For over three decades, Deb Stoner’s art making practice has included making jewelry, designing eyewear, and photographing the world around her. An ongoing project that involved growing plants to cast in precious metals as a way of freezing a moment has inspired her current obsession of making still life photographs. Deb’s photographs magnify and reveal details within the natural structures of the plants and bugs she gathers. Using a flatbed scanner as her camera, Deb’s work mixes traditional photography knowledge and practice with contemporary digital technology. Drawn to imperfections in objects that point to their lack of artifice, she seeks tiny ephemeral events to choreograph in real time.

          Deb earned a BS in Geology from UC Davis, and then after many years of bench work as a jeweler learning technical skills, went on to earn a MFA in Jewelry/Metals from San Diego State University, working with esteemed mentors Arline Fisch, Helen Shirk, and photographer Walter Cotten. An Artist-in-Residency position at the Oregon School of Arts and Crafts in 1989 brought her to Portland, Oregon, where she still lives and works her artistic practice every day. Deb’s work has been supported by grants from the Regional Arts and Culture Council, grants and a fellowship from the Oregon Arts Commission, and a broad range of generous collectors who continue to delight in her artistic explorations. Deb’s teaching experiences have allowed her to travel internationally, sharing ideas at some of her favorite places, including the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine (where she served as a Trustee on the Haystack Board from 2001-2010), Penland School in NC, Arrowmont in Tennessee, the National College of Art and Design in Ireland, the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, among many others. Her deep exploration into the design and making of eyewear brought praise from the fields of design, fashion and art, and continue to inspire.

If you'd like to listen to an interview on KBOO's Art Focus radio show, hit the audio player below. It's a quick half hour of me responding to some really great questions that got me to reveal much about my working process in making the work for the "Channeling Karl Blossfeldt" exhibit at Camerawork Gallery in 2015.  Big thanks to Kathleen Stephenson for such a thoughtful interview! And applause due for the background music from my friends, 3 Leg Torso.

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