If you’re looking for a CV loaded with artist awards and accomplishments, Dean’s not your guy. He only recently transitioned from a 30+-career in education to an artist. Instead of an MFA, he received extensive hands-on art instruction doodling during the countless hours of staff development he endured as a teacher. 

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So, what is his art like? It’s almost exclusively acrylic painting with a little 3-D clay modeling added occasionally, and almost exclusively representational. In all three of those areas, the challenge is always to utilize what adds and expresses and eliminate what gets in the way. "I'm always looking for the sweet spot," Dean says when reflecting on his process. "What's the best way to get my message across without getting bogged down in trying  to follow a certain trend or style."

 

He also creates "3-D paintings, mostly on the motif of the Tree of Life. "I find the ideas behind this imagery - putting down roots, growing, the circle of life, etc. to be worthy of continued exploration. It's fascinating that the Tree of Life is such a universal symbol, found in many cultures and religions."  

The obvious question, then, is what does he want to get across in his art? To answer that, you need to understand a couple of things about Dean’s life. 1. He has lived almost his entire life in what has been reported to be the most conservative area of the country. (Refer to https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/11/28/1450682/-The-Most-District-What-s-the-reddest-congressional-district-in-America-Come-visit-Texas-13th) 2. He doesn’t fit into the culture and politics of the nation’s most conservative district very well. He is definitely creative and an “outside of the box” thinker. Maybe because he had no real models or schema to guide him to a different life, and definitely because of the way it totally destroyed his sense of self-worth, he chose in his twenties and thirties to follow the philosophy of “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” Not a good strategy, and it's been the main conflict of his life: How to slough off the negative, reactionary views that destroy and find the things that contribute to the lives of others and society, as well as to my own growth."