Lee Ward
The Independent
ASHLAND —
Two peep holes and an indentation for a nose playfully invite visitors to the Pendleton Art Center to take a peek at the work of Deb Endicott.
“I couldn’t afford a glass door,” she said, and wanting visitors to be able to see her work, even if she wasn’t on site, she and her husband created the unconventional view of her paintings.
Endicott, who works at Academy Animal Hospital, said she took an interest in art when she was a child.
“I remember in the third grade there was an art contest and I drew a field with a house and a horse in it and I won third place in the school and got $10,” she said. “My mother told me I could buy whatever I wanted with that $10 and I bought a little toy horse.”
Her love of animals thrived and so did her love of art. She said her mother bought her little canvas pieces and paints for her birthdays and she stayed busy filling them with her favorite subjects.
Endicott said her mother wasn’t a painter but did advise her on her paintings. “I think she would have that inclination for it,” she said. “I would tell her what I wanted to do and Mom would help me get the stuff I needed to make the painting happen.”
In high school in Westerville, Ohio, Endicott said she had an art class but during her college years — she received a degree in Bible and education from Kentucky Christian College in 1979 — her artistic focus was music.
She said she traveled with a singing group but ended up selling some of her art on the side.
“It’s always interesting to see people’s reactions to your work,” she said.
Her favorite medium is oil: “I like the vibrant look,” she said, adding she usually has several paintings in progress at once, giving her the chance to move from one painting to another while they dry.
Her favorite subjects are animals and log cabins, although she has recently created some paintings reflecting love for God and country.
She loves the look of wood and painted the floor of her studio like planks. She also makes primitive decorative items and furniture from wood and made some of her own frames from the wood she salvaged when she deconstructed a barn last year with a friend.
She joined the Pendleton in April this year and she said it’s been a pleasure.
“I enjoy it here,” she said. “I’ve met so many people who I’d never have met if I hadn’t been here. And it’s neat to see people out (on First Friday art walk) looking at art and culture.”
LEE WARD can be reached at lward@dailyindependent.coÏm or (606) 326-2661.
