debra ketchum jircik, artist in paper and clay

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Debra's Story

For as long as she can remember Debra has wanted to be an artist. When she was a child she spent hours drawing, portraying women in beautiful clothes and capturing a likeness of her friends. She wanted to be a fashion designer until she realized that meant that she'd have to sew. In high school she entertained herself by writing screenplays and making movies and developed a fascination with the elusive art of making pots. During college she studied ceramics at various community facilities including Abe Cohen's Potter's Wheel. After moving to Northern Wisconsin, she continued her studies at Nicolet College, UW Stevens Point, at workshops throughout the Midwest, and at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina. Debra developed an interest in the process of hand papermaking in the eighties. She currently divides her time between clay and hand papermaking, sometimes merging the two in her assemblages. She incorporates paper, old fabric, found objects, things from nature and hand stitching in her mixed media pieces. Her most recent ceramic work has focused on the figure and the house form.

Debra counts among her major influences and inspirations her tenacious and creative mother, world folk art and ritual, outsider art, spirituality and the natural world. She lives and works in the Northwoods of Wisconsin at what was once an old resort that has been in her family since the sixties. Her husband Greg, a carpenter by trade and an artist in his own right, creates frames for her handmade paper works and collaborates with her on the birdhouse series. He also builds rustic furniture. During the summer, one of the cottages becomes a gallery. They have worked together to create an enchanting environment that they enjoy sharing with visitors.

The public is invited to visit the studio, tour the gardens and grotto, and walk the labyrinth during the summer months. Please call or e-mail to schedule a visit or to find out about taking a class.

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