Charles Deaton*

Charles Deaton was born in Clayton, New Mexico, in 1921. He was only three when his family of five moved from Arkansas to a 10-acre farm in Oklahoma, with all their possessions loaded in a wagon that was pulled by a horse and followed by a cow. Before they finished building a simple one-room house on their new farm, the Deatons spent two winters living in a tent on the open Oklahoma plains.

Deaton delivered newspapers to buy books and clothing for high school and to buy supplies to teach himself commercial art at night. By age 16, he was supporting himself entirely from his newfound craft. Deaton became a specialist in commercial architecture.

While building one of his most renowned landmarks, the Sculptured House, which has no right angles, he said, "People aren't angular, so why should they live in rectangles?"