[Coast Culture] Kathleen Dugan's Extraordinary Second Act

Kathleen Dugan: Painter, Photographer, Writer, Mentor, Director...

For many people, retirement is an invitation to slow down—to exchange deadlines for hobbies, schedules for spontaneity, and careers for quiet mornings overlooking the ocean. It's one of the reasons so many people choose the Oregon Coast as the place to begin this next chapter of life.

Then there's Kathleen Dugan.

Spend an hour in conversation with Dugan and you'll quickly discover that retirement, in her case, bears little resemblance to the conventional image. Rather than stepping away from meaningful work, she has stepped into one of the busiest and most creatively fulfilling seasons of her life. Painter. Writer. Theater director. Volunteer. Mentor. Community advocate. None of those roles feel separate. They are simply different expressions of the same creative energy.

What emerges isn't the portrait of someone trying to stay busy. It's the story of someone who finally has the freedom to pursue every creative thread that had been woven through her life all along.

Long before retirement, Dugan spent ten years teaching English Language Development, including at Newport Middle School. Teaching wasn't simply a profession; it shaped the way she approaches nearly everything she does.

"It wasn't all about me as a teacher," she reflected during our conversation. "It was about us collectively making something great."

That philosophy never retired. It simply found new places to thrive.

This month alone offers a glimpse into that remarkable second act. On July 23, Dugan will host a Meet the Artist evening at La Baia Italian Restaurant in Waldport from 5 to 8 p.m. Diners can have a delicious dinner this new Italian restaurant, view a collection of her photography and abstract paintings, and meet Dugan in person. Reservations are encouraged.

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That’s just one of several places where her work can be found. Dugan also exhibits multiple pieces through the Yaquina Art Association gallery in Newport, where she volunteers as a gallery sitter, greeting visitors, answering questions, and supporting fellow artists as readily as she promotes her own work.

Her paintings also occasionally appear at the Seal Rock Farmers Market, where she sets up on Saturdays whenever the weather—and the experience—feel right. That last qualifier matters.

Dugan's work is available for purchase at the Yaquina Art Association gallery in Newport.

When asked why she hadn't expanded to another market, Dugan laughed.

"If it's not fun, I don't do it."

It's an answer that sounds lighthearted, but it reveals something fundamental about how she has chosen to live. Retirement hasn't become a checklist of accomplishments. It's become an opportunity to invest her time in work that energizes her rather than simply fills the calendar.

Visual art, however, is only one piece of her story.

Dugan is equally at home with the written word. Earlier in her career, she published a nonfiction book titled Student Ownership: The Missing Link in Education in which she shares the teaching methods she developed in the classroom. Dugan wrote the book at the behest of other educators who were hoping to adopt her practices for their own students.

Today, she's channeling that same creativity in a different direction, working on a fantasy novel while also contributing pieces to this year's Sterncastle Writers Collective anthology whose theme—Individual vs. Society—promises some profound reading.

On paper, those projects couldn't look more different. One grows from years of classroom experience; the other from imagination. Yet both spring from the same impulse—to communicate ideas, tell meaningful stories, and leave readers with something worth considering.

The same can be said of her work in community theater.

Earlier this year, Dugan served as assistant director for 4000 Miles with New Visions Arts, working alongside director Marc Maislen. It wasn't her first theatrical experience. She had previously been invited to help out with the New Visions production of The Tempest, helping actors refine movement and stage presence. Those opportunities confirmed something she hadn't fully anticipated: the skills that made her an effective teacher translated naturally to directing.

Listening to Dugan describe rehearsal, it becomes clear she doesn't think like someone trying to control a production. She thinks like a collaborator. She talks about slowing a scene down, helping actors hear the weight of a line, asking questions instead of issuing commands. It’s akin to her approach to leading a classroom—which in a sense is just another type of stage.

That collaborative spirit surfaced again and again throughout our conversation.

At one point, we drifted into a discussion about the future of the arts on the Central Oregon Coast. Many people might see the symphony, theater, dance, visual arts, and poetry as separate worlds. Dugan sees opportunities.

She spoke enthusiastically about pairing ballet with live symphony performances. She imagined poets reading between musical movements, singers weaving quietly into orchestral arrangements, even painters creating artwork during performances so audiences could experience multiple art forms at once.

The idea has grown into a broader vision she calls Art and Theater at the Coast—not a single event, but a philosophy. Rather than allowing creative organizations to operate independently, why not encourage them to build something together? Why not create experiences that give audiences more reasons to stay, explore, and discover everything the Coast's arts community has to offer?

It's an ambitious vision. But what makes it compelling isn't simply the idea itself. It's the way Dugan presents it.

"I'm a big picture person," she told me.

That perspective has shaped much of her life. Whether discussing her years in education, her work in theater, or her hopes for the Coast's creative future, she consistently returns to the broader impact rather than personal recognition. Even when offering suggestions, she does so with what can only be described as a “take it or leave it” type of humility. She shares ideas freely, never insisting they're the only way forward, only hoping they might help someone else build something meaningful.

That may be Kathleen Dugan's greatest gift. She's not simply creating art. She's creating connections.

She volunteers her time at the gallery. She volunteered her talents with New Visions Arts. She contributes to collaborative writing projects. She freely shares ideas with directors, artists, and community organizations, rarely concerned with who receives the credit if something succeeds.

There is a generosity woven through everything she does.

By the end of our conversation, it was clear that the list of Kathleen Dugan's pursuits—painting, writing, theater, teaching, volunteering—wasn't really the story at all. Plenty of people have multiple interests.

What makes Dugan different is that each pursuit strengthens the next. Teaching informs directing. Directing influences writing. Writing sharpens observation. Painting inspires collaboration. Volunteerism ties it all together.

Retirement didn't give Kathleen Dugan a new identity. It gave every part of the person she had always been room to coexist on the same plane.

The Oregon Coast has long attracted people looking for a quieter life. Kathleen Dugan found that quiet here, too—but she filled it with color, stories, performances, conversations, and ideas. In doing so, she's become more than an artist or a volunteer. She's become one of those rare people whose enthusiasm quietly inspires an entire creative community to imagine what might be possible if everyone worked together.

And for Kathleen Dugan, that may be the most meaningful work of all.