Swamp artist

Retiree combines love of art, recycling

Old wine bottles, left over tiles, oyster shells from dinner – you name it, Herbert Dean can turn it into art.

Dean, a Luling resident, has been rekindling his passion to paint since his retirement with help from friends and neighbors and a little instruction from local community education classes.

Dean has loved to paint for as long as he can remember. He started working with acrylics and oil paints in high school and college and was always drawn to his hometown landscapes for inspiration.

“I love the swamps, the cypress trees,” Dean said. “My favorite place to drive is Airline Highway from St. Rose to the (Bonnet Carre) Spillway.

“People just drive through, but I stop every time and look at the reflection of the cypress trees on the water and the artistic part of me comes out.”

Dean is not picky about his canvas.

In fact, he often uses left over tiles and wood from friends’ renovation projects, shells from eaten oysters and empty wine bottles to paint on.

So far, he has used these items to experiment making tiki torches, coasters, card holders, checker boards, light-up house decorations, stained glass and more.

But Dean said that all of his work and enjoyment would have been impossible if he had never had proper artistic training.

“You have to take classes – you have to learn,” Dean said.

He said he not only took art classes in high school and college, but he has also taken numerous community education classes in art over the years, including a calligraphy class, that helped him hone his craft.

“Taking the community education classes in St. Charles Parish…was a big factor in getting me more interested in art,” Dean said.

Since his retirement, he has become so interested in new types of art, such as creating decorations out of wine bottles and glass blocks, that he has invested in his own diamond drill bit and tile cutter.

But he has not forgotten about his love of painting and continues to work on his skills, despite other projects he is working on.

In all of Dean’s paintings, viewers will see a clue that they are original and special to him: a small white egret. He paints the egret on almost all of his artwork as a symbol next to his signature.

Although this is the first time in Dean’s life that he has devoted much of his time to art, he has been appreciated as a talented artist by many friends and colleagues before.

In fact, while he was still working as a technician at Occidental, the company asked Dean to create a realistic painting of the original office with a giant oak tree in the front.

They gave him multiple pictures to use as a model, but none of the pictures had both the office and the tree. But Dean worked tirelessly to create a life-like portrait of the office building with the tree in front.

Twenty-five years later, the company returned the painting to him when he retired.

And lately, Dean has been using his art to bring solace and comfort to those he knows who have lost loved ones.

Just a few months ago, local businesswoman Irene Hebert passed away. Dean said he knew many of her family members and employees, so he mades a special memorial block with Irene’s picture on it that lights up. Now Hebert’s Seafood keeps the keepsake on their counter at all times.

Dean said that his friends who work at Hebert’s tell him the block is a wonderful reminder of Irene’s spirit and helps them get through the day.