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For years my work has been guided by the
core issues of identity and integration of the disowned elements in
our nature. Essentially a quest for wholeness, this process has led
me to explore our conditioned responses to gender, our notions of
beauty and ugliness, our distinctions between normal and abnormal.
I believe that these fixed concepts or judgments narrow our range of
experience and limit our ability to both value and recognise in
ourselves the stunning diversity of our existence.
I have always used the female figure as my primary image (perhaps
but not intentionally an autographical device.) As with the
paperdolls I made and adored as a child, I can dress this painted or
drawn persona as my fantasy directs. I can push and pull at her
features, mutate and mask and adorn her until she becomes something
more inclusive, something “other,” a being larger and more
reflective of the unconditioned self.
I am also deeply drawn to animals. Their beauty of form and color,
their outrageous self sufficiency, their mystery and otherness have
inspired me for years. I feel that they hold a key to our ability
to fully recognise ourselves. In my work I often combine human and
animal attributes, creating a kind of metaphor for our larger,
deeper selves. I think that we have a profound need to belong to
the natural world.
Lately I have become quite concerned with our disregard for this
natural world. Our relationship as a species to nature is
profoundly dysfunctional. The destruction of wild lands, the
extinction of so many birds and animals permanently damages our own
souls. I mourn the loss of wildness, both in the world and within
our communal spirit. I feel my work shifting, becoming more and
more an expression of both concern and gratitude for the lives of
wild creatures. The pieces here are the beginning of this new
dialogue.
Date and Place of
Birth:
1950, Ponca City, Oklahoma
EDUCATION
1989: Master in Fine Art, Maryland Institute, Baltimore, MD
1987: Bachelor of Fine Art, University
of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
ONE PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2008
"Traces, Tracks, Vestiges", Matrix Fine Art, Albuquerque, NM
"Just Face
It", Fleckenstein Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland
2007 Perfect Pear Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, Matrix Fine Art, Albuquerque, NM
2006 “A Touch of the Wild,” New Grounds Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
2005 “Birds, Bees
and the Long Gone Seas,” New Grounds Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
2002 LewAllen
Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM
WARD Gallery, Harbor Springs, MI
2001 Peterson-Hall Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
2000 Creative Resource Gallery, Detroit, MI
WARD Gallery, Harbor Springs, MI
1999 Gomez Gallery, Baltimore, MD
1997 Gomez Gallery, Baltimore, MD
1995 Gomez Gallery, Baltimore, MD
1993 Gomez Gallery, Baltimore, MD
1991 Nye Gomez Gallery, Baltimore, MD
SELECTED GROUP
EXHIBITIONS
2008 Made
in New Mexico, Proyecto
Ace, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Made in New Mexico,
Wolverhampton College, Wolverhampton, U.K.
2005 Emerging Artist 05,
Scottsdale, AZ
Spring
Phantasm, curated by Ashley Gallery; 2/20 Gallery, New York City, NY
NOVA,
Chicago, IL; with Ashley Gallery
2002 Everybody
Draws, Fleckenstein Gallery, Baltimore, MD
2001 Small Paintings, Weber State University Art Gallery, Ogden UT
1999 Prints Historic and Contemporary, Evergreen House, Johns
Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
1997 Hidden Realities, Secret Visions, Anne Arundel Community
College, Baltimore, MD
Mid-Atlantic Women Painters, Museo de Arte Moderno, Santo Domingo
Mid-Atlantic Women Painters, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de San Juan, Puerto Rico
1996 Mid-Atlantic Women Painters, CELARG Gallery, Caracas, Venezuela
Biennial '96, Delaware Art
Museum, Wilmington, Delaware
1995 Singular View, Multiple Choices, Holtzman Art Gallery, Towson
State University, Baltimore, MD
London Contemporary Art Fair,
London, England. (Anthony Hepworth Fine Art, Bath, England)
1993 Variations on Visions, Howard County Center for the Arts,
Baltimore, MD
Secret Pages, Maryland Art
Place, Baltimore, MD
Exhibition of Five, Leighton
Gallery, Blue Hill, Maine
1989 Masters in Fine Arts Exhibition, University of Hawaii, Hilo
1986 Local Color, Banquest Galleries, Santa Fe, NM
AWARDS
2002 Maryland State Arts Council, Individual Artist Award
2001 Jentel Artist Residency Program, Artist Fellowship, Banner, WY
1997 Maryland State Arts Council, Individual Artist Award
1995 Maryland State Arts Council, Individual Artist Award
1986 Anna C. Helman Award, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrams, Amy.
Sunday Arts, East
Valley Tribune, Phoenix, AZ, "Out of
the darkness: Artist Deborah Donelson depicts the struggles and
triumphs of the human experience," article/ reproductions),
September 9, 2001.
Get Out, Scottsdale, AZ, "a peek at the unique", (exhibit preview), February 15, 2001.
Anft,
Michael.
Baltimore
Messenger, "Canvassing Latin America - work of two Roland Park
artists will travel to countries south" (article), November 8,
1995.
Clayton,
John. Baltimore Magazine/Calendar, January 1992. (reproduction)
Dorsey,
John.
The Baltimore
Sun: "Donelson explores color" (exhibition review), October 23, 1997
(reproductions);
"Donelson's art shows new mastery" (exhibition review), October 17,
1995 (reproduction);
"At Gomez, Donelson probes for truth, McGuire finds beauty and
joy..." (exhibition review), December 8, 1993;
"Laudable artwork struggles to somehow share Vision..." (review),
October 2, 1993;
"Sculptures convey varying meanings..." (review), December 17,
1991.
Fleming,
Lee.
Baltimore Magazine, "You've Gotta Have Art" (article), February
1993.
Giuliano,
Mike.
City Paper: "Girls, Girls, Girls" (exhibition review), October 6,
1999. (reproduction);
"Bare Ambiguity" (exhibition review), November 12, 1997
(reproduction)
"Identity
Crisis" (exhibition review), November 8, 1995; Howard County Times
, 'Variations' gives viewers lots to ponder..." (review), October
14, 1993;
The Baltimore Sun/The Evening Sun, Nye Gomez shows works of
promising talent..." (review), December 26, 1991.
Joseph,
Scott.
Orlando Sentinel/Sunday Magazine, "New Reason to go Downtown
November 29, 1992. (reproduction)
McCoy, Mary.
The Washington Post, "Visions That Invigorate the Mind" (review),
October 14, 1993.
McNatt,
Glenn.
The Baltimore Sun: "Artist reinterprets the gods" (exhibition review), September
21, 1999. (reproduction)
Pearson,
Stefanie L.
Arizona Style Magazine, "Ironic Art: Finding Beauty in the
Unexpected" (artist profile), March 4, 2001. (reproductions)
Sheldon,
Louise.
The Baltimore Chronicle, "Color and Glitter at the Gomez - By
Gifted Artists" (exhibition review), November 1997. (reproduction);
"Deborah Donelson's Clowns and Street-Walkers at the Gomez"
(exhibition review), February 1994. (reproduction)
Smith, Arvie.
"Variations on Visions" (exhibition brochure), Howard County Center
for the Arts, Sept 1993.
Witty, Merrill.
Baltimore Magazine, "At The Galleries" (article), September 1993.
(reproduction)
PUBLICATIONS
Printmaking in the Sun, Dan Welden and Pauline Muir, 2001
New American Paintings, Spring 2001
New American Paintings, Spring 1999
New American Paintings, Number VIII, Autumn 1996.
COLLECTIONS
Proyecto Ace, Buenos Aires,
Argentina
Wolverhampton College,
Wolverhampton, U.K.
Ashland Corporation, Washington, DC
Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
Doner International, London, England
Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD
Lockheed Martin Inc., Baltimore, MD
The Rouse Company, Columbia, MD
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