Bill Dean is a comfortable artist to be around. He is like an old shoe, or that baseball glove you finally broke in. His art, like himself, is part of a comfort era many collectors seek: a peek into the past that triggers nostalgia. Bill Dean is an assemblage artists who finds old treasures that people have donated to thrift stores, or who’s estate doesn’t want. He takes these forgotten pieces and puts them in a three dimensional framed box setting that in itself is a bit of history. When I visited his studio, he had four such pieces. Each one was a one of a kind. And each one triggered a distant memory. Just like talking to Bill Dean, I felt a comfort looking at these boxed objects, and realized that here was something that one would include in one’s collection.
Growing up in Oakland, California, Bill’s college major was art, but didn’t finish his final year. He moved to Portland in 1972 to distance himself from the People’s Park demonstrations in Berkeley. He had no car, and no umbrella, which was somewhat of a disadvantage, because 1972 was an exceptionally wet winter.
His big break came in 1977 when he was selected by the Portland Art Museum to exhibit in the Arts of Portland show. He submitted a drawing. He met, and later became friends with William Jamison, the influential Portland restaurateur and gallery owner. Jamison liked Bill’s work, and would include it in group shows. Through him, Bill met many individuals in the Portland art scene, including Jane Beebe, who owns PDX Contemporary Art. He attributes much of his success to them. However, Dean did not take his art seriously, focusing his energies on his day job of sales and public relations.
He did not become serious about art until he was 52. Before that, Bill would dabble creatively, and talk to others, and make a lot of friends. Because of his ability to make and keep friends, people would contact him for gallery shows.
Good as it appears, having friends cannot keep you in the art scene, there has to be talent, and Bill Dean does have talent. He goes about his work like a detective, remembering one piece he has and matching it with others to create his boxed memories.
On a given Saturday, one will find Bill at estate sales, or thrift stores where he heads straight for the back storage room—usually the place, Bill confides, that is not on the most buyers’ must see list. In these hidden corners is where Bill finds the memories that make up his art. These old pieces tell part of a story and, when all the elements are together, Bill places them neatly in his custom boxed assemblages for new owners to enjoy. The fun, Bill admits, is in the hunt, and as a result, he is more interested in the intuitive part of the process, rather than the analytical.
Many of his art pieces include old photographs. These photographs are matched with objects that might go with the person in the picture. For instance, a person dressed in a baseball uniform might find a new home in a box with a baseball, ticket to a game, and an old glove. Bill states that when he sees something, and buys it, he files it away in his memory bank until all the components are there. Then he builds the entire piece.
Bill admits he has a pretty good visual memory for the objects he has collected over the years--and he has them neatly placed on shelves or in drawers to be picked out when he has collected a few others that trigger a similar response.
He has no muse, however Bill Dean admits to being influenced by Marcel Duchamp, John Cage, and Joseph Cornell. As a child, Bill’s dad took him to museums, and he was, and still is, a voracious reader, and admits that Whitney Otto, author of How to Make an American Quilt, was also an important influence, as a supportive friend and collector.
Dean is at an age where he is comfortable with himself, and he doesn’t take himself serious, like so many younger people. He visits art shows, reads journals, and likes sculptures. No one single artist on the scene today seems to command his attention. He thinks a lot of the current art is media and consumer driven—art for art sake. For amusement, he plays the ukulele, and has a group he plays with who go to retirement homes to entertain.
Those who are interested in getting hold of Bill, can contact him at billwhichway@yahoo.com.
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