Born and raised in Minnesota, C. Michael Dudash settled in the Green Mountains of Vermont where he began his full-time career as an artist and oil painter in 1977. Working with agents in New York, he found immediate success as a freelance illustrator, which brought him national notoriety and a career that lasted 25 years. In 2002, he left illustration behind to become a full-time “easel” painter, dedicating himself to creating his own work. This eventually led him to concentrate his efforts on the subject of the Old West as represented by narrative paintings of the 1800s.

Dudash has written and published articles for American Artist and The Artist’s Magazine. His work has been showcased in Art of the West, Southwest Art and Western Art Collector. He has been a guest lecturer and instructor at many art schools, art institutions and museums including the Booth Western Art Museum, Brigham Young University, Museum of Biblical Art in Dallas and Scottsdale Artists’ School.

Dudash has shown and sold his work at the C. M. Russell Museum, the Scottsdale and Coeur d’Alene Art Auctions, the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, the Booth Museum of Western Art, the Briscoe Western Art Museum and the Eiteljorg Museum. In recent years, his paintings have won 12 separate industry awards. In the fall of 2016, he was invited to become a member of the prestigious Cowboy Artists Of America where, at their annual show, he has been awarded gold medals for best oil painting (2021 & 2022) and drawing (2017) and the Ray Swanson Award (2023). Dudash currently works out of his home and studio in the Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, area where he lives with his wife, Valerie.