Oregon Coast Waves - 2.3

Deam is self taught, although she said
that over the course of 30 years, she
has taken workshops in sculpture,
watercolor, clay, and pastel — the latter
medium something she chose not to
pursue.
She started painting in watercolor about
20 years ago, but turns to that medium
infrequently now. In 2008, she began
reverse painting on glass, mostly animals
that tend to be realistic in appearance,
although not in color — pink dogs, for
example.
“I wanted a challenge,” she said of her
move to reverse painting. “And painting
upside down and backwards seems to
suit me.”
She said that unlike in regular painting,
everything is done in reverse. “You
put the foreground on the glass first,
then paint the layers backwards,” she
explained. “I even have to sign my
name backwards. Reverse painting is
not a new technique but it’s a challenge
to think and paint backwards, and I
wanted to do something different.
“I really enjoy it because a lot of it is
abstract, coming right out of my brain,”
she said. “And as you layer on the paint,
you cover up the layers below, so you
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don’t know what it will look like until
you flip over the glass when it’s done.
“I think we’re going to stay here,” she
said of the couple’s move to Waldport.
“I love the coast. The patterns and bird
tracks on the sand look like abstract
art. I’m inspired by the ocean and the
beaches in a lot of my reverse paintings,
and many of those paintings look like
sea creatures. They’re very rich in color.
We did a lot of snorkeling in Mexico,
and I was inspired by what I saw there
as well.”
But Deam has never given up her passion
for creating clay sculptures. Some of her
most unusual pieces incorporate objects
ranging from pieces of old oil lamps to
glass eggs, windshield glass and plenty
of wire and bronze.
Her sculptures range from about 11
inches to 40 inches in height. They often
are images of strength and protection,
Deam said, with some featuring bird’s
nests of wire, sheltering a glass egg.
For example, her sculpture “Bell Boy”
features legs from an antique bird’s
claw foot stool, a head and beak of
clay, a brass napkin ring for a cap, and
“feathers” of thin brass sheets used at
one time in a print shop. A butterfly
in resin sits on his chest, and he carries
bells.
“The Protector” has horseshoe nails
coming out of the clay head, copper
feathers, a glass egg wrapped in wire,
and a base of crushed glass and an old
oil lamp frame.
One of her sculptures, which she calls
“Mind Spring,” portrays a woman’s
head and upper body, with a highly
realistic face. “I don’t know where her
face came from,” Deam said. “I wasn’t
looking at anything — I just let my hand
form the face. It feels like I was just
following my hands.”
Deam said enthusiastically that she loves
doing art, and “I will do it as long as I’m
able. I’ve been very passionate about it
for 30 years, and who knows what I’ll
be doing next year, but it will definitely
be art. I’ve been a watercolorist, a sign
painter, an assemblage maker … and
that’s just for my adult life. When I’m
80, I hope to still be doing art.”
Deam can be reached at 1-541-272-7245
or 1-541-563-6325. Her watercolor note
cards can be found at Pirate’s Coffee
in Depoe Bay and at Seagals in South
Beach.