Born in London, Ontario, with a BFA degree from Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Dykhuis lived in Toronto until 1991 before moving to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he continues to practice as an artist, arts administrator/curator and critical writer. He has exhibited in artist-run and public galleries throughout Canada, occasionally in the United States and, notably, at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo in 1998.

In 2001 he received the Juror's Award in Encaustic Works '01 at the Muroff-Kotler Visual Art Gallery in Stone Ridge, New York and was the 2003 winner from Eastern Canada in the New Canadian Painting Competition sponsored by RBC Investments and the Canadian Art Foundation.