Medium: Ceramics
Location: Vancouver, BC
Member Since: 1976
ABOUT
Debra started a six-year self-directed apprenticeship 1973 - 1979 at Peg’s Place Pottery School, attended the Vancouver School of Art 1979- 1982, and later attained her BFA from Emily Carr University of Art and Design in 2005. Parent, maker, teacher, adjudicator, writer, presenter, serves on provincial craft boards, and is president of the North-West Ceramics Foundation. Her work is exhibited and collected regionally, nationally, and internationally. In 2010 she received a BC Arts Council grant for a residency in Hungary, and 2015 she received the Hilde Gerson Award (Craft Council of BC) and the Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award. She has attended international residencies at the International Ceramics Studio, Hungary, CRETA in Rome, and the Leach Pottery in St. Ives UK, and a year-long residency studying the Koerner Collection at the UBC Museum of Anthropology. In 2019 Debra received a Canada Council Grant for a residency at Shigaragki, Japan. In 2021 her work was included in the 10th Changchun International Biennial. Collections; Changchun, China, UBC Museum of Anthropology, Leach Pottery- UK, International Ceramics Studio - Hungary, Shigaraki Cultural Park-Japan, Ceremart Collection- Romania, Slovenia National Museum, Latvian Centre, City of Port Moody, City of Coquitlam, UBC Library, and private collections worldwide.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My ceramic practice revolves around describing sentient awareness - which I regard as a fundamental and timeless platform for commentary. I try to retain the power of depictive forms, for their familiarity, relevance and inherent beauty, forms often more evocative than truly representative.
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