COD Experts: David Ouellette

Art Professor David Ouellette has always enjoyed creating things. But as a studio art major in college, he found himself liking the research aspect of art more than the actual making part.

“I have always been interested in the past and loved reading about antiquity growing up. But honestly, I didn’t even know art history was a discipline until I was turned onto it by my first-year Art Appreciation instructor,” he said. “Once I found that out, I was hooked. Before I transferred to Northern Illinois University, I decided I wanted to concentrate on the art of the ancient Maya. As luck would have it, I found that the university had a preeminent scholar in the field, Dr. Jeff Kowalski. He has been an incredible mentor to me over the years.”

Ouellette taught Art History and Humanities part-time at various educational institutions, including Waubonsee Community College, South Suburban College and Concordia University. He then took a tenure-track position at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where he was an assistant professor of Non-Western Art History for two years before returning to the Chicago area in 2013 to teach full-time at College of DuPage.

Ouellette is inspired by new ideas, tenacious people and beautiful things, either natural or man-made.

“Luckily, what I have chosen to do in life surrounds me with those things all of the time,” he said. “I get to work with great faculty and students who are full of great ideas and curiosity. I study some of the most beautiful and fascinating things ever made by human hands. I live in a quiet place where I can stay in touch with the natural world, yet I am close enough to a beautiful metropolis full of historical and cultural significance. It all inspires me. I can’t think of a better place to live and work.”

Contact Ouellette at ouelletted@cod.edu (630) 942-2586.

David Ouelette

Art history is not just about pictures some dead guy made at some unknowable point in the past. It’s about understanding the human drive to take ideas and make them visible, make them tangible.

- David Ouelette, Art Professor

Areas of Expertise

  • Art History
  • Maya Hieroglyphic Writing
  • Animal Studies

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