about debra
Debra has lectured and taught at The Smithsonian Institution and The Baltimore Museum of Art, as well as at Catholic and American Universities. She studied under Philip Guston at Boston University, where she received an MFA in painting and was awarded The Norman Robbins Traveling Fellowship for Museum Study Abroad. She was a scholar at both the Provincetown Workshop and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Drawing, and was also a Yaddo Fellow. As a child of painters (see thesterartheritage.com) Debra spent much of her childhood in museums. She was featured at the National Symphony Orchestra's Decorators' Show House, several DC Design Houses and the HGTV Showhouse Showdown. Debra's portraits hang in private collections from Manhattan to the Palos Verdes Peninsula, as well as in public spaces such as the historic Sixth and I St Synagogue in Washington DC. Clients have included a U.S. National Security Advisor, a U.S. Ambassador to Slovakia, the President of Time Warner Communications, and the CEO of the Carlyle Group.
Debra’s ability to paint visually unified settings comprised of seemingly competing patterns springs from her earlier career as a textile designer. Her work was featured in The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, Vogue and Women's Wear Daily. Karl Lagerfeld, Christian Dior, Ann Taylor, Knoll, Jones New York, Diane von Furstenberg, Oscar de la Renta, Gloria Vanderbuilt Jeans, Liz Claiborne, Maggie London, Macy’s, Bloomingdales, Lord & Taylor, Marimekko, and Saks Fifth Avenue were among the scores to purchase her designs. She was a finalist at the Fashion Foundation of Tokyo and designed both the modern textile and jewelry collections at the Museum of Ancient Greek and Cycladic Art in Athens, Greece.