Biography
Deborah Edwards is a multimedia award-winning artist with work in private and public collections in the United States, Canada and Kenya. She is best known for her watercolor paintings. Her work has graced the cover of magazines and been used by Carlton Cards and other commercial retailers.
Deborah earned a Bachelor of Fine Art in Painting, Drawing and Graphics from Ohio State University. Later, a Bachelor of Art Education was completed at University of Toronto. She has engaged in and taught numerous classes and workshops in watercolor painting.
artist statement
Over the years, my focus has sometimes been drawing the human figure, sometimes abstract painting using acrylic, sometimes collage, but I always return to watercolor painting. Strong watercolor paintings offer a fresh simplified image, strong in contrast, yet delicate in transparency. As a painter, I’m drawn to this medium because it is direct, like drawing, and more freeing and fluid than other painting media.
Likewise, I keep returning to still life subjects, which are like intimate landscapes, but with elements that I can move and exchange and play with. Common objects have a leveling effect; whether eaten by the rich or poor, an apple is an apple. For the artist, too, there is a leveling effect. I like to think that the apple posing for me is much the same as the ones painted by Sanchez Cotan in 17th century Spain or by Paul Cezanne two centuries later. These are timeless objects, not heroes of the human drama, but heroes of the earth.
Landscape has also offered irresistible challenges in painting again and again. Especially the New Brunswick countryside, sky and waters, in all seasons, have had a starring role in my landscape paintings.
Whatever the subject or media, to create an image that gets a second look or that appeals so much that someone wants to own it and live with it - that is an astonishing privilege each and every time.
“Still life takes on the exploration of what ‘importance’ tramples underfoot.”
AWARDS
Best Watercolor in Show Award. Arts and Letters Club Juried Exhibition.
Honourable Mention. Nathan Phillips Square Art Exhibition.
Third Prize. Annual Juried Show of Mississauga Civic Center Gallery.
Carlton Card Award. Etobicoke City Hall Centre.
Purchase Award. New Brunswick Art Bank.
Purchase Award. The Art Centre, University of New Brunswick.
Scripture Press Award of Excellence for Best Photo/Illustration.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Nancy Poole’s Studio, Toronto.
Marba Gallery, Fredericton, New Brunswick.
The Rebecca Gallery, Toronto.
Here and Now Gallery, Toronto.
CORPORATE COLLECTIONS
Glaxo Welcome Inc., Toronto.
Wood Gundy Inc., Fredericton, New Brunswick.
Keith Bagg Staffing Resources Ltd., Toronto.
Carlton Cards, Toronto.