Today we’d like to introduce you to Deena King.
Deena, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I grew up in a small town in western Kansas. As a child, I loved being creative! It seemed to come easy to me, it felt comfortable, natural and since I struggled with other classes in school, doing art helped me have a little more confidence about myself as a child. After high school, I moved to Dallas, TX without really a plan, except at that time, I knew college was not on my radar. Moving from a small town to a big city was the best and worst time in my life. While living in Texas I married, divorced and found myself as a single mother. So as As a single mother, I decided the best thing to do was to go back to college. Not only was I a non-traditional college student being in my late twenties, I also had two small children, so the struggle was real, but my desire to give my children a better life helped me push forward and pursue a college education. I graduated four years later with a BFA in graphic design, emphasis in painting. After working as a graphic designer for a few years, I remarried, and we added to our family. My husband and I decided it would be the best solution for our family for me to stay at home with our four children. This gave me the best career “position” I have had to date.
During those 15 years, I created artwork for friends and family, freelanced in graphic design, but didn’t pursue a full-time artist gig until moving to Sarasota February 2020. Shortly after we moved to Florida, the covid pandemic hit. I started painting in the garage to pass the time and deal with the craziness of the world. I submitted a piece into one of the Art Center Sarasota exhibitions, it was excepted accepted and sold! A confidence boost for sure! During 2020, I found myself once again having that passion and excitement to create, just as I had as a child if felt comfortable and natural. Every day I would create and paint in my garage. In 2021, I found a location to rent a studio with other local artists. This opportunity allowed me to engage with the art community here in Sarasota and mature as an artist. In the last two years, I have been invited into local, national, and international exhibitions, I have been awarded honorable mentions and best in show awards and I have been included in numerous group shows. In March 2022, I opened my own studio and gallery in downtown Sarasota. Define Art Gallery and Studio allows me the studio space to create large-scale pieces of art and a gallery to display for art enthusiasts to engage. My future goals, for the gallery, are to invite other local artists the opportunity to exhibit their art and to hold art discussion groups which would allow artists the opportunity to grow and encourage each other.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has definitely not been a smooth road, but I am grateful for that! The struggles make the journey more rewarding! The struggles have been not going to college right after high school, starting over from a divorce and being a single mom with two small children, going back to college later in life, stopping a career to become a stay at home mom and raise four children. We have moved a few times to start over again and then of course, the pandemic of 2020. I can honestly say all the struggles have helped the current opportunities I am experiencing at this moment possible and they inspire all of my artwork and my desire to keep aspiring to be better.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am an Expressionist Artist. I focus on acrylic large-scale abstract painting. I use textures, layers, splatters, drips, and runs to create “intentionally unpolished” works of art that evoke a reaction or mood. My style is bold, has depth and creates a dramatic statement. Some of my pieces are completely abstract while others are a mix of both abstraction and figurative. My painting process is interactive, spontaneous, and includes dramatic movements when applying the paint to the canvas; in contrast, my concept behind the painting is researched and planned. What emerges on canvas is my reaction (an emotional feeling) of my original idea and a little serendipity in the process. What sets me apart from others is that all my artworks is based upon a conceptual idea of a personal experience from my life. My goal is to create an image that allows for everyone to “see” something different and relate it to their own life experiences. I do not work from a traditional easel when I paint. My canvas becomes not only the surface for the image but also the tool in which to create the image.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
I welcome anyone to come visit my studio, watch me create, or hang out in the gallery. Art should feed everyone’s soul and my goal as an artists is to create something that can do just that.
Contact Info:
- Email: deena.king@gmail.com
- Website: www.deenaking.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kingdm530/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY3Es5by3E6lSKTqbrIvQuQ?view_as=subscriber
- Other: www.definegallery.com
Image Credits
Debbie Parker Photography
