Today we’d like to introduce you to Deborah Randall.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I grew up just outside of Washington D.C., and was lucky to spend so much time in the museums on the Mall. Those trips to the Smithsonion and the Hirshhorn helped shape my curiosity and interest in art. I have a distinct memory of seeing an exhibition of Franz Kline paintings and thinking I understood them in a corporeal way; the physicality of the paint evidenced in layers of color spoke to me even as an eight-year-old. There’s never a time that I can remember that I wasn’t making something with my hands whether it was paintings or mud pies
I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from California College of The Arts and a Master of Fine Art degree from Savannah College of Art and Design. After art school I taught painting and design for 18 years at numerous colleges and universities on the east coast. I finally settled in Maine and fell in love with Southern Maine because of its natural beauty and proximity to all that Boston has to offer.
Please tell us about your art.
I am an oil painter and I make different kinds of work including figurative and abstract but I am concentrating more on landscape these days. I am fortunate to live in a part of the country that is so picturesque. The Maine coast and the tidal marshes nearby inspire my landscapes. I hope to evoke the feeling of being in the landscape by communicating the quality of light, color, and vastness of space. I most often work from imagination, memory and intuition to convey atmospheric perspective and timelessness in nature. I am an artist because I want to know what it is to be alive. I want my paintings to reflect a moment in time as an experience of what it is to be human tethered to this mortal coil.
Given everything that is going on in the world today, do you think the role of artists has changed? How do local, national or international events and issues affect your art?
I don’t think the role of the artist has changed and artist’s work continues to be a driving force of culture as well as a comment on culture and politics. For me, things made by human hands and minds can help provide an antidote and escape from the stress of modern life by providing a moment to reflect on what is beautiful about our natural world.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
I opened my gallery, Deborah Randall Fine Art in 2011 which is located in the Lower Village in Kennebunk, Maine. I also have work at Portland Art Gallery in Portland, Maine.
Contact Info:
- Address: Deborah Randall Fine Art 8 Western Avenue
Kennebunk, ME 04043 - Website: www.deborahrandall.com
- Phone: 207-409-5911
- Email: deb@deborahrandall.com
- Instagram: Deborah Randall Fine Art, https://www.instagram.com/deborahrandallfineart/
- Facebook: Deborah Randall Fine Art, https://www.facebook.com/kennebunkportART/
- Twitter: @randallfineart
Image Credit:
The photo of me on the beach is the only photo credit needed: Juliette Sutherland
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