Born  in 1936 in National City, California, Duane Preble is an American artist and art educator.   He is the son of Bennett and Mary Salome (Williams) Preble and married Sarah Ann Hamilton on March 13, 1961. They have two children, Jeffrey Hamilton and Malia.

Duane completed his B.A. at the University of California at Los Angeles in 1959. He completed his Masters of Fine Arts Thesis entitled “A series of recorded images and sounds taken from everyday life and organized on the basis of creative indeterminacy to be super-imposed in rhythmical sequence” in 1963. He joined as a Lecturer at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu from 1963-1964, and then accepted a teaching position in the UH Mānoa Art Department from 1964-1991. Duane held a Visiting Professor position at the University of Colorado for 1979-80. He retired from the University Art Department in 1991 and in 1993 he accepted an advisory position to the Board of the Honolulu Waldorf School.

Duane also held positions in community organizations in Honolulu.  As a Member and Chair of the City Commission on Culture & the Arts ( 1971-1973); as a Board Member for the Civic Forum for Public Education (1998-2000); as President of the Board for Keiki o ka ʻĀina Family Learning Centers (2004-2006); as a Board member of Mālama o Mānoa (2003-2006); and as a Board member for the Friends of Libraries of Hawaii since 1997. In addition to these positions, Duane was a Trustee for the Honolulu Academy Arts since 1973. He was Chair of the Arts Department at the University of Hawaiʻi (1985-1987) and on the Board of Directors for the Hawaii Alliance Arts Education from 1988-1995.

As an artist, Duane is listed as a notable artist and art educator by Marquis Who's Who. He has authored numerous books including 12 editions of Preble’s Artforms. Other titles include Design with Nature, Man Creates Art Creates Man, We Create Art Creates Us, and Writing On-line Research Guide for Arts Forms. Duane’s passions outside of teaching and creating art are hiking, bicycling, swimming, and music (jug band).

In 1999 Tom was honored by the Republic of France as a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for contributions to the arts in France and Hawaii. He was the recipient of the University of Hawaii Robert W. Clopton Award for Distinguished Community Service in 2003 and named a Living Treasure of Hawaii in 2005. Tom is currently working on a book about the Cappella Palatina, the royal chapel of the Norman Palace in Palermo, Sicily, which he began in the 1970s.