Deloris Tarzan Ament

Background

Deloris Tarzan Ament was born on July 5, 1934, in Paulding, Ohio, United States. She is the daughter of Floyd Henry and Frances Marie (Sontchi) Lehman.

Education

Deloris Ament received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bowling Green State University in 1956. She also attended a university in China.

Career

Deloris Ament is a former journalist. She served as an art critic at the Seattle Times from 1971 till 1995. In 1995 she became a freelance writer.

In Iridescent Light: The Emergence of Northwest Art, she profiles a series of 20 artists active in Washington State during the formative periods of their careers, moving from the 1930s forward. Beginning with painters Mark Tobey and Morris Graves and including many lesser-known artists, the works of this loosely defined Northwest School reflected the area's isolation, marine landscape, and diffused light. After a brief introduction, Ament provides appreciative chapters on the artists, only a minority of whom won recognition outside the region. Ament writes in clear, appreciative journalistic prose, focusing on the artists and the challenges they faced more than the art itself.

In 600 Moons: Fifty Years of Philip Mccracken's Art, Deloris Tarzan Ament recounts McCracken's formative experiences on Puget Sound and traces his career from early studies of art to his first solo show in New York in 1960 to the present. The text incorporates numerous unpublished artist statements and chronicles a diverse body of work concerned with the profound mysteriousness of nature and humanity.

Ament is also known as a weekly on-line columnist and contributor to periodicals, including Seattle Homes and Lifestyles, Art Guide Northwest, Art Access, Journeys, Westways, and Open Spaces. Some of her writings appeared under the name Deloris Lehman Tarzan or the pseudonym Winifred Concannon. She lectured extensively on Northwest artists. She is also the co-author of the science fiction book Red Tide written with David Duane Chapman and author of Happy Birthday, Eddie Newhouse.

It's also worth noting, that Deloris was a volunteer for the telephone crisis line at Seattle Crisis Clinic and a volunteer for Hospice of Seattle.

Achievements

• Deloris Ament is a journalist highly regarded for her extensive knowledge of Northwest art and artists. During her longtime journalistic career, she received more than fifty journalism awards, including awards from National Press Women, Washington Press Women, and the Society of Professional Journalists. Her book Iridescent Light: The Emergence of Northwest Art also received recognition and was a winner of a 2003 Washington State Book Award.

Works

More photos

• book

  • John Cole: The Enduring Northwest Landscape

    (John Cole is a painter whose canvases, building on the co...)

    2003
  • Iridescent Light: The Emergence of Northwest Art

    (Deloris Ament wrote in this book profiles of artists who ...)

    2002
  • 600 Moons: Fifty Years of Philip Mccracken's Art

    (Philip McCracken is a native son of the Northwest whose a...)

    2004
  • Happy Birthday, Eddie Newhouse 1966

Membership

Deloris Ament was a member of Ikebana International.

Personality

Physical Characteristics: Deloris Ament suffered a debilitating stroke in 2005. As a result, her husband Allan Ament became her caregiver.

Interests

• collecting kaleidoscopes and Yixing ware

Connections

Deloris Ament was married thrice. His first husband was Stephan Robert Tarzan but this marriage ended. Then she married Albert Conley in September 1954. The marriage produced one child, Celeste Marie Conley Logothets. The couple divorced in 1957. In September 1987 she married Allan Bruce Ament.

Father:

Floyd Henry Lehmman

Mother:

Frances Marie (Sontchi) Lehman

Ex-husband:

Stephan Robert Tarzan

Ex-husband:

James Albert Conley

husband:

Allan Bruce Ament

During his career, Allan Bruce Ament worked as a criminal defense attorney, higher education administrator and instructor, and day spa manager. He is the author of the book Learning to Float: Memoir of a Caregiver-Husband.

References

• Learning to Float: Memoir of a Caregiver-Husband Allan and Deloris Ament's lives take a dramatic turn when Deloris suffers a debilitating stroke. No longer an equal partner in marriage, Allan becomes Deloris's primary caregiver, responsible for maintaining their household and her well-being. Learning to Float describes Allan's transformation from a criminal defense attorney to a compassionate, emotionally vulnerable caregiver.
  2014