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Jim was born and raised on a dairy farm named Point Creek Farm in Newton, Wisconsin. Wildlife was all around as he spent much of his time outdoors with a small river a short walk down the hill behind the farm - named Point Creek Farm. The present house was built by a relative around 1914 and there were two other houses before that were built by relatives in different spots on the same land. After high school Jim went into the army and served in Alaska for three years and stayed an additional four years enjoying exploring, hiking, hunting, and fishing in the Great Northwest. He ran into moose, mushed with sled dogs, and saw herds of caribou. He would go out weeks at a time exploring and fishing. He came back to the lower 48 and attended Dordt College
in Iowa studying biology. Jim moved into raising flowers in greenhouses and working with floral design and arrangement at a flower shop. He began sculpting with some display pieces for the flowers at some small shows in Manitowoc. He continued with the natural and floral capturing the living feeling of nature and wildlife with lightly curving and twisting iron. Pieces present the feeling of soft metal and movement. Bending iron to whatever need was at hand allows him to sculpt iron into the feathery wings of a heron to the dancing wings of a dragonfly. Jim works primarily with iron rods thick enough to be difficult for the bending and twisting by hand they go through. Each new piece is created from the ability to paint with iron the interpretation of a flower, winged or walking creature. Pieces are made from iron and metals that are painted black with copper paint highlights. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Public Pieces "Hungry Bears" - a bear with a salmon and two cubs - at the Great Plains Zoo in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. This piece was in Sioux Falls SculptureWalk in 2006. http://www.sculpturewalksiouxfalls.com/ The Zoo wanted "Hungry Bears" and found donors to purchase the piece. http://www.gpzoo.org/
"Dancing Sand Hill Cranes" The first piece of public art in the Friends of Mariners Trail new sculpture project. A grouping of 3 cranes placed along the Lake Michigan side of Mariners trail between Two Rivers and Manitowoc, Wisconsin. http://www.marinerstrail.net/
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Iron Art of Jim Dehne
Point Creek Iron Sculptures
Jim
Dehne draws his inspiration from the wildlife and flora of the Wisconsin countryside
where he has lived as well as the nature he observed while living and traveling across the country. In his
work he has brought together his love for nature and creative use of metals.
After
college, he returned to the beauty of the Wisconsin countryside and took
over the family farm. While taking care of the farm and raising a family,
Jim designed and built much of the equipment, tools and other implements around the farm.
Almost everything was built out of iron and two life long welders were there to
show how to bend, form, and weld iron to what was needed. Both his Dad and
Uncle Lester were welders on WWII submarines in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Uncle
Lester is just down the road a self taught local mechanic and inventor. Bring up
what we needed
and prepare to be bedazzled
(we think he bends metal with his mind).
