How James Dean Became an Artist
and Meet Pete the Cat

Just before graduating college as an electrical engineer, James Dean took a basic drawing class. “My instructor told me I should be studying art, not engineering, and my grades in engineering sort of agreed with his opinion,” he says. “I did accept a position as an engineer for the Georgia Power Company, but eventually, I decided to work as a full-time artist. I believe that my art is my best natural talent. I need to do art. I really don’t have a choice.”

The cat he would adopt as Pete was black and scrawny-looking in the cage at the shelter, and Dean was not interested in him at first. “Black cats are bad luck. But there he was sticking his paw out while all the pretty long-haired cats were asleep, trying to pretend I wasn’t there.” The bond was formed and Pete went home with him.

Dean’s first painting of Pete was “a thoughtful piece with mostly white space. I painted him deep blue because it is one of my favorite colors and also because I didn’t know if people would want a painting of a black cat.” He stuck the painting of Pete in the bin at one of his art shows and was overwhelmed with the response. Customers couldn’t get enough of Pete.

“People have continued to buy as many as I can paint,” he says. “I have learned from painting Pete that people love cats, and I have to agree they are very special.” Dean and his wife, Kim Dean, a painter, sculptor and writer, have five cats who allow them to live in their house.

In art, Dean sees and thinks in lines and connections. “The lines are very strong in my work; the color is almost meaningless without the lines,” he says. “This is the basis for my style of watercolor. I generally draw things that are real. I draw places and things that I know about and that have connections with me. I hope that other people will also see and feel this same connection.”

Photos from the unveiling: