“I’ve travelled many roads to get to this place. Each painting is a result of following my heart, finding inspiring locations mostly by intuition and pursuing my life’s work that began over 50 years earlier on my first painting trip in Jasper, Alberta.”

Sky, open landscape, history, and stories of Alberta interest Dean Tatam Reeves. The artist roams the backroads, foothills, coulees, and prairies to paint from vantage points to evoke his sense of freedom.

With these works the artist concentrates on painting the landscape of southern Alberta, mainly in the Cypress Hills and Milk River regions but also across to Waterton in the southwestern part of the province. It is an area rich in grassland imagery and cultural heritage, with its historic ranches, sweeping panoramas and sheltered river environments.

Dean works on location, year-round, where he can directly observe and record unique landscape views and the effects of ever-changing qualities of light on the subject.

His work is produced on location, year-round, where the artist can directly observe and record unique landscape views and the effects of ever-changing qualities of light on the subject. Dean uses soft pastel as a medium, as he enjoys a direct approach and the vibrant colour, especially when applied to paper prepared with a tinted, sanded surface. With this medium he seeks to combine drawing and painting to effectively express a specific sense of place, light, atmosphere, and movement in the landscape.

Dean studied at the University of Alberta, the Banff Centre, and the Medicine Hat College.  He has exhibited his work since the early 1970s.  Dean has been a curator and arts administrator in Edmonton, Medicine Hat and Lethbridge for a good number of years as well as maintaining a full-time art practice.  He is now living in New Brunswick.