The story of Deana Calhoun Johnson is all about details...the time it takes to learn, create, and carve a place in the world. Much like her art, Deana’s story is free flowing and guided by a purposeful hand.
Deana grew up on a farm in the Mesilla Valley. After graduating from New Mexico State University with a degree in Hotel Restaurant Tourism Management she moved to Arizona. As a supervisor in Employment, Benefits and Compensation for Phelps Dodge in Morenci, she served 2,600 employees and worked long hours. Then, Deana’s life took a quick turn.
“I was expecting my youngest child when I herniated a disc in my back. I was put in bed and couldn’t walk for six weeks. It just changed my priorities. I decided I needed to get out of the rat race.” When Deana began walking again she got a group of local moms together. “We started doing projects. We did mosaics and built tabletops and arbors. It opened my eyes. I had always been creative, but had always manifested it in writing.”
Deana calls her craft “the right amount of creativity and dirt.” After working with mosaics she started researching engraving tools. For a family reunion her cousin had etched glass bricks; this struck a cord with Deana. “I said, ‘Oh...sandblasting.’” Deana began researching and reading anything she could get her hands on. “I cashed in my 401k and bought a lot of equipment. My neighbor in Morenci was in charge of a huge department in the mine. Before I had bought any equipment I had an order for 70 awards. I thought, ‘If I can find this in the desert with my next door neighbor, then I can do this anywhere and work from home.’”
This change in careers was in 2001, and more changes followed. Moving back to Las Cruces after a divorce, Deana knew she had to study her new craft if she was going to seriously pursue it as a career. “I thought I was going to have to go Europe to study, but every article and book I had was written by the same two people.” These two people, Norm and Ruth Dobbins, just happened to work in Santa Fe. Deana took this as a sign. “I called them and went north to study, and they actually taught. You find so many artists that are protective of their trade and they won’t open their hearts or doors to you at all. Norm is the premier glass carving artist in the country.” Since her time with the Dobbins in 2002, Deana has continued to work with them. “They subcontract work for me and even asked me back this last year to teach classes for them.”
Deana was a natural for glass carving and etching. “I’m a very visual person and you have to think backwards and upside-down...I’m carving from the back to be viewed from the front. This was the first time I had ever had a connection between my visual creativity and my hands. I like the dirt and the boldness of it. You can have something so big and bold and yet have it be so refined.”
Deana uses three standard techniques of glass etching: surface etching, shading etching, and carving. With silicon carbide as her sand, Deana employs an air compressor and high pressure to blast away layers of glass or stone. With her hands gloved inside a special box used for etching indoors, all of her work is truly hand created art.
As for the beauty Deana creates, she jokes that the only surface she hasn’t etched is human flesh. “I work in stone, tile, glass, Plexiglass, flowerpots, cement, and chrome.” She does all of the engraving for Nambé and Glenn Cutter and is proud that her art seems to have no bounds. “Part of my business is home décor, another part is landscape, and another part is awards and recognition.” Deana also creates headstones for family members and pets. “And I do all children’s headstones at no cost. It’s the right thing to do.” Unlike trophy shops that use laser techniques, her hand-guided method works the insides of bowls and easily marks on crystal, whereby a laser would shatter the glass. Deana has also created a special, limited edition series of glass etched Christmas ornaments. “I’ll do a new one every year for five years, and I started in 2004.”
Her technique is built to travel, and whether carving a boulder that weighs a ton, or an address marker that’s difficult to move twice, Deana has no worries. She easily transports her tools and creates on site. Her stone and glass works have made beautiful housewarming gifts and wedding presents and her work can be found all over the state. “I have projects in northern New Mexico, Roswell, Truth or Consequences, and Farmington.”
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