Meet Trace Deaton | Artist.

Depending on my mood, I will spend a couple of months just writing music and not create any art but in turn, will spend time solely on photography or digital art or creating videos.

I spent the last year producing videos of the incredible horses at the Kentucky Horse Park. I would spend time with the horses at sunrise and sunset when they weren’t being the star attractions at the park. They were off work just being silly, beautiful horses.

I hope that my artistic legacy will be that I created in lots of different mediums and styles and that they all were optimistic and thought-provoking. And in the end, everything I’ve done throughout my career will be viewed as one body of work all tied together to reveal something more than the sum of its parts.

As far as my personal legacy, I just want to be thought of as someone who was a good person and tried to be kind to everyone.

I’ve spent most of my adult life just trying to make my daughter proud of me.

I spent the first 40 years of my life as a musician. I somehow managed to make a living with my guitar and that’s not an easy thing to do.

I received my first camera at the age of 16. It was a gift from my parents who were so supportive of anything that I wanted to do. Somehow music and photography complemented each other in my life, They both gave me a creative outlet which was so important to me. And still is.

Over the years, I started spending much more time on photography and visual art. Photographing models at first (not a bad gig) and then after I moved to Colorado Springs, I started really getting into landscape photography.

Currently, I photograph beautiful models and beautiful horses, as I live in Georgetown, KY, the horse capital of the world.

In the spring of 2023 I began an association with the Kentucky Horse Park where I shoot video of the horses in their paddocks (mostly at sunset.) this has been an amazing experience. I was never around horses growing up so it’s been pretty incredible.

I’m fortunate to have different layers of creativity.

I sell my photography of rural America, things like barns, horses, and even cows, I then mount the photos to 100-year-old reclaimed barn wood and tin roofing. It is pretty unique and creates a source of income for me.

As far as struggles go, I think like every artist, it took me awhile to even consider myself an artist. Once you begin to believe in yourself and find your unique approach you become an artist.

Well, I live in a small downtown area in Georgetown, Ky, on the corner of Broadway and Main, in a 120-year-old building. There are several restaurants, bars, coffee shops, and cafes all within walking distance of me. I’d enjoy showing off my cute little town.

I have access to behind-the-scenes places at the Kentucky Horse Park, it’s a beautiful place with some of the most beautiful horses in the world. I’d include that in any itinerary.

Larger cities that are nearby include Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky, and my hometown of Cincinnati Ohio.

This time of year we’d catch a Reds game in Cincinnati, hit some museums in Louisville and then what is referred to as “The Bourbon Trail here in my area.

She’s my inspiration and my bestie who always has my back and literally saved my life.

I run my work by her and gauge how good it is by her reaction. if she likes it, I know I’m on to something.