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Pastel Artist
Deborah studied art and art history in college at Western State College in Gunnison, CO and at the Fort Wayne (IN) Art Institute. “Art has always been a part of my life; in my education, in my appreciation of, in my own artistic creations, and in my personal collections”. Like many young artists, Deborah struggled with confidence and put her art work aside while raising a family In 1993, Deborah went to work for a print broker in Seattle, WA which led to several years of representing artists and photographers in industry trade shows through out the United States. In 1996 and 1997, she organized two successful art shows in the Northwest for artists she represented. Since many of these artists were wildlife artists, Deborah brought in guest speakers from various wildlife conservation organizations, as part of the show’s program, including Partners In Conservation ( Columbus Zoo, Columbus, OH), the International Snow Leopard Trust (Seattle, WA), Wolf Haven International (Tenino, WA), The Cheetah Conservation Fund (Africa) and Morris Animal Foundation ( Denver, CO). She also organized successful artist receptions and art shows from 2001- 2005 in a furniture store she owned and operated during this time and in the small shopping mall where her store was located in Port Orchard, WA. It was through her association with Partners In Conservation co founder, Charlene Jendry, (in 1996) that Deborah became involved with their mission to raise funds to protect the Mountain Gorilla and the indigenous people of their habitat ( Rwanda, Uganda, and Democratic Republic of the Congo) and became especially interested in the Imbabazi Orphanage in Rwanda for orphaned children of the 1994 genocide. Through this interest, Deborah wrote a children’s short story about the Dian Fossey’s legacy of protecting the Mountain Gorilla and wanted to illustrate the book herself. It was then that she “dusted off " her own artistic talent and began painting mountain gorillas using photographs provided to her by Ruth Keesling of the Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund (MGCF) and by Robert Campbell, well known National Geographic photographer. After completing eight paintings of mountain gorillas, Deborah painted a tiger, then a lion and from then on she was hooked. While wildlife remains her favorite subject, over the years, she has become open to any subject that calls out to her to paint including people, landscape and still life. Deborah uses her own photographs for reference material and carries her camera with her everywhere. She has donated work to several fund raising events for wildlife conservation and local organizations. Deborah chose pastel as her medium because she admired the work of the pastel artist she represented as well as the great Masters. “I work mostly on a special purchased velour paper. I love the soft effect I get especially doing wildlife. She also likes to work on Wallis Museum quality sanded paper and Pastelbord. I cover my entire surface with pastel and consider my work to be a painting and not a drawing”. ( the category most art shows place pastel work in) Deborah likes to work with Nu Pastels and various brands of soft pastel, including Unison and Sennelier, and combine both in many paintings. “I like pastel because I can work on a painting for five minutes or five hours”. She always has a painting in progress on the easel. Deborah has studied under Award winning artists Stephen Quiller; (Master Artist and Author) Tucker Smith, (Master Artist) and Lee Kromschroeder (Master Artist) at the prestigious Jackson Hole Artists’ Workshop (1999, 2000). Her work has been accepted in juried and non juried shows in the Northwest and other parts of the United States and has won many ribbons and cash awards. Deborah’s work hang in private and corporate collections through out the United States, Canada, France and South America. She is a past member of the Northwest Pastel Society and current member of The Arkansas Craft Guild. She is the editor of "Your Guild Gazette" the monthly newsletter for the Arkansas Craft Guild. She is currently under contract with a literary agency to delvelope her short story manuscript for publication. In September of 2005, Deborah and her husband, Jesse, retired to Mountain Home, AR (from Washington), with three dogs and three cats. They have two grown children.
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