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Artist Statement
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 recognize 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 paper dolls 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 recognize
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.
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Biography
PLACE OF
BIRTH
Ponca City, Oklahoma
DATE OF BIRTH
1950
EDUCATION
Maryland Institute, College of Art, Hoffberger School of Painting, Baltimore,
MD; MFA
University of New Mexico,
Albuquerque, NM - BA Fine Arts 1987
GALLERY REPRESENTATION
Ashley Gallery,
Philadelphia, PA
New
Grounds Gallery,
Albuquerque, NM
Fleckenstein Galelry, Baltimore
MD
ONE PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2008 Upcoming Solo Show, Matrix
Fine Art, Albuquerque, NM
2006 A Touch of the Wild, Solo
show at New Grounds Gallery
2005 Birds, Bees and the Long Gone Seas, Solo show at New Grounds
Gallery
2004 Big Works on Small Paper,
solo show, Fleckenstein Gallery, Baltimore, MD
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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