TAOD’s Dean Loucks Opens New Art Gallery

Next week, Dean Loucks, renowned performance-boat painter and owner of The Art of Design (TAOD) in Elkhart, Ind., is hosting a grand opening of Dean’s Place Art Gallery, his new fine art studio in Granger, Ind.

Loucks, who has created some of the most famous paint jobs on high-performance boats from Cigarette, Outerlimits, Skater and more, will have many of his custom wall paintings on display, as well as pianos, coasters, furniture and even custom-painted bombs (talk about unique). The gallery will be open to celebrate the occasion every night from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., from Wednesday, Feb. 8 to Saturday, Feb. 11. An official ribbon-cutting ceremony with the mayor will take place Saturday at 3 p.m.

“A lot of hard work has gone into this gallery,” Loucks said. “Art, as you know, is something that causes an emotional response from someone. We try to do things our own way that really evoke emotion. This gallery features a lot of art I’ve designed using special painting techniques. We’ve got some neat things in store.”

Dean’s Place Art Gallery is located at 918 East University Park Drive in Granger. Accompanied by food and drinks, Loucks and company will be on hand to show off the fine art as well as talk shop about some TAOD’s most recent work, which includes painting the PUMA Ocean Racing sailboat, teaming up with Liberty Coach to paint the company’s RVs and various other boats his team has painted.