DEBORAH PERLMAN
-Deborah, we'd love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today, both personally and as an artist.
I was fortunate to have an excellent art education, receiving a BFA degree at Boston University and MFA degree at Cranbrook Academy of Art, both with a concentration in sculpture. After grad school, I decided to pursue a career in the corporate world for two reasons: I wanted to learn more about life outside the art studio, and, on a practical level, I needed to make a living!
But art was never out of reach. I was either using my creative skills in the workplace (presentations, reports, marketing materials, web design, etc.) or in my free time (drawing, collage, and photography). When I could afford it, I left the corporate world and jumped back into making art full time. It has been joyful to reunite with my true spirit as an artist.
-How do you approach the concept of space in your work, and what kind of effect are you trying to create for the viewer?
The spaces in my work land somewhere between authentic and imagined, sliding in and out of reality. My goal is to create spaces that challenge the senses, evoke emotion, and ask the viewer to consider: What is it? Where is it? What do they see and feel? And do they find themselves in it – or not?