Dwayne Manuel began his meek being on the field lands of the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community. Since those beginnings, the chief activity of time consumption in Dwayne’s world was drawing. Although, he was introduced to the art of drawing by family members, the main creative influence in his upbringing was his mother Alice Manuel, who was a traditional O’odham basket maker. Through childhood, adolescents and adulthood, it was the need for drawing that would continuously sketch a future in the arts for Dwayne Manuel.
 

It would be the year 2002, after Dwayne graduated high school, where he would kick off his artistic journey through the trenches of academia. His introduction to college level classes would be at the Scottsdale Community College, located on the Salt River reservation. Navigating through SCC would cause Dwayne to determine his seriousness in learning more about his passion for drawing and the visual arts. From 2004-2010, he attended the prestigious Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he obtained his Bachelors in Fine Arts. After IAIA, Manuel decided to make like the Eagles and “take it to the limit one more time” by pursuing the challenge of a Masters degree in fine art. In 2011-2014, he attended the University Of Arizona School of Art where he would championly acquire his Masters of Fine Art degree.
 

Manuel now teaches painting and drawing at the Tohono O’odham Community College in Sells, Az and Phoenix, Az. In his professional art career, Dwayne has collaborated, exhibited, and been commissioned by organizations such as:

• Nike

• Salt River Courts

• The New Arizona Prize

• The Cheyenne River Youth Project

• Tucson Museum of Art

• Mesa Arts Center

• Children’s Museum Tucson

• Museum of Contemporary Native Art

• The Amerind

• The Heard Museum

• Tucson Museum of Art

• The Container Yard

• I.D.E.A. Space Colorado

• The Joseph Gross Gallery

• Raices Taller Gallery

• Contreras Gallery

• The Hive Gallery

• The Huhugam Heritage Center

• Anchorage Museum

• Tucson Desert Art Museum

• UA Museum of Art.