The first major study of an important Northwest sculptor and teacher Everett DuPen (1912-2005) was an important Seattle sculptor who had a distinguished career as professor at the University of Washington for thirty-eight years. Although he worked in different styles and mediums throughout his profession, he was acknowledged for his dedication to the human form. DuPen began his formal art studies at University of Southern California and later transferred to Yale, where he graduated in 1937. In addition to studying architecture at Harvard, he spent a year at the American Academy of Art in Rome. After his marriage in 1939, he and his wife moved first to St. Louis and later to Pittsburgh, where he taught at the Carnegie Institute of Technology and developed a national reputation. In 1945 DuPen moved permanently to Seattle, Washington, to teach at the University of Washington. He played a major role in building the university's Sculpture Division into a nationally and internationally recognized department.

His sculpture can be found in many public parks and buildings as well as in museums and private collections. One of his best-known public commissions is the Fountain of Creation, a bronze and stone water garden created for the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. By the time of his death at age ninety-two, he was a Fellow of the prestigious National Sculpture Society and the National Academy of Design. He was a mentor to several generations of sculptors and continued to produce work until his death in 2005.