Sharona Deveneaux’s Personal Story of Art and Inspiration
“Hello…My name is Sharona Deveneaux. I was born and raised in California. I moved to New Orleans in the 80’s where I still reside as an artist and writer.
I have always been an admirer of anything dark and edgy, odd or disturbing. In my 20’s I became intrigued by French and German antique dolls from the 1800’s. They were so spectacular. Old but timeless, enchanting with their life like glass eyes and their hauntingly beautiful stare. They had that wonderful creepiness that I find so appealing. I then found out I could make reproductions of these dolls.
Since then I have made and sold over 200 dolls. Many were child size and were dressed in actual antique children’s clothing. Among my clients were Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac and Yvonne Le Fleur of New Orleans. Those were the pre-Katrina days.
Then came the post-Katrina days. By then my husband had been killed and our home had been completely burned down by arsonists and there wasn’t any insurance for either. I lost my studio and my personal doll collection in the fire.
People wonder about the name of my studio, “Stella’s House of Dirty Children”, well there’s more to that story, but I guess you will just have to read the book I am writing about my life, “Two Bits of Silver and a Mouthful of Lies”.
Gradually I became insanely depressed and gave up on dolls and drifted into killer clown and serial killer art. From that came the suicide art.
Gradually things started changing in my life and here I am in 2014. The last two years have been the most incredible and bountiful years for me. I have everything I could possibly want or need. I am currently working on a collection of portraits on aluminum sheet metal, screwed onto big pieces of wood and there is a huge Frank the Bunny on an old rusty, graffiti-zed corrugated piece of sheet metal. There will also be a more dramatic collection of portraits that will be framed with a Gothic flare.”
“For those of you who are interested in reading excerpts from my memoirs, go to: http://stellashouseofdirtychildren.webs.com”