A picture of "Clay Butte" from the farm where I was born.

Roane Deckert was born in 1939 in Eastern Montana and grew up on the high rolling plains of "Big Sky" country. Animals, wild and domestic, were part of the landscape. From earliest childhood, Roane found pencil and paper to draw these animals. Fascinated by the wide-open prairies and the lore of the West, Roane spent countless hours drawing horses, cattle and cowboys. Charlie Russell was his idol in those days. Born of German stock, who had been skilled with their hands as carpenters and blacksmiths for generations, Roane discovered woodcarving when his parents gave him a pocketknife at age 7. However, fine art was an unknown to him and his wheat-farming parents. The grandson of people who settled the open prairie, he was the first in his family to go to either high school or college.

As a college senior, Roane took an elective upper level sculpture course, having by this time discovered art. There he discovered the great English sculptor Henry Moore and readily admits to having been influenced by him. Roane was the only one to get an "A" and his art instructors encouraged him to study art. However, he "had other things to do," eventually earning a doctorate in organizational development. He continued to paint occasionally and sculpt as time permitted. Now Roane is devoting full time to his art and is responding to the strong "pull" he has felt all along to paint and sculpt.

Sculpture is his first love, artistically. He prefers to sculpt in clay and wood, both of which are basic materials. He says that we were made from the soil and likes to think of God as the Great Sculptor who fashioned humankind from the soil, as the book of Genesis tells it. "We are made from the clay of the earth and like trees we grow from its soil." He notes also that the Biblical account asserts that human beings are created in the likeness of God, who, he says, is obviously the Original Artist. "Just look at the design of creation - the color of trees in the fall, the shape of snow drifts along a fence row."

Roane believes that art should express the basic order of the universe. While other artists may choose to make social commentary on the disorder, contradictions or perceived meaninglessness of life, he would rather take the basic elements of clay or wood and reflect the fundamental beauty and order of life. "The viewer of art should be able to instantly relate to the piece and not have to invent interpretations to appreciate it," he says. "I hope my art is the kind that you can immediately enjoy, relate to, touch, caress and be inspired by."