Bio

J. Deacon Stone

     Deacon has participated at all levels in numerous exhibitions throughout southern Ohio, West Virginia and Michigan, at venues including Ohio University, the St. James Arcade (Huntington, WV), Cranbrook Art Museum (Bloomfield Hills, MI), Chrysler Financial Services Collection (Farmington Hills, MI), the Forum Gallery (Bloomfield Hills, MI), the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center (Birmingham, MI), Flint Institute of Art (Flint, MI), Pullman Square Ancillary Gallery (Huntington, WV), Morris Gallery (Huntington, WV), Marshall University President's Gallery (Huntington, WV).
     His sculptures are in several permanent collections in and around Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, including Cranbrook Museum of Art, and in private collections in Los Angeles, Detroit, New Orleans, Boston; Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; and Huntington, Hurricane, and Charleston, in West Virginia. He has assisted in the installation and packing of world-class exhibitions from Cranbrook Museum, to the Joan C. Edwards Playhouse, Birke Art Gallery, and Huntington Museum of Art, in Huntington, West Virginia; including Willie Cole's "The Elegba Principle." 
     Volunteer work includes assistance with the installation of artwork through WV Community Works Projects, and for grant funded organizations including the Apalachian Women's Leadership Program, in Hamlin, WV, and the Huntington Area Food Bank, Huntington, WV. 

     Deacon grew up at the southernmost point of Ohio near the banks of the river; where three states meet. As an only child of a single mother, resourcefulness and resilience were instilled by practice; the all-too-often necessities for survival in Appalachia. 
     Resourcefulness proved adequate preparation for education as he was awarded the Freshman Excellence Scholarship from Ohio University. He later earned his BFA from Marshall University in Sculpture, and MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Sculpture.
     He has taught at Detroit metro art institutions from the College for Creative Studies, to the Flint Institute of Art.
     He Lives with his wife, Jessica E. Stone, a ceramicist, in Huntington, West Virginia.