Bio
Debra Shapiro lives in San Francisco and studied painting at the San Francisco Art Institute, Academy of Art University, UC Berkeley Post-bac courses. Shapiro attended classes at Sadie Valerie Atelier, as well as working in classes and privately with artists Aron Meynell, and Felicia Forte. Working as a decorative painter for interior designers, she earned the money to go to Florence where she delighted in studies at Istituto de l'Arte e Ristauro and Istituto Lorenzo Medici. SHapiro has had two solo shows at the French Consul Residence in San Francisco, Icehouse Gallery, Petaluma, and Summerhouse,Mill Valley. Her work has been featured in group shows at Arc Gallery, Mirus Gallery and 111 Mina Gallery in San Francisco.
Born in the St. Louis area, Shapiro attended college at Illinois State University in Bloomington/Normal, Illinois and graduated with a BS in Education degree in Elementary Education with an emphasis on children's literature. After teaching in public schools in Illinois, and working as a flight attendant, Shapiro took the leap of quitting jobs to follow her dream and moved to California to become an artist. A traumatic chain of events which included her father's sudden death, and a break-up with a romantic partner, she decided to turn her life around and to become accountable for her own fulfillment and happiness through creating her life as an artist. Shapiro lives and works in her Russian Hill home with her husband and her entertaining poodle, Julian.
Statement
Deb Cook Shapiro, Bloom
Always a late-bloomer myself, I have been fascinated with the idea of blooming of the heart. My work is about celebrations and events that transform he participants through the various raw emotions of joy and pain, excitement, anxiety and frivolity. The selected subject matter for the pieces is personal and filtered through my own experiences of blooming later in life when I was able to shed layers of self-doubt, fear, and limiting beliefs that for many years had held me back from my desired life. The subjects in my work embody the human capacity for growth and change at any stage of life when experiencing the wonder of their hearts and lives in bloom. The complex and conflicting emotions that can accompany the expansion of the heart is what I seek to express in "Fetes and Celebrations".
My painted paper collages and small paintings are inspired from my intense feelings of gratitude and pleasure to finally be able to attend parties and celebrations.The small paintings in vibrant colors are reminisscent of Persian and Indian miniatures and show vibrantly colored clothing that balance the bright skies and lawns that are often the settings for the events. I plan to do large paintings based on these paintings, photos from the events, and from my memory and imagination.
I have always painted figures in the landscape but I wanted to transition to a new type of work that was fresh and more contemporary in color and application of the paint. I have always been enchanted by the French Rococo painters Fragonard, Boucher, and Watteau, and admit to binging the delicious Netflix series, Bridgerton. Modern celebrations that I choose to paint create a kind of fantasy with idyllic moments if even for a fleeting day in a lifetime.
