A complete resume including all honors and exhibitions listings and venues is available through the gallery.
Born in Superior, Wisconsin in 1941, Dean Lettenstrom currently resides and has his studio in Arden, North Carolina, with his artist wife, Nancy Cramer Lettenstrom. After some thirty years of teaching in higher education, he holds rank as Art Professor Emeritus of The University of Minnesota. Prior to Minnesota, he taught at The Ohio State University, Columbus and Drake University, Des Moines ( where he became the founding director and teacher of Drake University's Studio Art Program in Florence, Italy.) Additionally, he has taught at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, the Uof M's program in Birmingham, England and was the first American Exchange Professor at the Eszterhazy Karoly Teachers College's Art Department in Eger, Hungary.
Dean received his Master of Fine Arts in Painting and Printmaking from Ohio State University, Columbus, a Master of Arts Degree in Painting and Printmaking from the University of Dallas, Irving, Texas, and his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing from the University of Wisconsin, Superior.
He has received residency fellowships to The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, Maine, The Macdowell Colony, Peterbourogh, New Hampshire, The Vermont Studio, Johnson , Vermont and The Hambidge Center for the Arts and Sciences, Rabun Gap, Georgia, four of the most honored residency programs in America.
The recipient of numerous art awards and grants, Dean has had his works included in International, National and Regional exhibitions since 1967. Prior to retiring he received The Chancellor's Award For Distinguished Research and Teaching from the University of Minnesota.
The works displayed here are some of the first pieces created after arriving in the Asheville area. They have helped me get a "footing" here after the chaos of such a big move from our home/studio in the forest of northern Wisconsin.
I feel myself to be a part of the artist community that strives to transform our personal expressions into some more universal truth, hoping to connect with others through this language called "visual art."
I am drawn mostly to what seems, on the surface to be "small things," whether these be actual objects or incidents in one's personal or societal life. I desire to make these "small things" speak, most often in a larger way, to summon the viewer to pay due attention, take notice, think, allow oneself to feel connections. I am interested in the stories that castaway or desregarded objects have to tell us. I digest what is general and common and try to create a more intensely lived, unique testimony to the human experience.
Also, in this era of instant and overwhelming visual information access, we are becoming immune to photographic images and even the hand made image as it undergoes numerous states of reproduction. We lose the immediate power that an image or an instant held before it was duplicated thousands of times over. >From piles of discarded magazines, I rescue and resurrect images that have a potent message for me, and through my manipulations hope to enhance, renew or transform that image's story.
I hope that at least some of the work will connect with you in a positive way. I am most pleased that Merrimon Galleries has afforded me this opportunity to show work here in Asheville.