doug is a true Renaissance man, as I recall his philosophies of life and his musical compositions back in the late 80s!
I found this page eager to commission a piece for my husband. Had he not seen beyond the interview into the man applying to be a Resident Director, my life would not be the full one I’ve enjoyed from getting to know my now husband/former residence hall neighbor.