Deran Wright
If it can be imagined, it can be brought into reality in BRONZE.
For 40+ years Deran Wright has been bringing the imagination to life through sculpture, from the ultra-realistic, to the fantastic.
Through the medium of bronze sculpture Deran Wright explores the symbolism, the icons, the myths and legends that are the undercurrent of our society.
Iconic images of heroes, dragons, greenmen, fairies, leprechuans, monsters and hobgoblins run deep through humanity's collective psyche. Soaring eagles, wild horses running free, children at play. We surround ourselves with powerful sculptural symbols that inspire and motivate us, and restore our connection to our humanity.
Public Unveilings
1988 Will Rogers Coliseum - Fort Worth, Texas
1988 East Texas State University - Commerce, Texas
1989 White House Rose Garden - Washington, D.C.
1990 Cooper Aerobics Clinic - Dallas, Texas
1994 Graham Public Library - Graham, Texas
1995 Naval Air Station, Joint Reserve Base - Fort Worth, Texas
1997 Prather Park - Highland Park, Texas
1998 Boy Scouts of America, Circle 10 Council headquarters - Dallas, Texas
2000 Beth-El Temple - Fort Worth, Texas
2002 Main Civil Courts Building - Fort Worth, Texas
2003 Founder’s Park - North Richland Hills, Texas
2009 Azle Memorial Library - Azle, Texas
2010 Westminster School - Atlanta, Georgia
2011 Paul Smiths College - Paul Smiths, New York
2011 Old Parkland - Dallas, Texas
2012 Old Parkland - Dallas, Texas
2012 Azle Fire Station - Azle, Texas
2014 Davey O’Brien Foundation - Fort Worth, Texas
2015 Old Parkland - Dallas, Texas
Select Corporate and Public Client List
Azle Public Library - Azle Texas
Badge of Honor Foundation - Dallas, Texas
Beth-El Congregation - Fort Worth, Texas
The Bertha Foundation - Graham, Texas
The Boy Scouts of America, Circle 10 Council - Dallas, Texas
Camp Topridge - Saranac, New York
The Center for Texas Studies - Fort Worth, Texas
Cessna Aircraft Corporation - Wichita, Kansas
Chippewa Shoes - Fort Worth, Texas
Don Young Glass Studio - Fort Worth, Texas
Dorothea Leonhardt Foundation - Fort Worth, Texas
East Texas State University - Commerce, Texas
Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce - Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth Police Department - Fort Worth, Texas
Gainsco Incorporated - Fort Worth, Texas
Gideon-Toal - Fort Worth, Texas
Graham Public Library - Graham, Texas
Hahnfeld & Associates - Fort Worth, Texas
Haltom City Public Library - Haltom City, Texas
Harris Methodist Hospital - Fort Worth, Texas
Heritage Trails Commission - Fort Worth, Texas
Hoka Hey Fine Arts Foundry - Dublin, Texas
Holt, Rineheart, & Winston - Fort Worth, Texas
Hometown - North Richland Hills, Texas
Justin Industries - Fort Worth, Texas
Juta Sugai - Kanagawa, Japan
Kimbell Art Museum - Fort Worth, Texas
Kristen Richards Incorporated - New York, New York
Latham & Sons - Fort Worth, Texas
Live Oak Foundation - Azle, Texas
Medical Heritage Galleries - Waco, Texas
Morris Foundation - Fort Worth, Texas
Muplan - Tokyo, Japan
National School Public Relations Association - Arlington, Virginia
National Association of Police Organizations - Alexandria, Virginia
Naval Air Station, Joint Reserve Base - Fort Worth, Texas
North Richland Hills Public Art Committee - NRH, Texas
Old Parkland - Dallas, Texas
Pantherville Railroad Association - Fort Worth, Texas
Paul Smiths College - Paul Smiths, New York
The City of Highland Park - Highland Park, Texas
The Renoir Foundation - Austin, Texas
Schutts, Magee, & Riddle - Fort Worth, Texas
Southland Corporation - Dallas, Texas
Texaco - Dallas, Texas
Tony Lama - Fort Worth, Texas
TSR - Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
Wagnon-Manning Design - Dallas, Texas
Warner Bros - Hollywood, California
Wizards of the Coast - Seattle, Washington
...And many other private commissions ...
Bibliography
June 2016 Wide Open Country - “10 Texas Artists Who Explore the Beauty of the Lone Star State”
January 2016 BisNow “The Art behind Parkland Hospital”
July 2015 Southwest Art magazine “Meet 14 artists who work in bronze, steel & more”
October 2014 Visual Language Magazine Vol 3 no 11 'An Aristic Life'
June 2012 The Dallas Morning News “Dallas firefighters dedicate statue honoring fallen
comrades”
May 20 2011 The Dallas Morning News "At memorial for fallen Dallas police officers: ‘We remember with you’"
2010 Labyrinths of British Columbia “Story of the Minotaur”
May 12, 2010 Stark Center blog Posted “Helping Hands”
December 2008 The Azle News “Soaring Sculpture”
November 2008 The Azle News “Art coming in as Library takes shape”
August 2008 All Tomorrows Parties ezine “NEW DRONES SINGLE - THE MINOTAUR + A BRIEF RETROSPECTIVE”
June 2005 CollegeMama blog “Pixielated and Updated”
2005 Panther City front cover “Featuring the photography of Skeeter Hagler”
March 2004 Star Telegram “Bronze sculpture honors influential educator”
December 2002 Star Telegram Front Page “A Legend in Bronze”
March 2002 Richland Hills News “Sculpting History”
September 1999 Star Telegram “Shaping a Reputation”
July 1998 The Dallas Morning News “Pixie Land”
February 1995 Fort Worth Star Telegram “Artwork keep’s Carswell’s memory alive”
February 1995 The Sentinel “Carswell Field memorial dedicated”
1995 The Healing Arts “The best American Artists look at Medicine today”
December 1990 Orlando Sentinel “Education Flag Part Of Display Symbol Was Carried By Christa Mcauliffe"
May 1987 Western Horseman “Gallery”
September 1986 Fort Worth Star Telegram “FW Man restoring Renoir’s Venus”
May 1973 Mid Cities Daily News “Youth creates vivid adventures”
An Artistic Life;
by Fred Schwartz
reprinted from Visual Language Magazine 2014
Deran Wright drew his first recognizable picture at age 3 on a building block (a bird). In elementary school he wrote and illustrated comic books which he sold to classmates. At age 15 he became a commercial illustrator, creating artwork for Texas magazines and newspapers. He has a letter from Stan Lee telling him to finish growing up before he applies for a job as an artist at Marvel.
When he was 12, he met a noted western painter/sculptor, who after viewing the young artist's ever present sketch pad, gifted him with a box containing a wooden sculptors tool and some 'mysterious substance'.
5 years later, dissatisfied with commercial illustration, he opened the box and cast his first bronze sculpture in 1979, when he was just 18.
Deran can be elusive to track down for an interview. To art shows, gallery openings, unveilings, the usual haunts for artists, he appears briefly, if at all. He and his wife, Geneva, are more likely to be found at live theater performances, history symposiums, or fine restaurants.
When I caught up with him recently, he was sketching the complicated knots adorning samurai armor in an exhibit at the Kimbell Art Museum. Knots, armor, and Oriental culture are only three of his many and varied interests.
Back in his atelier, when asked about his training, he replies, "self-taught". But then I notice the shelves behind him groaning under the weight of a massive collection of books on sculpture. From primitive Oceania, African, Oriental, Classical, Baroque, Art Nouveau, Art Deco. Names like Cellini, Bernini, Gaudens, Rodin, Manship, and Noguchi are on the book jackets.
The sculptor didn't pursue a degree in art, because at the time the academic focus was on abstract and conceptual forms.
Drawn to classic figurative sculpture, Deran embarked instead on a rigorous combination of self study and on the job training. As a result, today he creates sculpture in a traditional style from a thoroughly modern perspective, and his work is in high demand.
A very reserved and quiet man, the sculptor can be difficult to draw out. At a recent unveiling, when handed a microphone, his speech consisted entirely of, "Thank you very much for coming. I had a lot of fun making this sculpture."
But it soon became apparent that each and every sculpture has an interesting story behind it.
For instance there was the time one of his sculptures was unveiled by President George Bush in the Rose Garden at the White House. Oh, and George W. Bush was the keynote speaker at another of his unveilings.
Or how he became a key witness in an international copyright dispute between the heirs of Pierre August Renoir, the French government and the heirs of Renoir's personal assistant.
After 35 years of sculpting full time, there are a lot of sculptures and a lot of stories.
