About The Artist
Biography
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Me & My Muse Shrine |
Deedee took a circuitous route to get to where she is now. Her early roots are in New Orleans- home of the Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveau, mystery & magic, smoky gumbo & oily muffalatas, the dank smell of the Mississippi & the sweet tea smell of magnolias. Deedee moved up river to Baton Rouge- the “red stick”- home of L.S.U. and worked in a Disco while getting her Master's Degree in Fine Arts. This was back in the day when abstract painting was considered THE ONLY WAY TO PAINT and though Deedee longed to learn to paint realistically she fell in love with the saturated colors of an unusual, in those days, program: stained glass & became the first woman to graduate with a Master's in stained glass. In that in between time of then & now Deedee owned a stained glass studio, made three-dimensional narrative "Story Boxes" and fooled around with chalk & oil pastels & oils & acrylics- painting mostly landscapes. Her work was exhibited in galleries in La., Co., Mo., Texas, New Mexico and Kansas. In 1977 she moved to Estes Park, Colorado- a beautiful mountain town where she fell in love & got married. They moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico where they had two boys, hand built their house, ate tons of green chile and spent a lot of time not only at the Flea Market but wandering Canyon Road absorbing all of the ART. After 9 years in Santa Fe the family moved back to Estes where they eventually- after much introspection, got divorced. During all those years Deedee had the pleasure of fulfilling another passion- travel: to Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, Japan, Angola, Portugal, Madeira, England, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Bali & Java.
After the divorce and with many years of life experiences and the influences of folk art, symbolic images and mysteries of foreign travel Deedee began exploring her inner landscape as it relates to the outer world. In a serendipitous moment in 2003 Deedee happened upon some vintage postcards in a small rare bookstore on St. Simon’s Island, Ga. She was fascinated by the messages on the back-written in 1901-1910- they were very polite & subdued in comparison to this day & age- was passionate love throbbing beneath “fondly yours, Ethel”? Was the postcard picture of a lonely night scene with a car driving over a long dark bridge a way of saying "I’m lonely, I REALLY miss you?” The pictures and the messages capture a moment in time & space that we, as voyeurs, can imagine into our own story. The postcards can also convey a sense of setting for the inner landscapes that we experience. Thus, Deedee began her series of vintage postcard paintings. "Sometimes the painting story evolves from the postcard image or message and other times I know what I want to express & I look for a postcard that fits", says Deedee. Deedee uses stamped figures of women to represent an archetypal Every Woman. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines archetype as "the original pattern or model of all things of the same type.” "I wanted to use a woman of no particular ethnic or socio-economic background to express the explorations of our inner landscape- motherhood, lover, friendship, happiness, sorrow, death, spirituality, loneliness, ageing etc. but always with hope & tenderness." By using multiple facets of symbolism Deedee intends for the viewer to find layers of enchantment with each viewing. "Meaning shapes seeing- the images a viewer sees within my paintings evokes a feeling that gives the painting meaning to the viewer," according to Deedee. Rather than tell an obvious story Deedee’s narrative paintings give the viewer enough material to make up their own. Based on years of experimenting with different mediums Deedee uses acrylics, often in conjunction with pencil, charcoal, pastels, plaster, wax and collage to create the images on gessoed masonite.
In the last 5 years Deedee's work had been shown at the Cultural Arts Center of Estes Park, The Estes Park Library, the Estes Park Open Studios Tour, the Sunflower Gallery in Denver, Colorado, the Blue Horse Galley in Estes Park, the Madison & Main Gallery in Greeley, Colorado, the Renegade Artists Show in Estes Park, Gallery Best in Estes Park, The Art Center in Grand Junction, Colorado, The Art Center of Estes Park and in 2007 her work was juried into a show at the Curtis Arts & Humanities Center in Denver, Colorado by Dean Sobel Project Director of the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver & former Director & Chief Curator of the Aspen Art Museum in Aspen, Colorado. Her work has been collected in Colorado, New Mexico, New York, Texas and Indonesia.
Resume
| 2008 | Participant in Random Works-21st annul exhibit celebrating art by women in Colorado; Cultural Arts Council, Estes Park, Colorado. March 2-April 27. |
| 2007 | Solo show at the Estes Park, Colorado Library the month of October. Participant in the 2nd Annual Estes Park Open Studios Tour; Sept. 29th & 30th. Juried into the Curtis Arts & Humanities Center "24th Annual All Colorado Show" by juror Dean Sobel, Project Director of the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver, Co. & former Director & Chief Curator of the Aspen Art Museum in Aspen, Co. Member Sunflower Gallery; Denver, Colorado Member Blue Horse Gallery; Estes Park, Colorado Participant in the "20th Annual Women's History Month Art Show, Traditions Old & New" at the Cultural Arts Council of Estes Park, Colorado; March 11-April 29. Invited artist for the "Red Show"; January; Madison & Main Gallery, Greeley, Co. |
| 2006 | Member of The Blue Horse Gallery; Estes Park, Colorado |
| 2005 | Invited to be a Guest Artist for the “PASSPORTS Show”; Madison & Main
Gallery; Greeley, Colorado; July 5th through September 2nd. Participated in the “Back Roads Show”; juried; The Renegade Artists Group; Estes Park, Colorado August 6th-August 28th. |
| 2004 | Member of Gallery Best; Estes Park, Colorado |
| 2003 | Member Gallery Best; Estes Park, Colorado Participated in The MUSE’s Show: “Art and Soul-The Journey Within”: March, Cultural Arts Council, Estes Park, Colorado Participated in juried show: “context: art & words”; The Art Center; Grand Junction, Colorado; July 11th-August 29th |
| 2002 | Participated in juried show: “Lines In to Shapes”: Art Center of Estes Park, Colorado; Sept- October |
| 1977 | MFA Louisiana State University |
| Prior to 2002 I was working in a different medium: painting on silk and chalk pastel landscapes. | |
| Professional Activities | Founding member of The MUSE’s- a women’s art organization in Estes
Park, Colorado Member of the Art Center of Estes Park, Colorado Member of the Cultural Arts Council; Estes Park, Colorado Art Director, Craft & Design Center; YMCA of the Rockies, Estes Park, Colorado |