Contact me
Many of my images are available as prints on cards, coffee mugs, clothing, etc., through my online “print-on-demand” shops at Zazzle and Redbubble. Contact me (e-mail cupid “at” dhp-art.com) about an original artwork, or to commission a work.
Bio
Also see full resumé
Deborah Howard-Page was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, into a family of professional performers, musicians, and other creative folks. Her parents collaborated on making a coffee table, into which they set their own, hand-painted tiles. Her maternal grandfather was a composer and conductor in Berlin. Her paternal grandmother, a widow, allowed her grandchildren to engage in daily imaginary outdoor play: making things with mud, weeds, wood, etc. Deborah also stayed over with her paternal great aunt, a milliner by trade, who encouraged her to make things with scraps of leftover hat fabrics, feathers, buttons and glue.
After being assigned to paint a portrait for a 5th grade class history project, Deborah began to identify as a visual artist. No one openly discouraged this notion for the rest of her life.
When she was twelve, Deborah’s father, a Hollywood actor, was hired to teach English and drama at the local Waldorf school. This enabled Deborah and her younger siblings to attend on a faculty scholarship. It was there, while also studying classical ballet from her mother, that Deborah’s affinity for nature and fine art were nurtured all the way to her high school graduation.
In addition to pursuing a variety of interests and occupations as an adult (working in a designer’s studio, studying and performing in ballet and modern dance, as well as teaching preschoolers part time), Deborah took evening art courses at Los Angeles area Otis Art Institute and Art Center College of Design, having previously worked there as a live model and listening attentively to what the instructors had to say.
In 1990 she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to earn a B.F.A. in painting at the San Francisco Art Institute. Once she graduated, Deborah enrolled in an evening course, Business for Artists, at City College of San Francisco, taught by artist, writer, and founding member of San Francisco Open Studios, Toby Judith Klayman. Deborah soon joined ArtSpan’s San Francisco Open Studios as a member, continuing semi-annual participation since 1996.
Appreciation
Artists whose work, advice, and friendship I have appreciated and enjoyed over the years have been: Mark Stock, Hifumi Ogawa, Ronnie Sampson, and Francesca Pastine, through whom I subsequently met and befriended artists Ciara Bedingfield, P.K. Kelly, Hadley Northrop, Leslie Bauer, Amanda Haas, Nancy White, and Marta Sanchez-Vasquez, plus many others. I am grateful to you all!
Thank you to Bob Hsiang and Ciara Bedingfield for their fine art and portraiture photography.
Thanks also to the art department (plus the unforgettable writing instructor, Sister Laurentia) at Mt. St. Mary’s College, Chalon Campus, and to Los Angeles Valley College, Foothill Community College, to Jeanne Marie Hughes at City College of San Francisco, and to my San Francisco Art Institute instructors Tom Akawie, Julius Hatofsky, Franklin Williams, Carlos Villa, Bruce McGaw, and others. In addition, Mara Freeman’s Celtic workshop at U.C. Santa Cruz was most informative while I was immersing myself in studying The White Goddess by Robert Graves, along with ancient Celtic tree lore. “Moran taing!”
My deepest thanks to S Page and to our families, as well as to all friends and patrons, for your support.