Artist Statement
Coming out is a lifelong journey of exploring and accepting multiple parts of ourselves and striving to identify and nurture what is always present. As an artist I experience this in every part of my being. I paint as a form of dialog, drawing from complex layers of memory that address environments, identity, trauma, joy and intimacy - bringing all to a simpler surface. My work is implicit, not conveying a specific narrative but owning the characters that sometimes emerge be them animal, human or other. A conversation appears as the layering brings forward a story of sorts. I paint to bring voice to unresolved relationships, making peace with life’s turbulence while seeking humor within the chaos.
Bio
Debra was given the fortunate experience of observing her mother paint and draw often during her early years and although mesmerized and admiring – she equated the experience as complex and at times conflicted. She chose instead photography as her medium and for several years worked as a photographer and educational media producer. While parenting her child she pursued a career in arts administration and program management in Boston and then New York. She began to focus on painting while earning a BFA from Tufts University, SMFA, Boston. She now dedicates herself full-time to her painting practice working from her studio in South Boston.
Debra has exhibited work across the country from Boston to Los Angeles and has participated in numerous residencies from Montana to the Hudson Valley.
Her work is in several private collections. Debra has recently become a member of the Kingston Gallery in Boston, Ma.
CV
Recent Exhibitions
We Are Not The Stories We Tell Ourselves; Intersecting Thoughts Parallel Play, Two Person Show, Kingston Gallery, Boston 2025 All Tomorrow’s Parties, Group Show, M David & Co at Art Cake, Brooklyn, NY 2024 Two Minds/One Studio, Two-Person Show, The Distillery Gallery, Boston, MA 2023 Between States, Group Show, M.David & Co. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 2022 Layered Conversations, Solo Show, Cntr. for Contemporary Art Bedminster, NJ 2022 Abstraction Now, Group Show, Castle Hill Cntr for the Arts & M.David, Truro, MA 2021 International Group Exhibition, The Center for Contemporary Art, Bedminster, NJ 2021 Heeled, A Western Ballad, Group Show, Dab Art, HGallery+,Ventura, CA 2021 Exhibition Open Studios, Main Gallery, Distillery Building, South Boston, MA 2019 Alumni Art Exhibit & Sale, Museum School/Tufts University, Boston, MA 2019
Residencies
Edgewood Farm, Castle Hill Center for the Arts, Master Class Residency, Truro, MA 2022 WHSR (Welcome Hill Studio Residency Program), Two-Sessions, W.Chesterfield, NH. 2021 Visiting Artist, Studio Visit & Talk, Center for Contemporary Art, Bedminster, NJ 2021 Michael David, Judy Pfaff Foundation Studio Residency, 2-week Residency, Tivoli, NY 2020 Fine Arts Work Center, Short Term Studio Resident, Provincetown, MA 2014 Montana Artists Refuge Residency, Basin, Montana 2011
Awards/Publications/Exhibitions
(Photography, Video, Drawing, Collage)
Adoption Lifebook: Faces of Adoption, Cambridge, MA (Publication) 2002
Jamaica Plain Open Studios: Mixed Media, Jamaica Plain Arts Center, Boston, MA. 1996
Staff Art Exhibit: Grossman Gallery, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA. 1995
MIX: UNCLE FRED, New York Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, (An Evening of Gay and Lesbian Jewish Films) NYC 1994
Perspectives: Social and Political Concerns, Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA 1993
Visual Contact: Women's Caucus For Art, Aidekman Arts Center, Tufts Medford, MA 1993
Sexuality & The Politics of Obscenity, Hera Gallery, R.I. M. Nilsson, Co-curator 1992
Drawing Show, Boston Visual Artists Union Gallery, Boston. Howard Yezerski, Juror. 1990
Contemporary Collage: Opening The 90's, The Brush Art Gallery, Lowell, MA 1990
Photography, New Hampshire Art Association Gallery, Manchester, NH, 1990
Photography Now, Anita Douthat, Curator, Photographic Resource Center. 1990 An Act of Resistance; Making Communit(y)ies, Mobius, Boston, MA, Co-Curator 1989
Visual AIDS, Mixed Media Group Show, Different Angle Gallery, Boston, MA. 1989
Mixed Media, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA. Juried Group Show. 1988
CD AT FDA: AIDS Activism, Washington. DC 1988
DAWN Project: Homeless Women in Boston, Boston, MA 1987
The Advocate Magazine, Documents of Aids Activism Los Angeles, CA 1987
Education
BFA, Tufts University in Affiliation with the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 2009 Yellow Chair Salon, M. David & Guest Artists, Virtual Critiques, 2020-2024 Painting Studio Workshop, Cynthia Packard, Provincetown, MA, 2015 High Honors, Professional Certificate, New England School of Photography, Boston, MA 1980