Discipline: Visual Art

Deborah Freedman

Discipline: Visual Art
Region: New York, NY
MacDowell Fellowships: 1990

Deborah Freedman is a painter and printmaker whose work is deeply informed by nature. She makes suites of varying images of the Ashokan Reservoir and the Catskill Mountains. Her inner eye and skill in etching, monotype, and oil painting captures both the physical and emotional transformation of her subject.

After 9/11, the reservoir became almost inaccessible. What had once been an idyllic scene suddenly became threatened and "disturbed." Deborah's work, even though historically abstract, became less homage to the natural world and more a protest about the potential dangers of environmental and political disaster. The titles of her work: "Good Night Irene," "Every Breaking Wave," "With or Without You," and "Disturbed Landscapes" refer to these concerns.

Deborah began her association with printmaking with Bob Blackburn at N.Y.U. and continued at his studio in 1987 as a guest artist.

A partial list of collections include The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The New York Public Library, Rutgers University, The Department of State, the Library of Congress, IPCNY, The Hess Collection, CITI, Morgan Guarantee Trust, J.Crew and Nordstrom.

Freedman is a co-founder with Marjorie VanDyke of VanDeb Editions, a printmaking studio dedicated to collaborating with artists to experiment with intaglio and monotype.

Studios

Putnam

Deborah Freedman worked in the Putnam studio.

The Graphics Studio (as it was originally named) was converted to its present use in 1972–1974 through a grant from the Putnam Foundation, and originally served the property as both a power house and pump house. Well water was pumped from a large cistern to Hillcrest, the Foreman’s Cottage, and the lower buildings closer to…

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