Dan Duffy

Dan Duffy is an American calligram artist in Flourtown, Pennsylvania, USA. He founded, owns, and operates Art of Words, a small business that designs and sells calligram prints depicting famous athletes, sports venues, city skylines, and other subjects.

Early life and artistic education

Born in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, Duffy grew up in Norristown, Pennsylvania.

Duffy majored in art where he also played rugby. He then enrolled in the Hussian School of Art (now Hussian College) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he graduated from in 2006.

At the Hussian School, Duffy completed a calligram as an assignment. Calligrams are texts arranged to form a thematically related image. The calligram assignment used only three words. Duffy recalls thinking if he could use more words, he “might actually be able to make it into an illustration.”

After art school, Duffy worked as a graphic designer, From 2007-11, Duffy was Associate Art Director for PGA Magazine.“The magazines would ask me to come up with an image for the article,” Duffy said, “which led me to think how cool it would be to make the article into the image.” by writing the date, opponent, and final score of every Phillies game in the season. Duffy specialized in Philadelphia sports figures and landmarks.

He has also created custom pieces for clients, such as portraits of their favorite athlete craft fairs, and flea markets. In one film sequence, the camera zooms in on George Seurat’s painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (1884-1886) to show its pointillist technique. “I remember the sequences of shots,” Duffy said, “hinking, ‘oah that’s so cool.’”

Next, Duffy creates a composite image of the subject from several pre-existing photographs. “I don’t like to duplicate an image that already exists, so I create my own,” he says. the Washington Post, Fox Sports the New York Daily News USA Today, and several local television network affiliate stations.

Duffy has created large word art pieces live for organizations including TED Talks, Ameriprise Financial, and the 2016 Democratic National Convention.