Custom Art
I will work with you to create an artpiece that tells a personal or family story using your
mementos, photographs and personal ephemera.
Kudzu, a piece created for my sister is one example of this kind of work.
The cost will vary depending on the size of the finished piece, the number of objects incorporated and the assemblage time, which is based on the types of techniques and materials used.
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The process begins with an initial call to discuss the project and the objects you want incorporated into the piece and the stories behind them. From there I will create a design concept and cost estimate. Should you decide to move forward with the project 50% of the cost is due to begin the process and 50% will be due upon completion. You will also incur shipping charges.
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Contact me directly at patrickdeanowen@gmail.com to schedule the initial call.
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Kudzu
found object assemblage 2020, 48 inches X 12 inches
This is an example of a personal art piece I made using mementos from my family. My sister asked me to create a piece based on family memories and to incorporate some family memorabilia including a photo of “the Farm” that belonged to our maternal grandmother “Nana” and grandfather “Papa”.
From my sister:
“The Farm", as it was called by Nana, Papa, Neen and Big Daddy, had originally been a 4-room rustic schoolhouse and property with a pine forest and bass lake. Located on Silver Hill Road near the base of Stone Mountain, Georgia. It featured enormous chunks of granite in the front yard where cousin Linda and I played 'castle', and rows of large square blocks in the side yard, where Papa and I each had a seat. He grew organic tomatoes, scuppernongs and muskidines, and rode his Jeep to the top of Stone Mountain with his 2 Irish Setters (Mike, the mother, and Doodle, the pup) to help the forest service watch for fires from the tower on the top of the mountain. I have memories of fishing, and most precious, hiking the pine forest with Big Daddy to cut a Christmas tree.”
Nana and Papa tried living on the Farm on a regular basis, but ultimately opted for their home in Decatur, visiting the farm frequently. In addition to an actual photo of the farm that is inset behind the tea cup, the house at the top of the piece is decoupaged with images of that photo. Papa was a lawyer in the city, but a craftsman in the country handcrafting furniture, bows and arrows, and growing grapes as my sister described. The handtool drill that you can actually turn and the aged hinge represent Papa's craftsmanship. Our family made several trips each year to visit family - Nana and Papa and Nana's sister Auntie (our great Aunt) and other relatives on both sides of the family. This was in and around Atlanta and Lafayette, Alabama. The drive from Atlanta to Lafayette was filled with fields of kudzu climbing up telephone poles, and overtaking barns and other structures - weathered wood being consumed by kudzu. Additionally, my mother custom designed the last family home that we all lived in and where she and our father passed. Her design encompassed weathered barn wood throughout. Because of this I chose to build this piece on 3 weathered pickets. Additionally, incorporated into this piece are pieces of Nana and Auntie's jewelry hanging from the drill and framing the tile. The tile is an element I had incorporated into a piece I made many years ago for my sister's home on the Kentucky River. A major flood destroyed that art piece and all that remained was the tile, which I have now reincorporated into this piece. Papa had nicknames for all of his grandchildren and he called my sister butterfly and so I incorporated butterflies into the piece including a swallowtail, which is my sister's favorite butterfly. The tea cup is from our mother's wedding china and inside of it you find a watch face from Nana and Auntie, and a photo of Nana at 16 years of age. You can take the tea cup out and examine the contents – mementos of lives lived and family loved and not forgotten.