Story & Lesson Highlights with Deran Wright of Texas

Deran Wright shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Deran, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What is a normal day like for you right now?
I maintain a studio in my home, so a productive day is when I don’t have to leave the house.
My wife and I wake up leisurely, and compare notes over coffee about what’s upcoming. We peruse the news of the day, check the email, and do a few puzzles to keep the brain cells active.
If there are emails or phone calls that require attention, I handle those, then we take the dog for a walk.
Then it’s into the studio, for sketching or sculpting.
If I’m in the middle of a sculpture, first I turn on the wax pots to bring the wax to working temperature. Sculpting in wax offers lots of options, and they’re all temperature based. Liquified, you can paint wax over a surface to get coverage or smooth things out. Let it cool a bit, and you can spread it on thick like peanut butter. Cooler still, it becomes the consistency of soft oil based clay. Stone cold, and you can carve or incise fine details into it.
I listen to music or podcasts while working.
Many evenings we go to local live theaters, and are season ticket holders at 4 different theater companies. Or go to concerts at intimate local venues, classical music or classical guitar.
Then we usually read in bed for a while before turning in.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Deran Wright. I’m a Texas based artist, and I have been making classic figurative bronze sculpture for 46 years. I cast my first bronze sculpture when I was 17.
Since that time, I have placed hundreds of sculptures in Texas and around the world, large and small. I do custom commission work for discerning clients, and make sculptures depicting subjects that interest me, and offer those for sale.
I recently completed a bronze sculpture of a 8’ tall, 8’ diameter oak tree. It has been installed at Dover Airforce Base, in a pavilion reserved for the families awaiting return of the remains of servicemembers who have been killed overseas.
This was a solemn and sober project to be involved in, but I am very proud to have been able to serve.

Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
Anyone who met me as a kid could tell I was artistic by nature. Apparently I was drawing recognizable pictures by age three. I drew on everything with anything that would make a mark. My parents started providing sketch books out of self defense. I never went anywhere without one. 10,000 hours of practice? I easily surpassed that by the time I was a preteen. I still draw every day.

If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
Invest in Apple stock.
I have had struggles, I suppose. The life of an artist is full of financial ups and downs, which can create a lot of uncertainty and stress. I survived a major automobile accident in my twenties, which involved a long recovery period, and still has recurring after effects. The untimely death of my first wife shattered many of my youthful illusions. Beyond the obvious trauma, there were deeper, self image frameworks that came unraveled. I think somewhere in the back of everyone’s mind is the idea that you can always protect the ones you love, like Superman in the movies, but in real life that doesn’t always work out.
Once you come to grips with the idea that things can drastically change in an instant, without warning, and you’re helpless to prevent it, the life goals of long term safety and security become less pressing. You just get on with it as best you can, and don’t let existential fears hold you back.
But I don’t believe these are concepts that an elder can successfully impart to a younger person. Obviously my younger self could have grasped the idea, but some things have to be directly experienced to penetrate.
I think I am much more fatalistic now, and just try to do my best with what is immediately before me.

Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. How do you differentiate between fads and real foundational shifts?
I never pay attention to fads, or foundational shifts. I just get on with doing what I like to do, and people just seem to appear who like it also. Chasing fads or otherwise is just trying to adapt your work to someone else’s taste. If I had started that from the beginning I would have become an abstract conceptualist, because that’s what was acceptable at the time.
Predictably, being very stubborn, I just did what I wanted to do, and ignored everyone else.
But of course, my work has always been appreciated by my fans. If there isn’t a certain level of appreciation, applause from the audience, say, would I be tempted to utterly change my style? Possible, but unlikely. I make sculpture that I would like to live with myself, setting on the coffee table or mantle. In a time where many are trying to develop new approaches to traditional art forms. To deconstruct, or turn on its’ head, long established norms in art.
No apologies here, I like traditional approaches to sculpture, and do not buy into the idea that working in a tradition with thousands of years of history, has no value in a modern society.

Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. If you knew you had 10 years left, what would you stop doing immediately?
Over the years my wife and I, well mostly I, have become maximalist collectors. If I knew I only had ten years left, I would stop buying stuff. I’m actually already slowing down on acquisitions. As far as my work, I would continue on just as before. I might try to travel more.
Artistic legacy is a slippery thing. Some of my sculptures might become iconic, certainly in their respective locations, but few people will remember who made them. How many people know the name of the sculptor who created the Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, the Lincoln Memorial? (Bartholdi, Borglum, and French) Artworks are remembered more than their creators, unless there is a successful marketing campaign.
So I try to create sculptures that will make an impact on the viewer. If someone sees one of them, at some far future date, and wonders who made that, and the impact is great enough for them to actually look it up, that’s artistic legacy enough.
On a personal level, I hope my family and descendants remember me as dedicated to family as much as my work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.deranwright.com
• Facebook: Deran Wright
• Other: @deranwright.bsky.social

Image Credits
Deran Wright