Charles Frank Dean -

During winter months, Charles Dean paints landscapes in oil and watercolor from his boat and from his studio in northern Florida.  In the spring, summer and fall he travels and paints outdoors in Colorado and other Western States - with the support and companionship of wife Susana and and his two favorite "art critics", their dogs "Mac" and "Tessa".  He is represented by the Art Matters Gallery in Salida, Colorado and by the Aviles Street gallery in Saint Augustine, Florida.

He was born in Spokane Washington in 1934 into a family that included several artists and musicians. He started sketching as a young boy during hiking and fishing vacations at the lakes north of Spokane.  He painted his first landscapes in oil on canvas at the age of 14.  His formal art and design training includes undergraduate study at the school of Architecture of the University of Idaho and the School of Architecture at the University of Washington in Seattle -  followed by one year at the Graduate School of Architecture and Planning of  the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.  His early professional design career included preparation of architectural renderings and later as Architectural Designer for the U.S. Office of International Trade Fairs (OITF) based in Washington DC.  He was the Assistant Designer for the American Pavilion at the World Fair in Cairo, Egypt in 1960 and traveled to Egypt to supervise the construction.  In 1961 he was appointed OITF Architectural Designer for the American Pavilion at the International Fair in Osaka, Japan.  After supervising construction of the Pavilion in Osaka he was designated as Design Architect for the American Pavilion at the international fair in Karachi, Pakistan. While in Pakistan, he also assisted in the design of an emergency village for several thousand refugees from the war between Pakistan and India. That experience led to a career change starting in 1964 - when he began work on programs for the design and construction of emergency housing for refugees from war and natural disasters funded by the US Agency for International Development, USAID. During the period from 1964 until 2004, he had primary responsibility for numerous USAID projects in more than 30 developing countries of Central and South America, Africa, the Mid-East and Asia. His work directly benefited more than 100,000 refugees and poor people with improved housing, water and sanitation systems and community facilities. Highlights of his career include design and construction of housing and essential services following earthquakes in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala and following hurricanes "Fifi" and "Mitch" in Honduras.  He was also responsible for design and implementation of war reconstruction and refugee assistance in Lebanon, Vietnam, Panama and El Salvador - during the years of armed conflicts in those countries. 

During his many years living in foreign countries he combined his love of nature and art during hiking, sketching and fishing trips in the jungles of Central America, the mountains of South America and remote areas of Asia, Africa and the former Soviet Union. He is now retired and divides his time among his family/grandchildren, painting, boating and fishing. He is a member of Oil Painters of America,  the National Watercolor Society and the Art of the Rockies Association.  His paintings have been displayed and sold in juried art exhibitions and galleries in North Florida and Colorado. He is presently concentrating on representational landscapes in oil - but continues to use watercolor for quick field studies.  On rare occasions, he paints abstracts as a way to refresh his basic skills in design, composition and for value and color studies.

Charles Frank Dean with Mac during "critique" of a recent painting in North Florida.