ABOUT THE ARTIST
Most of my early years I lived with my maternal grandparents in
a 1 bedroom house my grandfather built in rural Southeast Texas.
It was a Garden of Eden with vegetables, strawberry patch, flowers, grapevines, bees, birds and me. This was my playground and classroom where I learned colors, shapes and shadows that changed with the time of day and the seasons. In the hot Texas sun I often climbed on the limbs of my grandfather's fig trees and looked up to blue sky.
I appreciate color, movement, spontaneity, humor, quiet understatement, invention and mastery of technique. If I live to be 100 I will never forget a time in my 20s when I stood in a Chicago museum looking up at a large John Singer Sargent painting towering over me; it was the moment I first knew that art could be powerful.
I carry a small sketchbook for notes and sketches of my vision of a finished piece for later use in my studio. I have worked in watercolor, collage, pencil, pen, charcoal, pastel, oil, lithograph, silkscreen, assemblage, mixed media, and now acrylic. I try to create artwork* that is eclectic, whimsical and thought provoking.
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Originally self-taught in creating collage, watercolor and pencil drawings, Nancy's college coursework included her varied interest of art, interior design, journalism and communication before acquiring a degree in Public Relations and doing copywriting. Nancy has also had careers in the applied arts of Interior Design, Visual Merchandising, Floral Design, Copywriting and teaching Interior Design.
Nancy was born in San Antonio and grew up in Southeast Texas, Houston and Austin. She has been an artist since the age of 4 when her stepfather, a professional artist in oil paintings, taught her the use of art supplies. In addition to her art, Nancy is a published poet and a member of The American Academy of Poets.
Her life, Interior Design work and travel have taken her to Miami, Los Angeles, Houston, Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, Honolulu, Chicago, Denver, Tucson, Phoenix, Scottsdale, Santa Fe and Palm Springs. During these times she met Gustavo Helmund, Don Ho, Rep. Lloyd Doggett, Governor John Connally, Johnny Mathis,
Gloria Steinem, landscape architect Pat Weaver, Tony Bennett, Charles Ward founder of Idea Works, , Count Basie, Greer Garson, Rev. Dr. Robert Schuller, Gray Hawn, Glen Campbell, Mark Gastineau, Sir Edmund Hillary, Peter Max, and James Soto of Soto Arts.
Nancy currently lives and works in historic San Antonio Texas.
*CONTACT Nancy Deen through [email protected]
(Fig photos courtesy of Joel Salcido Ruiz)
