Neighbor Featured Artist #21: "Dusty" Anderson

Artist Dusty Anderson An Innovator in Glass Imagery

I have a confession to make. Even though I consider myself an artist, I can’t draw worth a flip. In previous columns you’ve heard me go on about how broadly I define art, how many different expressions it can take, and all that is absolutely true. That being said, maybe it’s fair to say that we really admire the things we can’t do ourselves. So in my heart of hearts, my greatest admiration in art is reserved for the artists I designate with a capital A, - those who who can draw. Something about the ability to create in lifelike two dimensions that which actually exists in three seems miraculous to me. Many years spent in association with the arts has not lessened this feeling for me. If anything, becoming informed about the many different ways images can be created has widened my appreciation for them all. When I find a new technique that I haven’t seen before, it’s like discovering art all over again. This was my reaction on first seeing the work of Dusty Anderson, whose creations in glass bridge the gap between drawing and carving. It is for situations like this that I’m glad that this column includes visual images so you don’t have to rely on my descriptions to appreciate Dusty’s pieces. I’ll be very much surprised if you don’t find them as amazing as I did.
Dusty Anderson is from Michigan by birth, from the South by upbringing, and a free spirit by inclination. “My Father’s job moved us to Alabama when I was young,” she says. “Growing up on the Chattahoochee River had to have helped shape my love for wildlife art.” She displayed a talent for drawing and illustration while in high school, and did “silly cartoon t-shirts for classmates”, even realizing that she could earn some money along the way. But this creativity was self-guided. “Growing up and going to small schools meant that I never had any art classes until I attended college.” Encouragement for Dusty, not only to draw but to think creatively and originally, came from her mother. “She provided blank paper and colors instead of coloring books,” she says. In her late teens, she went out on her own to, as she says to “find myself”. She supported herself with her art work and by her sign painting skills. In the 1980’s, Dusty’s mother encouraged her to go back to school to see if she could channel her talent into a career in advertising design. “I enjoyed the life drawing class,” she says, “but I found I was a ‘mood-drawer’ . I could meet the assignment deadlines but found that I didn’t do my best work under those restrictions.” She also encountered an experience common to many good artists, including several featured in this column. “I was told by a teacher that everything I knew about drawing and art was wrong - that I had to forget it and learn how to do it their way. That irked me, since I had been selling my art since I was fifteen and figured my way couldn’t be all wrong.” James-Ben Stockton, local director of Greeneville’s regional gallery,who appreciated Dusty’s work from the moment she walked through his front door, wasn’t surprised to hear this story. “I have had so many good artists tell of being victimized by bad art teachers that it seems like a sort of rite of passage for them. The only positive thing I can say about such experiences is that, for the artists who persevere inspite of such treatment, these experiences seem to motivate them to be true to their own originality.” Toward the end of her college soujourn, Dusty got the chance to paint the lettering on the town’s water tower. “I knew then that a degree in advertising design wasn’t going to be for me.”
The pathway into her current art form, which is engraving/carving on glass, came from a personal motivation. “I had an old van that I’d painted a dusty rose,” she says. “I wanted roses carved into the windows and found someone who could do the work but who quoted me more than I could afford. Being an artist myself, I decided to try my hand at it and have really enjoyed developing my technique into the fine lines and details that I’m able to achieve now.” The subject matter for Dusty’s pieces was influenced by those childhood memories of growing up on Alabama’s Chattahoochee River. Wolves, deer, turkeys, owls, bears, and racoons have come to life through her artistry. (As a heads-up to the families of outdoorsmen in the area, these pieces would make wonderful Father’s Day gifts!) Dusty’s skill has recently led her to branch out into portraiture in glass. A fine example is a marvelous image of Andrew Johnson, done in honor of the 17th president’s 200th birthday (http://www.james-ben.com/johnson_collection.htm). Dusty can work from photographs and notes that portraits are not necessarily limited to people. “Her motorcycle portraits are dynamite,” says gallery director Stockton. Dusty’s work is available by individual commission.
Like many others, Dusty Anderson has found this region to be a wonderful haven for a restless soul. “Over the years, I’ve moved around this fantastic country quite a bit, but when I found East Tennessee, I feel I’ve finally come home.” As with other creative transplants to the area, the move has been both satisfying and stimulating. “By meeting other artists and going to art shows, I’m constantly finding new forms of art I’d like to try,” she says. Considering the success of her current creativity, the possibilities for Dusty are worthy of eager anticipation. Her work is locally available and original commissions can be arranged through James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center.