Art is a partnership, an unchoreographed dance between the imagination of the artist and the life experience of the viewer.
When artist Deanne McKeown’s name is mentioned, people’s reactions are often, “What a treasure!” Her calm, friendly and direct manner, as well as a genuine curiosity and interest in all around her, give her a focused energy that belies her 88 years. “If I’m not learning something new every day, I’m in trouble. Whether it’s words or an experience or whatever, doesn’t have to be art, but it’s important to keep alive.”
The fun begins
Deanne discovered her calling early. “When I was in the sixth grade, in a little bitty town, there was no art instruction at all. There was a young teacher, who only stayed a year at the school, who was interested in what I did. Her interest prompted me to decide I wanted to be an artist. As a young artist coming out of Kansas City Art Institute, I thought I’m just going to have a lot of fun with this, and that became my voice. I began by doing medical illustration in Kansas City.”
“It’s an important part of learning how the structure is correct.” Pointing to a stack of books, she said, “I would draw the steps in the surgery, it was fascinating. You know how paths diverge throughout your life, and you think you could have taken one of them? I love the sciences as well, and this allowed me to combine science with art.”
A major life change for Deanne, husband Byron, also an accomplished artist, and her family came in 1979. “We came to Sedona at Christmas, when we both had vacation time together, and by the time we left we’d bought a business and decided to move. We loved the look of Tlaquepaque and were sitting with a real-estate agent thinking we’d buy a vacation home, when someone came up to the agent and said there was a little coffee shop for sale, and we bought it, thinking a coffee shop was a cool place to hang out and talk. I loved to cook, so I was the cook. I found out quickly that you don’t get to sit and talk, you’re working all the time, and it’s hard work. We ran that for almost two years, and then we turned it into a gallery, then we opened another.” Both in Tlaquepaque, Gifted Hands featured American handmade crafts and fine art, and Isadora carried nationally recognized fiber artists.
Prescott resident and daughter Lesley Aine McKeown is well known nationally and internationally as an American Craft art jeweler. She said that growing up she was always given opportunities to explore and create. Of Deanne she says, “she’s an incredible human being, an incredible thinker. She’s probably one of the most creative people I’ve ever met in my life. She writes poetry, she paints, she’s a great gardener and gourmet cook, creativity rules everything she does.”
Wonder and whimsy
Deanne has impeccable skill in manifesting the reality of a piece, and imbues almost everything she creates with a sense of wonder and humor as well. “I do love whimsy, and I feel many people can feel that camaraderie with a piece. Often the words or a title comes first, and the piece is built from that. I often incorporate found objects in my work. Sometimes they are the beginning of an idea, sometimes they find their way into a work during the process. I’m drawn to interesting associations. The animal characters in my work are frequently metaphors for human thought and behavior, and often become humorous or whimsical. I find inspiration for my sculpture in the wildlife and cultures of the high desert of Arizona and in ancient folklore and magic.”
“I never really know entirely what will happen when I begin a piece, it’s something of a negotiation with ideas, materials and chance. It grows into what it wants to be. The inspiration may come from any direction. It could come through reading, poetry, a dream, or simply stimulated by the dialogue presented in a previous work. It’s important to be present, open to any stimulus.”
You’ll find examples of this on her website, like Four Calling Birds, a totem of bronze birds stacked up to speak into an old candlestick telephone. On the more serious side, Standing Room Only, a bronze and glass piece Environmental Art Award in the annual exhibition of the National Association of Women Artists this year. “This piece is the first in a series of sculptures that I plan to create around the theme of extinction. Each day another species either becomes extinct or is threatened with extinction due to human intervention or climate change. These pieces are aimed to call attention to shrinking biodiversity and consider how each of us might bring about positive change.”
Calling Prescott home
Deanne and Byron sold the galleries to their children in 2004 and 2006. Byron passed in 2023. With her move to Prescott three years ago Deanne is enjoying the change of natural scenery and how it brings its own inspiration. “One hot summer afternoon a small herd of javelina, all ages, gathered on the far side of my back fence, ignoring me completely. They decided to bed down and take a nap, giving me the perfect opportunity to capture their dreamtime in clay. I call it Comfort Zone.”
“I love Prescott, it’s a great town. I enjoy the interaction with other artists here. It didn’t happen very much in Sedona, but the thing I like is there’s such a broad range of artists here, and so much support for them and their work.”
Alongside her sculpture Deanne is a talented jeweler, represented at Van Gogh’s Ear on Whiskey Row. Her latest jewelry collection is called “Night Skies.” The gallery notes that it recently received the McKeown Cross Collection, a carefully researched collection of about 60 crosses from around the world, each including its history. They are of various designs, cast in silver, some with stones, some bronze, all handmade. Deanne explains, “As an art form, the cross invites myriad possibilities. As a symbol it evokes the contemplation of universal thought and ethnic diversity. In all its permutations, the cross remains to this day a potent symbol of man’s yearning for meaning in the vastness of the universe.”
Deanne’s work is represented in museum collections galleries and many private collections, and frequently included and awarded in juried shows. She is a Member with Distinction of the Women Artists of the West, and a Signature Member of American Women Artists, the National Sculpture Society, and the National Association of Women Artists.
More at DeanneMcKeown.com.
