Meet Deedee Hampton

Today we’d like to introduce you to Deedee Hampton.

Deedee, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
In elementary school I used to get in trouble for drawing while the teacher was talking- I couldn’t help it- I’d see a blank spot on a paper & start filling it in- mostly with horses or what we now call Zen Tangle. In high school, my art teacher was the football coach & the class had the reputation of being THE one to take if you wanted to sit around & talk sports and get an easy A so i didn’t really get much art instruction in my early years.

However, I had an amazing biology teacher for a few years so when I went off to college I decided to major in biology. In my junior year, as an extracurricular, I took an art class on color theory with Paul Dufour who had studied under Josef Albers- WOW- totally changed my world!!! I immediately switched my major to art and went on to get a Master’s in Fine Arts.

Has it been a smooth road?
Trying to make a living as an artist is generally not a smooth road- one doesn’t look in the paper or now online and see a lot of job openings that say “Artist Wanted; prefer someone with graffiti skills; benefits, good pay; possibly collaborate with other artists but will mostly execute own ideas.” Being an artist is also being an entrepreneur- making your product (art), finding your customers- marketing, handling the business end- cost of materials and time, staying motivated/inspired, etc. It’s a lot of balls to juggle but the hardest part is selling enough art to actually make a living.

After ten years of doing mostly commission work, I realized that the joy of being an artist, for me, was about the process of exploring my own ideas & making art in a variety of mediums so that I didn’t get bored. I realized I needed to make money in other ways so that I could continue to make art my way. For money, I held a variety of jobs from being a waitress to getting involved in a land development to 19 years of managing the Mootz Family Craft & Design Center at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park- also fondly known as the Craft Shop. At the Craft Shop, I was able to set up workshop areas teaching painting on silk, basket making, tie-dye, mosaics, etc. which was interesting and fun! The hardest part of that job was all the paperwork and managing employees. Throughout my life, it was always difficult to continue to discipline myself to make the time (while working full time & raising 2 kids) and find the space and sometimes the money for supplies to keep on making my own art. Making art has always been a way for me to express and explore both my inner and outer world. It feeds me in a way that nothing else does so i continue to delight in doing it.

We’d love to hear more about your art.
I am a multi-faceted, mixed media artist who expresses myself through paintings; sculptural totems and metal embossed illustrated idioms that use found objects. I currently do two different kinds of paintings. One is a playful, colorful portrayal of local Rocky Mountain animals that I have done on both utility boxes here in Estes and on painting panels. These Spirit Animal Paintings also have stenciled mandalas on them that represent the animal’s spirit. My magical Dreamscape Paintings allow bold symbolic images to surface, telling stories about the inner landscape.

In addition to paintings, I create metal embossed shadow box pieces that are inspired by Mexican folk art and use idioms as subject matter. Idioms are a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words like “Time Flies”; “We Are All In The Same Boat”, “Raining Cats & dogs” etc. I find working with mosaics to be very mediative so I also do small mosaics on garden rocks and make large garden totems using both mosaics and clay. My work is inspired by my travels to places like Mexico, India, Morocco, Cambodia, Bali, Myanmar, etc. My art pieces are colorful and have layers of symbolism.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I just returned from Art Basel in Miami a month ago. It is the largest contemporary art show in the USA with artists and galleries from around the world. The diversity was amazing- everything from paint on canvas to digital and augmented art. I think we will see more augmented art in the future- it is a cousin to virtual reality -through technology, like your smartphone, it superimposes a computer-generated image on top of the artwork so that the artwork can interact with the viewer or the artist can continue the narrative of the piece.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.deedeehampton.com/
• Email: deedeehampton@estesvalley.net

Image Credit:
Deedee Hampton

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