Deborah has been working in clay for almost thirty years and for a long time fascinated with creating hand-built porcelain Pear sculptures. Her pieces are tactile and each one is different from the other. She works slowly, shaping the clay sculptures by hand and carving out the interiors. Most often, she hand paints her surfaces while incorporating varietal color palettes of opposite tones and textures into one piece, including diverse glazing techniques, stains, pencils, lusters, requiring multiple glazings and firings, in addition to employing other firing methods, such as raku.
As an interfaith minister, she sees the pear as an earthly gift, divinely designed, to be equally enjoyed by anyone... same as grass, snow, sand, flowers, trees, the sun, and sky... and as all of nature’s gifts, every pear is unique, as is every life.
The pear is a sacred symbol in many ancient cultures representing love, magnanimity, happiness, peace, abundance, wisdom, life, eternity and the healing power of inner beauty.
She began her career as a free lance photographer in New York City, photographing people, working for CBS-TV among others and was inspired by observing the painterly work of her friend, realist painter, Raphael Soyer, whom she modeled for.
Deborah received first place prize in Ceramics at Silvermine Guild of Artists in Connecticut. Her hand-built, porcelain pear sculptures have exhibited in New York, Connecticut and Florida, and appear in private as well as public collections.