The Studio of Dustin Van Wechel

Before wildlife artist Dustin Van Wechel built his current studio, he worked at an easel standing alone in the corner of a “disturbingly sparse” room in his Arizona home. At the time, fellow artist Krystii Melaine stopped in for a visit and was excited to see the studio of an artist she admired. He tried to warn her that it was nothing to get excited about, but his words fell on deaf ears.

“My studio hit her like a death in the family,” Van Wechel says, and jokingly adds that he thinks that his reputation diminished considerably in Melaine’s eyes that day. That anecdote illustrates why he considers building a studio in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2016 to be a major achievement that, in his mind, legitimized his career as a professional artist.

Read the full article in the September/October 2025 issue.