Artist Statement
While coping with an unpredictable neurodegenerative disease, I became frustrated with the thought that most of who I am as a human is almost entirely internal. My ceramic sculptures externalize the cycles of thought, hidden behaviors, sensations and embarrassing little habits I experience daily that no one would otherwise ever know.
Clay allows me to shape the complexities of my psyche in physical form. I allow the tremors in my hand, from multiple sclerosis, to release the messy tangle of thought emerging from deep within, along my surfaces.
Through this exploration, I realized a global truth had come to light in my sculptures. 117,000,000,000 of us have lived on this earth. We know nothing about them, but every single one also had or has a vast, private inner world. I want my work to demonstrate the unity we may find at the core of this human condition. We are all alone, together. The more we see into ourselves, the more we may know one another.
Bio
Debra Robert investigates core human truths that surpass diversity and cultural/societal differences to evoke feelings of global unity in her work.
She began in theater at an early age and became a professional designer for large-scale live productions, spending decades traveling throughout the US, Europe, Asia and parts of the Middle East. After Multiple Sclerosis ended her career at 45, she spent 2.5 years fighting neurodegenerative changes at the pottery wheel, throwing over 800 bowls to achieve an intentional body of “100 Bowls”.
Debra’s diagnosis led her to investigate the ways in which the mind perpetually considers and adapts, working out frustrations and personal oddities while also enabling self to function as a societal being.
With smooth, biomorphic ceramic surfaces, she maps out the hidden processes of her own mind, exposing it for all to see. The tremors in her hands become an essential part of her surface treatment with a technique she developed, firing multiple layers of glaze with smudged and drawn underglaze pencil and crayon. By exposing her private, inner workings, she gives commonality to the concept, ‘we are all alone, together.’
Debra holds an MFA from Florida State University, with postgraduate work at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and School of Visual Arts, NYC. She is a Juried Signature Fine Artist with the Boca Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL
Solo Show:
2024 - “HumanUnity” Gayle & Paul Gross Gallery—Cultural Council for Palm Beach County, FL.
Juried Exhibitions:
2025 - Biennial 2025: Cultural Council for Palm Beach County, FL
2023 - CommUnity Exhibition: Best in Show, Hatch 1121 Lake Worth Beach, FL
2023 - Armory Art Center: Best in Show, West Palm Beach, FL
2022 - International Consortium of MS Centers (CMSC), Aurora, CO
2023 - Armory Art Center: Best Sculpture, West Palm Beach, FL
2022 = CommUnity Exhibition: Hatch 1121, Lake Worth Beach, FL
2022 - Lush 2: Lighthouse Art Center, Jupiter FL
2022 - International Consortium of MS Centers (CMSC), Hackensack, NJ
2021 - Cultural Council for Palm Beach County, FL.
Published:
2022 - Annual Art Showcase, Multiple Sclerosis Association of America (MSAA)
2020 - Cover - International Journal of MS Care, Vol. 22, Issue 3
