Douglas Bell graduated with a BA from Rhode Island College in sculpture in 1980. He earned his MA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in 1982 and his MFA from the Mount Royal School of Art at the Maryland Institute College of Art in 1985. In 1988 Bell exhibited in a solo show at Bannister Gallery titled Doug Bell: Recent Works, which is when the piece in Bannister Gallery’s collection was likely acquired. Bell creates sculptures, drawings, and paintings which often consist of mixed media. He characterizes his works on paper as notes or as drawings of objects he intends to make. In his artist statement he describes his work as “a reflection of [his] need to make order out of chaos and give meaning to the incoherent.” In his sculptures he often works with discarded objects, rearranging them into installations that encourage the viewer to consider the plethora of manufactured items that continue to pass through time after they have been abandoned.

Bell has been an instructor at numerous schools, including the Massachusetts College of Art; the University of Massachusetts, Lowell; the Art Institute of Boston; the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth; Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, ME; and Montseratt College of Art in Beverly, MA.