Deanna Wood's work has moved in yet another direction as her work continues to evolve. She has left behind the original series handled in the gallery where she dealt with memories of her very early childhood in Kansas in an area known as 'tornado alley' and how tornadoes were always a concern each Spring. From that series she produced a stunning series about Palimpset, an ancient Greek use of writing on parchment and scraping away. Deanna used this method of scraping as a way of depicting birds in trees in the woods; birds who hear secrets we have that no one else hears. The birds then fly away, taking your secrets with them!

In this new series, Deanna is reaching back into her early childhood and teen memories and has created images that follow her through the many moves her parents made during these years and she speaks as to how these moves affected her, both negatively and positively and, to some degree still affect her in her adult years.

Moving is usually a bit traumatic for any child, but especially at a very young age. Deanna doesn't even remember the first three homes she lived in; she just knows her parents moved a total of 11 times between infancy and graduation from high school; one time moving back to a city she had already lived in. She lived in the following cities; Houston, TX, Gaithersburg, MD, Fort Walton Beach, FL, Lenexa, KS, Newport News, VA, Manassas, VA, Middletown, RI, Lenexa KS (again), San Jose, CA, Lewisville, TX and Lake Dallas, TX.

Of her experiences, Deanna says: "I think I was probably just born shy, but moving so much didn't help. As I got older, it became more difficult to make friends, as social groups were more tight knit in junior high and high school. I hear stories about people that had similar experiences moving a lot, and they took the opportunity to re-invent themselves after each move. I wish that had occurred to me."

Walking back in time with her mind journey again made Deanna pause, reflect and realize she could put these memories to use by creating stunning pieces of mixed media that include sekishu paper, vintage wallpaper, machine sewing, photo transfer of the actual homes she lived in and encaustic. The machine sewing was used to depict, as she recollects, what were maps and roads of these many homes and places she lived. She says, "Yes, the houses are the actual houses. The maps might not match up to the house, though...and aren't exactly acurate. Some are based on memory. Others are just lines."

When writing about her experiences she says, "On a positive note, we did get to see a lot of interesting places. My parents knew we wouldn't be in any one place too long, so they were good about visiting all the tourist spots of our new (but most likely temporary) town."

Using her skills as a painter, Deanna's new work continues in the same vein as her previous work, except in this new series there is not only the use of encaustic, but also sekishu paper, vintage wallpaper, machine sewing and photo transfers.

ERNDEN FINE ART GALLERY is pleased to represent Deanna Wood.  Deanna's work will be exhibited throughout the season. For more information on Deanna's work please contact Dennis Costin, Gallery Director at 508-487-6700 or 1-888-304-ARTS or by email at erndengallery@att.net.