E. Thurston Dunn was born in Detroit, Michigan. At the age of 19 he joined the United States Navy where he studied Cryptology and obtained a Top Secrect Security Clearance. He completed his first tour of duty in Adak, Alaska, then to High Frequency Direction Finding School before obtaining orders to San Vito, Italy.
After completing four years of Naval Service he spent nine months hitchhiking through Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, and Holland before ending up in London, England. Upon return to the states he was accepted into FIT's Fashion Design Program. In the second year of his studies he was accepted into the Knitwear Design and Tailoring Techniques program at Polimoda in Florence, Italy, in addition to studying Art History at the University of Florence. While studying he worked at Kama Kama at the Lido di Camaiore in Via Reggio and worked on some freelance design assignments before shooting the Fall 1993 print campaign for designer Fabrizio Del Carlo. (Are you still reading this??? LOL!!!)
Upon his return to NYC to continue with his studies, he was offered an assignment at Isaac Mizrahi as a Technical Design Assistant. While working at Mizrahi he was offered a permenant position in the New York office of Christian Dior. He later went on to work on Lauren Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein Jeans, J. Crew, Nautica and Polo Jeans.
He began painting seriously in March of 2001 in Alanta, Georgia. After selling a few paintings to Roby Von Tobien, a banker from JP Morgan, the artist was offered the use of his summer home in the East Hamptons during the summer of 2001. He arrived in Las Vegas in December of 2001 and participated in his first showing at Dirk Vermin's Gallery Au Go-Go durning the Fall of 2002. In February of 2003 he opened his Primitive Chic Studio in the Arts Factory. He has since participated in shows including the Ariel Gallery, Left of Center Gallery and Studio, City Hall's Bridge Gallery, The KGPA, and Dixie College in Saint George, Utah. In March of 2005 he received grants from the NEA and NAC in support of his show PRIMITIVE at the M GRIESGRABER STUDIO GALLERY in the Holsum Lofts Building. In May of 2005 he taped a segment for a show titled "That's Clever" for HGTV in the Left of Center Gallery and Studio.
