Joan Matta Deckard, known professionally as Matta D., created art for decades

Erie County artist Matta D. has died at age 85.

Born Joan Matta on Aug. 3, 1938, in Pittsburgh, she was married to artist John Silk Deckard for 35 years until his death in 1994. The couple had two children, Nicole Deckard Stanger and Silk St. John Matta Deckard, who survive.

Joan Matta Deckard died Tuesday at UPMC Hamot in Erie after some recent health problems, said S. Vince Palermo, who said he was Matta D.'s personal representative/agent.

"She was like her artwork: full of life and eclectic and eccentric, full of color, enthusiastic, vivacious," Palermo said.

A master printmaker and a sculptor, Matta D. believed "art should be all over the place" and that it enhances quality of life, Palermo said. He said she had worked out of her artist studio on Wattsburg Road in Greene Township for 60 years.

He also said she was a feminist in her own right and chose to use the name Matta D. to establish her independence.

From 2017: Erie artist has the touch of a woman

Her son, who lives in Erie, said she was a good mother and artist and that her prints and artworks supported their family while his father worked on more expensive pieces. Deckard made the sculpture known as "Eternal Vigilance" that is in front of the Erie Art Museum on State Street.

John Vanco, who retired as the Erie Art Museum's executive director in 2017, said John and Joan Deckard were two of the first artists he met when going to work at the museum almost 50 years earlier.

He said Matta D.'s work was very popular and she sold a lot of it.

"The work she did early on, especially rather complex multi-colored drypoint engravings, were exceptional," Vanco said.

He said every print was hand-inked and all the colors were put in at once in a laborious process that used plexiglass and was a technical innovation.

Palermo said Matta D.'s artwork was owned by celebrities including Tony Bennett, Farrah Fawcett and Liberace.

Her work was featured in shows and exhibited in Paris, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and more cities, according to information provided by Palermo.

He said Matta D. was his grandmother's best friend for many years and he became a surrogate grandson to her. She also is survived by a grandson, Deckard Stanger, and a great-grandson, Ivan Stanger, of Columbus, Ohio. Her daughter lives in Chagrin Falls, Ohio.

Matta D. was always interested in the community's best interests, helping to raise money for local organizations including WQLN through its art auction and other charity art events, Palermo and Vanco said. She also helped with the Erie Summer Festival of the Arts, Palermo said. She had received a Distinguished Alumni Award from Edinboro University.

Palermo said funeral arrangements would be handled by the Orlando Funeral Home.

Obituary: Joan "Matta D." Deckard

Dana Massing can be reached at dmassing@timesnews.com.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie County PA artist Matta D., widow of John Silk Deckard, dies at 85