Dewey James Stratman
My art has spanned my lifetime. I began doing batik and watercolor, then hand-tinting black and white photography. I worked as a restoration artist, restoring medieval castles in southern France and spent my free time traveling across Europe, photographing slices of country life and encapsulating vignettes of the continent’s astounding natural beauty. I’d return to my stone-floored studio in Saint Victor and make large – sometimes wall-sized – prints of my photos. Then I would spend weeks or months color-tinting each photo by hand.
After my eleventh stint working abroad, I met my husband in Minneapolis, MN and began creating mixed-media artwork. My pieces were shadow-boxed, dimensional, found-art compositions. I broke into the art fair circuit and did regional shows, then hit the Chicago and midwest. I enjoyed a certain level of success but felt that I had plateaued with my medium.
My latest iteration allows me to express myself more than ever before – swashes and patterned backgrounds embedded with provocative and editorial imagery. Women bedecked in tall hats in a roomfuls of curios or a cryptic glance from a mystic jackrabbit in a cloud of multicolored fireflies.
I compose in Photoshop using photography and graphic images and patterns and transfer the result onto hand-painted birch panels. I craft the panels into a handmade shadowbox frame.
My technique found success, not only regionally but around the country. We travel nationwide pulling a camper, selling my work at art fairs or placing them in galleries or installations. My pieces have been displayed in numerous restaurants, billboards, businesses and corporations and I have been featured in several city magazines and newspapers and interviewed on television and social media.
Awards
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best in show
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commemorative artist
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award of excellence
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best of show in digital
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award of merit
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finalist in category
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sponsor award
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innovative excellence
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first place
- I have collected eight Best of Show Awards: Madison Art Fair on the Square, Uptown Art Fair in Minneapolis, Stone Arch Bridge Festival, Minneapolis, Chastain Park Arts Festival, Atlanta, Kohler Midsummer Festival in Sheboygan, IL, Bucktown Art Fair in Chicago and the Art In Autumn Festival in Weaverville, NC.
- Eight Best of Show in Digital: Art Fair on the Square, Madison, WI, Art in the Square, Belleville, IL, Houston Bayou Art Festival, Atlanta Dogwood Festival, ArtiGras, Jupiter FL, Stone Arch Bridge Festival, Minneapolis, Glencoe Festival of Art, Glencoe, IL and Art in Bayfront Park, Duluth, MN.
- Finalist in Category: Uptown Art Fair, Minneapolis.
- First Place: Lakeview East Festival for the Arts in Chicago.
- Bank of Tampa Award of Merit at the Gasparilla Festival of the Arts.
- I was chosen as the Commemorative/Featured artist five times: Houston Bayou Art Festival, Uptown Art Fair, Chastain Park Arts Festival, Edina Art Fair in Edina, MN, and Lakeview East Festival For The Arts.
- Two awards for Excellence in Innovation awards: Barrington Art Fair and Port Clinton Art Fair.
- Four Awards of Excellence: Lake Forest Art Fair on the Square, Naperville River Walk, Edina Art Fair and College Hill Art Festival.
- Award of Merit from the Uptown art Fair in Minneapolis.
- The Lisa Baruch Memorial Award at the Port Clinton Art Fair in Highland Park, IL.
- 3rd Place Overall, RiverArts Art Festival, Memphis, TN
